I am a writer and an interdisciplinary artist with a socially-engaged art practice.
A curator once kindly described my work here: Dawn’s artistic practice seeks to interrupt civic and social spaces with unexpected moments of beauty, curiosity and joy. Her relational performances and interventions hope to offer moments of exuberance and liberation from everyday suffering and to dismantle the barriers between individuals.
I work in video, podcasting and radio documentaries, sound art, art installation, performance and print. Much of my work is collaborative, so if you’d like to team up, I’d love to hear from you.
The snug, smart town of Guelph, Ontario, Canada is my home.
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Dawn is an alumni of the University of Toronto School of English and Drama, and University of Guelph’s theatre stage management and creative writing program. She has worked for CBC Radio and Television, produced video profiles for the Stratford Festival, contributed to solo and group shows at galleries and public spaces across Canada and featured at Nuit Blanche (Toronto and Guelph), was Ontario Artist in the Schools, and Video Artist in Residence in Gaspe, Quebec, plus at the International Institute for Improvisation and Social Practice at University of Guelph. She was the Artistic Director for the GUELPH FILM FESTIVAL for many years and frequently collaborated with Action Read Adult Literacy Centre on video and performance projects plus managed a video lab at the University of Guelph which researches the ways in which arts-based practices can create opportunities for communities marginalized by misconceptions of difference and disability (ReVision Centre at University of Guelph). She was recently commissioned as the lead researcher for Open Access for Ed Video’s Accessibility initiative through the Ontario Arts Council.
Currently, she is producing a large-scale, collaborative, multi-year audio project called How To Draw A Tree (Trees, Mental Wellness and Creativity), supported by the Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council and the University of Guelph.
She also works as the multimedia storyteller for the KDE Hub at University of Waterloo, a national knowledge and development initiative dedicated to equitable and culturally-diverse mental health promotion.
As a writer, she has written for numerous national publications including West Jet’s inflight magazine, Metroland‘s Grand magazine and GuelphLife, the Globe and Mail, Dogs In Canada, Ignite Travel, Guelph Mercury, KW Record, Ottawa Citizen, Outpost and Canadian Living magazines. (see here)
She also edited Guelph’s sold-out history book: Perspectives on a Century of Change.