This exhibition introduces Helen Kong’s interconnected practice; between object making, self awareness and close observations, Helen interweaves a wide range of concepts and materials into her artistic practice. 

ReHoming emerges from a careful consideration towards objects and their meanings, blurring the differences between personal archives and historical objects is at the core of this exhibition. In ReHoming, we experience a full cycle of making the personal public and the public personal, while manifesting acts of care, togetherness and continuity. 

This live exhibition aims at capturing Helen’s deep and tangled connections with personal objects, yet, it opens up endless possibilities to how and where objects can be taken care of. 

While untangling such connections, Helen takes us through a close observation to the process of letting go and claiming, both objects and feelings. 

This two-part installation will be a live exhibition where the artist will update the contents weekly during the exhibition period.

Part One: Rehoming Objects of Significance – These objects will be catalogued with their stories and dreams of future homes. They are available for people to bring home and revive them again.

Part Two: Rehoming Journal – A visual arts journal where Helen will create small entries to process the emotions throughout this journey (from small paintings/drawings, to weaving samples, to vessels) to rehome and process their overwhelming feelings, as they go through this necessary process of letting go and finding homes for objects that are sentimental, yet currently lifeless.

All the items will be documented in an Instagram account where people can read and listen to stories, details, and/or the history of each piece. DM on the account for inquiries and to request adopting items.

Helen Kong is a tea practitioner, ceramic artist specializing in making tea wares for Japanese and Chinese tea, and the owner and facilitator of Secret Teatime; a clay space hidden in Scarborough where people sip tea and play with clay. Aside from making, she is also a ceramics teacher and a facilitator/organizer of multi-sensory events focused on tea and food where she shares her knowledge about the Way of Tea, its philosophies and how it relates to her daily life. After more than a decade of being a primary caregiver and working as an entrepreneur artist, her studies in ritualized tea have been a source of grounding and coping. Especially in times of life and creative burnout, depression, anxiety, and her own chronic illness. Her studies in tea is also a connection with her East Asian animist roots that allows her to maintain a deep relationship to the materials, tools, and objects she collaborates with in her practice and daily life. Helen is slowly moving from the rollercoaster mindset between over-consumption and scarcity -which manifests in hoarding tendencies- to having true connective appreciation with the objects that she chooses to have in her life. This is a continuous work in progress. 

Some of her recent projects include the “Ichigo-Ichie Tea Project” during Nuit Blanche Toronto 2022 which was documented in the C Magazine (Issue 156) article by Jasmine Gui “Different Things in Different Scenes: Encountering Ichi-go Ichi-e in Tea”, “Meeting for Teas” visual arts residency at the Banff Centre (2023), “The Looms We Resemble” group exhibition with Workman Arts (2024), and “In One Chawan: Seasonal Food Labs” co-facilitated with Anson Ng.

The Artist in Residence program is part of Workman Arts’ Rendezvous with Madness Festival and is in collaboration with Tangled Art + Disability. By providing time and resources, we believe this can support the development of a body of work to become exhibition ready for a solo show at the Tangled Art + Disability gallery vitrine space. We offer this opportunity to a Workman Arts member who has not or has minimally exhibited their artwork, and would benefit from a solo exhibition. 

Helen Kong is our Artist in Residence for the 2024/25 year. 

Stephanie Avery

Diana Bershadsky

Mei Chan-Long

Jenny Chen

Michele Anne-Marie Dickson

Paul Elliott

Kayla Free

Danielle Hyde 

Ghazaraza

Gigi

Merle Harley 

Andrew Johnston

Althea Knight

Serena McCarroll

Clare McIntyre

Rick Miller

Leslie Ordal

Sam Paboudjian

Marisha Pula

Marie Ruisseau

Sha

David Shuken

Ashley Snook

Alsa St Rose

Dinesh Subramanian

Casper Sutton-Fosman

Jan Swinburne

Shannon Taylor-Jones

V Vallieres

Raechel Wastesicoot

Georgia Whist

Paulina Wiszowata

Brandon Wulff

Natalie King is a queer interdisciplinary Anishinaabe (Algonquin) artist, facilitator and member of Timiskaming First Nation. King’s arts practice ranges from video, painting, sculpture and installation as well as community engagement, curation and arts administration. Click here to learn more about Natalie.

Warren Harper is a curator and researcher currently based in Toronto, Canada. He holds a PhD from Goldsmiths, University of London, where his curatorial research project explored Essex’s role in Britain’s nuclear story. Warren was director then co-director at The Old Waterworks (TOW), an artist-led charity in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, UK, that provides studios, facilities, and research and development opportunities for artists. Click here to learn more about Warren.

“The keys to my practice are remaining adaptable, motivated, and curious —listening, looking and thinking critically through every aspect of my work, be it the day-to-day minutia of the job, or the big picture, long-term outlook. I believe that all facets of this work have a creative component, even the administrative, behind-the-scenes, less glamourous parts.”

– Alana Traficante

Click here to learn more about Alana.

This two-part installation will be a live exhibition where the artist will update the contents weekly during the exhibition period.

Part One: Rehoming Objects of Significance – These objects will be catalogued with their stories and dreams of future homes. They are available for people to bring home and revive them again.

Part Two: Rehoming Journal – A visual arts journal where Helen will create small entries to process the emotions throughout this journey (from small paintings/drawings, to weaving samples, to vessels) to rehome and process their overwhelming feelings, as they go through this necessary process of letting go and finding homes for objects that are sentimental, yet currently lifeless.

All the items will be documented in an Instagram account where people can read and listen to stories, details, and/or the history of each piece. DM on the account for inquiries and to request adopting items.

Helen Kong is a tea practitioner, ceramic artist specializing in making tea wares for Japanese and Chinese tea, and the owner and facilitator of Secret Teatime; a clay space hidden in Scarborough where people sip tea and play with clay. Aside from making, she is also a ceramics teacher and a facilitator/organizer of multi-sensory events focused on tea and food where she shares her knowledge about the Way of Tea, its philosophies and how it relates to her daily life. After more than a decade of being a primary caregiver and working as an entrepreneur artist, her studies in ritualized tea have been a source of grounding and coping. Especially in times of life and creative burnout, depression, anxiety, and her own chronic illness. Her studies in tea is also a connection with her East Asian animist roots that allows her to maintain a deep relationship to the materials, tools, and objects she collaborates with in her practice and daily life. Helen is slowly moving from the rollercoaster mindset between over-consumption and scarcity -which manifests in hoarding tendencies- to having true connective appreciation with the objects that she chooses to have in her life. This is a continuous work in progress. 

Some of her recent projects include the “Ichigo-Ichie Tea Project” during Nuit Blanche Toronto 2022 which was documented in the C Magazine (Issue 156) article by Jasmine Gui “Different Things in Different Scenes: Encountering Ichi-go Ichi-e in Tea”, “Meeting for Teas” visual arts residency at the Banff Centre (2023), “The Looms We Resemble” group exhibition with Workman Arts (2024), and “In One Chawan: Seasonal Food Labs” co-facilitated with Anson Ng.

The Artist in Residence program is part of Workman Arts’ Rendezvous with Madness Festival and is in collaboration with Tangled Art + Disability. By providing time and resources, we believe this can support the development of a body of work to become exhibition ready for a solo show at the Tangled Art + Disability gallery vitrine space. We offer this opportunity to a Workman Arts member who has not or has minimally exhibited their artwork, and would benefit from a solo exhibition. 

Helen Kong is our Artist in Residence for the 2024/25 year. 

Helen Kong is a second generation Chinese Canadian living and working in Tkaronto (Toronto). She studied her first ritualized tea while living in Japan. Chado (the Way of Tea) is a meditative life journey through tea and hospitality. It is the gateway into art, culture, and philosophy. After returning to Canada, she studied ceramics as a way to better understand tea vessels. She established Secret Teatime, a clay studio where people play with clay and sip tea. She has expanded from making tea wares for Japanese teas to also studying and making wares for her own heritage of Chinese tea.