Charmaine Lurch is a Toronto-based painter, sculptor, installation artist and arts educator known for her interdisciplinary work and exploration of themes including Black studies and environmental issues.

Early life and education

Lurch was born in Jamaica and came to Canada at the age of six. She holds a Master’s degree in

Environmental Studies Environmental studies (EVS or EVST) is a multidisciplinary academic field which systematically studies human behavior, human interaction with the Natural environment, environment. Environmental studies connects principles from the physical sci ...

from

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

and diplomas in design and illustration from

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology, is a public polytechnic institute partnered with private Canadian College of Technology and Trades operating campuses ...

, both in Ontario. In addition, she studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design University in Toronto, and the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...

in New York City

Work

Lurch's work often incorporates themes of world histories, Black history, diversity, equity and environmental issues. She is active as an art educator in Toronto. As a lead artist with the non-profit group Inner City Angels, Lurch leads interdisciplinary public art projects involving children. Her sculpture ''Bees'' is installed in the

Regent Park Regent Park is a neighbourhood located in downtown Toronto, Ontario built in the late 1940s as a public housing project managed by Toronto Community Housing. It sits on what used to be a significant part of the Cabbagetown neighbourhood and ...

social housing development in Toronto. She cites artists including Lynette Yiadom Boakye,

Jasmine Thomas-Grivan Jasmine (botanical name: ''Jasminum'', pronounced ) is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family of Oleaceae. It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania. Jasmines are wide ...

Denyse Thomasos Denyse Thomasos (October 10, 1964 – July 19, 2012) was a Trinidadian-Canadian painter known for her abstract-style wall murals that conveyed themes of slavery, confinement and the story of African and Asian Diaspora. ''Hybrid Nations'' (2005) i ...

, and

Theaster Gates Theaster Gates (born August 28, 1973) is an American social practice installation artist and a professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, where he still lives and works. Gates' work ...

as inspirations. Lurch has been critical of the way the traditional power structures of the art world systematically exclude artists of colour.

Major exhibitions

Lurch's work has been exhibited at a number of venues including the

Royal Ontario Museum The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year ...

, Nuit Blanche, the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

, and the

National Gallery of Jamaica The National Gallery of Jamaica, in Kingston, Jamaica, is Jamaica's public art museum. It was established in 1974 and is located in the Kingston Mall, a commercial and cultural center on Kingston harbour. The National Gallery of Jamaica also h ...

. Her work ''A Mobile and Visible Carriage'' was prominently featured in the group show ''Every.Now.Then'' at the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; ) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located on Dundas Street, Dundas Street West in the Grange Park (neighbourhood), Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, the museum complex takes up of phys ...

in 2017. * ''Compounding Vision'', solo exhibition at RiverBrink Art Museum, 2019-20 * ''Critical Mass'',

Art Gallery of Guelph The Art Gallery of Guelph (AGG), formerly the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, is a public gallery and adjoining Sculpture garden in Guelph, Ontario. Its collection consists of over 9,000 works. The AGG is a nonprofit organization which focuses on r ...

, 2018-19 * ''Settling in Place: Aylan Couchie, Martha Griffith, Charmaine Lurch'',

MacLaren Art Centre The MacLaren Art Centre is an art gallery and museum, located in Barrie, Ontario, Canada. It is named in honour of Maurice MacLaren, who bequeathed his Victorian home, Maple Hill, to the Barrie Gallery Project in 1989. The MacLaren Art Centre l ...

, 2018 * ''Here We Are Here'', Royal Ontario Museum and

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Square Mile stretch of Sherbrooke Street west. The MMFA ...

, 2018 * ''Every. Now. Then.: Reframing Nationhood'', Art Gallery of Ontario, 2017

References

External links

Artist's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lurch, Charmaine Living people Canadian contemporary artists York University alumni 20th-century Canadian women artists 21st-century Canadian women artists Canadian people of Jamaican descent Year of birth missing (living people) Black Canadian artists Black Canadian women