New work created for The Burlington Waterfront Sculpture Trail opening April 5, 2025

The Burlington Waterfront Sculpture Trail (BWST) is returning for the fourth year to Burlington, Canada through the generous support of Dan Lawrie, The Art Gallery of Burlington and Burlington Public Art Program. From BWST website “The goal of BWST is to bring sculpture into the public realm in a free and accessible trail linking major elements of Burlington’s stunning downtown core and waterfront. Artists from across the country are paid an exhibition fee to present their work, and the DLISC team works to sell the works to drive additional support to Canadian artists.”

This year, I am contributing a new sculpture titled, Infinity Tower. Infinity Tower is created with ten ready-made security dome mirrors stacked to form a tower, reminiscent of Brancusi’s Endless Column. Installed for the BWST, the artwork captures 360-degree views of the surrounding landscape, soaring into space to satisfy a societal obsession to be everywhere and see everything at once, including our own reflection to become part of the ubiquitous presence of our collected vigilance and vulnerable freedoms.

Tonya Hart, Infinity Tower, stainless steel, acrylic 22 x 22 x 83 inches

Golden Eye is now installed for Lumiere: The Art of Light 2025

Golden Eye, 2025 stainless steel, brass, LEDs

Exhibition: Lumiere: The Art of Light 2025, March 10 - April 4, 2025 at Trillium Park, Toronto, Canada

New Exhibition Announcement: Lumiere: The Art of Light

Opening March 10th at Trillium Park in Toronto, I am exhibiting a new sculpture titled Golden Eye at Lumiere: The Art of Light.

Golden Eye Artist Statement

A quintessential aspect of dreaming is the fluidity of thought that thrives within the subconscious mind. In art, the Surrealists are renowned for capturing this fluidity through bizarre juxtapositions, expressed in both painting and sculpture—such as Salvador Dalí’s iconic melting landscapes. The Surrealist movement sought to blur the line between the rational mind and the dream state, unlocking a new realm of creativity.

The artist’s work, Golden Eye, presented in response to this year’s Lumière theme, “Neon Dreams: Light and Color,” is inspired by the Surrealist exploration of dream fluidity. The intention is to blur the boundary between reality and the transformative flow of light on Earth, creating an immersive experience where the two coexist and interact.

Golden Eye is a large-scale artwork that combines the iconography of the sun with the symbol of the eye. The sculpture’s spherical shape embodies a vision of the magnetosphere, expanding into an ellipsoid that references both Earth and the gravitational pull of the moon, all through the vehicle of sight—the eye. The key connection between the sun and the eye is light, the fundamental force that bridges all life on Earth.

Set at the water’s edge in Trillium Park, Golden Eye comes to life both day and night, offering visitors a unique experience through its dynamic interplay with light.

INFRA is going to Calgary, Alberta

INFRA has been selected for exhibition in Chinook Blast from January 31st - February 17th, 2025 in Calgary, Alberta. Chinook Blast is Calgary’s winter festival that hosts numerous light art installations along side festival events to brighten city streets during the cold, dark winter nights.

INFRA portrays a pack of wolves in glowing hues of light and color. These colors give the impression of viewing the wolves through the lens of thermal imagery and indicate radiant heat and vitality, suggesting a closeness to instincts. Set within the urban environment, the wolves may seem foreign, but their vitality and connection to nature is shared by us all.

Chinook Blast website

Refract in Boston

Earthshine. Refract (pictured here) is now in exhibition at Boston Art at 21 Drydock Ave Suite 710E in Boston, Massachusetts.

Earthshine, Refract I & II are variations of refracted light rays striking the earth to symbolize the intensity of global warming. These sculptures are a continuation of The Earthshine series that visualizes the sun’s rays reflecting off the earth to mark its significance in art, life, and death. Light is key to life on earth while in the age of the Anthropocene, light shows its destructive potential. Earthshine joins the history of art that portrays sun rays as a symbol of life, energy, and enlightenment.

For more info and to contact the gallery, please visit their website: https://www.bostonartinc.com/

Skytower is now installed in Pouch Cove, Newfoundland

Skytower (Weather Station) was commissioned by Pouch Cove Public Art Committee to be installed in Pouch Cove, Newfoundland from October 2024-25. Sky Tower is inspired by the internal structure of a microscope with light filtering through color and reflective films. The sky is brought to earth in reflections on stainless-steel discs, while colored plates towering into the sky take on the effect of rose-colored glasses to view the sky which changes throughout the day and seasons.

Skytower for Pouch Cove Public Art Project

Skytower has been selected by the Pouch Cove Public Art Committee as the fourth piece to be installed in Kirby’s Garden in Pouch Cove, Newfoundland, to be installed fall 2024.

Sky Tower (Weather station) visualizes a large-scale tower inspired by the internal structure of a microscope. As the viewer approaches, the sky will be brought to earth in a series of reflections on stainless-steel discs, while coloured plates towering into the sky take on the effect of rose-coloured glasses to view the sky which changes throughout the day and seasons.

2024 Burlington Waterfront Sculpture Trail

The third edition of the Burlington Waterfront Sculpture Trail, an initiative of the Dan Lawrie International Sculpture Collection, is being held from April 22-June 1, 2024 in Burlington, Canada. The exhibit showcases thirty-eight artworks from artists across Canada, generously supported by Incite Foundation for the Arts, Tourism Burlington, The Burlington Performing Arts Centre, the Pearle Hotel & Spa and more. The exhibition is managed by Cobalt Connects. For more information visit the website: www.bwst.ca

Pictured here my new piece in the Earthshine series titled Refract included in the BWST exhibit.

Open Studio Spring 2024

Lumiere: The Art of Light in Toronto, Canada

From March 12 – April 20, 2024, I am exhibiting INFRA in Lumiere: The Art of Light, an annual exhibition of light-based art projects in Trillium Park in Toronto, Canada.

INFRA portrays a pack of wolves in glowing hues of light and colours. These colours give the impression of viewing the wolves through the lens of thermal imagery by indicating radiate heat and vitality, suggesting a closeness to instincts. Set within the urban environment, the wolves may seem foreign, but their connection to nature is shared by us all.

Further information on the event:

This free outdoor light-based art exhibition welcomes visitors to explore Trillium Park and experience bold and imaginative public art created by talented Ontario-based artists from all artistic streams. Using innovation, light and discovery, artists and creators will “illuminate” the park under the theme of “CONNECTIONS”. This theme aims to explore the various ways in which light can create connections between people, the environment, and different aspects of our lives.

Visitors are invited to experience the magic and allure of 17 unique and interactive light installations seven nights a week from sunset to 11:00pm from Tuesday, March 12 to Saturday, April 20, 2024. Bonfires will also be hosted at the Trillium Park fire pit from 5:00pm to 10:00pm every Friday and Saturday (weather permitting) – or visit us during March Break when bonfires will occur nightly! (https://ontarioplace.com/en/special_programs/lumiere/)

Winterlude 2024 in Ottawa, Canada

Winterlude is an annual winter festival in Ottawa-Gatineau in Canada from February 2-19th, 2024.Canadian Heritage has selected two of my artworks for exhibition: Golden Hour and INFRA. Golden Hour recreates the golden hour in a light-based sculpture installation. The golden hour is a period of sunrise and sunset when the sun is low above the horizon and sunlight appears golden. The installation consists of five acrylic panels incised with concentric rings to mimic the pattern of radiating suns. The golden horizon has long been connected to enlightenment and the Golden Hour replays the sunrise and sunset on an eternal loop to provide an everlasting sense of renewal.

INFRA portrays a pack of wolves in glowing hues of light and color. These colors are chosen to represent the wolves through the lens of thermal imagery to indicate radiant heat, vitality and a closeness to instincts. Set within the urban environment, the wolves may appear foreign except their vitality and connection to nature is shared by us all.

Artist Residency in Spain 2023

Can Serrat International Artist Residency, El Bruc, Spain May 2-31st, 2023

Generously supported by The Canada Council for the Arts, Arts Abroad Program

For the month of May 2023, I was invited to stay at Can Serrat, a 300-year-old farmhouse estate turned international artist residency in El Bruc, a small town south of Barcelona in Spain. There I joined twenty other artists from all over the world and given access to individual artist studios, including four multidisciplinary studio spaces, a print making studio and accommodations set within two-and-a-half-acres. Spanning three decades, Can Serrat has hosted artist residencies, workshops, readings, theatre, and countless other events to provide artists with a creative haven with an eye on nurturing the neighboring village of El Bruc. Throughout the month there were frequent trips to the markets in El Bruc and Callbato; hikes to Montserrat to visit the monastery; and day trips to Barcelona. I was also fortunate to take part in an artist exchange with a nearby artist residency inLoft in Copons.

The aim of my residency was broadly to reflect on my artistic practice removed from my home country and studio and take time to explore some ideas about light and magnetism. I brought a variety of materials with me to draw and create light-based artworks and research ongoing projects such as LIGHT INSITU.

LIGHT INSITU explores the unique light in place, and its variations around the planet. The project began with commissioning a glass artist to craft a clear glass tube that has been gently twisted to form waves along its walls. These waves create distortion and are intended to represent an alternate light perception. Like a lens to filter out the appearance of straight lines, solids, and color, the glass tube becomes a means to connect with another spectrum, such as to the waves of electromagnetic currents that continuously flood space yet escape our perception.

The first pieces to emerge from the residency came from taking photos of the surrounding landscape with the glass tube. Mirage in Montserrat depicts the glass tube placed in front of Montserrat, a multi-peaked mountain range meaning “serrated mountain” in Catalan. During the residency, Montserrat was a prominent feature of the landscape, a defining edge often spied during my frequent hikes in the area. The waves in the glass distorted the perception of the mountain and altered the view of the horizon. In several images the glass created the appearance of a passage through the mountain range, like a mirage offering a phantom route to the other side.

Similarly, the glass tube placed at the entrance to the residency melds with the surrounding landscape. It reminded me of superposition. In quantum mechanics, a superposition is the ability to be in multiple states at the same time until it is measured. The glass tube creates a disruption in perception; a section of the view that is scrambled, pointing to an alternate spectrum of light.

Variations of light were rendered especially visible when I turned my focus on light itself. The waves in the glass tube cast a dramatic play of light and shadow that appear to transcend the object’s limits, such as in Light shadows.

To conclude the month, all the residents’ contributed their choice of text and imagery to create a fanzine together as a material reminder of our residency. This was an initiative that was carried out by the residents who collaborated, funded, printed and hand bound the books. A pdf version can be found below.

Can Serrat May 2023 Fanzine