Post-Mortem Survey for Making Art Work 2020-21
Thank you for participating in the Making Art Work professional development workshop series co-presented by Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre, Union Gallery, and Agnes Etherington Art Centre. We are looking for feedback from participants of the program to inform future professional development programs. The survey should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete. Your answers will be anonymous. Thank you for your time!
Meet Our Team
Anne-Sophie Grenier
Executive Director
Anne-Sophie is a queer performing artist and writer with a keen sensitivity to storytelling and a desire to build better opportunities for artists at the local, national, and international level. She holds a Masters of Management in International Arts Management, from Southern Methodist University and HEC Montréal. In her graduate studies, she focused on the role that art co-ops and artist-run centres play in fostering innovation and creative placemaking. She also holds a B.A. in Communications Studies (Video Production) with a minor in Political Science from Concordia University and a Diploma of College Studies in Commerce from Champlain College.
Her career has brought her across many different fields from communications for a non-profit operating in Canada and Uganda, to documentary television production, and the production of major music, arts, and sporting events.
Kait Allen
Outreach and Development Manager
Kait is a queer, non-binary poet and multidisciplinary artist living in Kingston. Kait has a love for reading and writing, preferring to do both on good old fashioned paper, which has led them to their favourite artistic medium: the tedious yet intimate process of letterpress printing. Kait has been refining their creative writing skills for over 20 years, and uses their artwork as a platform to challenge and disrupt themes of identity, power, and normativity.
Kelsey Newman Reed
Marketing Coordinator
Kelsey is an artist, published poet, and has always been passionate about the arts. She has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree with a major in Art History and minor in Drama from Queen's University, as well as a Post-Graduate Certificate in Interactive Marketing Communications from St. Lawrence College. Kelsey is fascinated by art found in public and digital spaces, as well as the methods of displaying and sharing these artworks.
Emily Veysey
Programming Coordinator
Emily Veysey is a first year MA student in the Cultural Studies Progam at Queen's University. Emily recently completed her Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Cultures Studies at the University of New Brunswick Fredericton, as well as her Bachelor of Applied Arts. She also holds a Diploma in Fine Craft and Design (Ceramics) and a Graduate Certificate from the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. After graduating from NBCCD in 2013, Emily worked to remain involved in the arts community through initiatives such as helping to open a cooperative ceramic studio for emerging artists, volunteering through the local crafts council, and teaching introductory pottery. Emily's artistic practice focuses entirely on creating for the sake of creativity and expression, and prefers to not create with exhibition as impetus. Emily is passionate about promoting success for new and emerging artists and creating an equitable environment for diverse expression of creativity in the arts. She is very excited to join the team at Modern Fuel, and looks forward to her time developing exciting programming for its membership.
2021-2022
Board of Directors
Drew Burton
Chair
Drew Burton is an Art History PhD student at Queen’s University studying the censorship of queer art in American museums and galleries. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Art History where his research focused on the censorship of art that was deemed too scandalous to be viewed by the general public. Although Drew is not a practicing artist himself, he is an avid collector of local, national, and international art, seeking to discover and support emerging artists. He has lived in Kingston, Ontario since beginning his education at Queen’s University in 2013. In his downtime he likes to read (too many books) and hang out with his Dachshund named Duchamp, his partner, and his friends!
Susan Brogly
Treasurer
Susan Brogly is a writer, mother and scientist. Susan has curated art installations in Boston, Saratoga, Montreal, and Kingston, and was a co-organizer of Kingston’s 2017 ON THE WALL street art festival.
Greg Ivens
Chair of New Media Workspace & Resource Library
Greg Ivens is a Mixed Media Digital Artist currently living in Kingston, Ontario. With a focus on bright and vibrant colour palettes, Greg’s primary medium is Liquid Light, a live artform first pioneered in the 1960’s Psychedelic Rock era. In an attempt to meld these live methods with digital distortion, mirroring and glitch art techniques, Greg aims to create unique and vivid images that span the spectrum of colour.
Erica Saunders
Board Director
Erica is a musician and artist who has been working in Kingston for many years. Employed as a music teacher, Erica has worked with multiple arts organizations and businesses in town. Being involved in the arts, Erica is hoping to bring her knowledge of the local community to Modern Fuel to help us understand the ways in which we are reaching our audiences. She is looking forward to helping Modern Fuel reach new audiences both in town and beyond our normal. Erica also owns a small business in town where she creates art for clients.
Fan Wu
Board Director
Fan is a PhD Student in Screen Cultures & Curatorial Studies at Queen’s University. They have previously served as Board Secretary at Art Metropole. Their own practice intermixes poetry, performance, and community participation; they are particularly passionate about breaking down artificial barriers that divide various forms of creation. A perpetual question for them: are there ways to rethink “institutionality” at its root that preserves the good work the institution has done while transforming sedimented structures that no longer reflect an organization's values? They hope to assist in Modern Fuel's process of decolonization.
Liam Mills
Board Director
Liam Mills is a multidisciplinary designer and all-around creative, with a love for celebrating and promoting arts, culture, community, and out-of-the-box thinking. He is a graduate of the 2009 Graphic Design Program at St. Lawrence College, with professional experience in graphic design, public speaking, large-scale event creation, and more. Liam is working full-time as a Graphic Designer in downtown Kingston, but when he isn’t doing that, you can find him getting up to something creative - dabbling in visual arts, music, clothing design, and more. Born in a small town, and a lover of the outdoors, Liam is also an avid adventurer and enjoys hiking, camping, sustainable gardening, bushcraft, canoeing/kayaking, snowboarding, and more. Inspired by his parents, creativity, and self-expression, have always been the driving force of his life. He has a love for vibrant colours, zero-waste work, found art, and up-cycled-creations. Liam hopes to share the enlightenment and self-fulfillment that he has found in the connection of creative expression and self-growth, as well as continue his personal journey exploring the arts.
Nenagh Hathaway
Board Director
Nenagh Hathaway works in the School of Graduate Studies at Queen’s University. She returned to Kingston following a two-year Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Physical History of Art at Yale University and three years as a fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Nenagh received her Ph.D. in Art History from Queen’s in 2016 and her MLitt from the University of Glasgow’s program Making and Meaning: Approaches in Technical Art History in 2011. Her research interests lie in the physical makeup of artworks, from their initial design to their manufacture and, ultimately, how the resulting objects change over time. Her curatorial activities include The Unvarnished Truth: Exploring the Material History of Paintings, an exhibition held from 2015 to 2017 with venues across Canada that was accompanied by a catalogue.
Rachel Wiseman
Board Director
Rachel Wiseman is an art history major and classical studies minor, entering her final year at Queen’s University. During the Fall of 2020, Rachel was an intern at Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre and helped to curate and facilitate Re:member 2020, the Member’s Show and Sale. The areas of study that she is interested in are 1990s internet art, black figure pottery from the 5th and 7th centuries BC, and fauvism. While Rachel is not currently practising art due to her busy school and extracurricular schedule, she has been dabbling in painting since an extremely young age, influenced by her grandmother who is an artist. In her free time Rachel enjoys taking care of her kitten Abby, reading, or chugging a cup of coffee.
Richard Brant
Board Director
Richard is a disabled, Indigenous artistic creator from Kingston, ON. For the past 11 years, Richard has been a professional musician playing many instruments, producing, sound engineering, writing, and composing. Collaboration is key to their artistic practice. After holding residencies in Kingston, Richard became interested in new ways to engage with the Kingston community. They hope to bring their unique and diverse skills to Modern Fuel to help engage with the Kingston community and beyond.
Sarah Chasity-Johnson
Board Director
Sarah J, also known as Chas, is an emerging visual artist who uses many mediums and forms of self expression. She is a passionate advocate for Sexual Assault Victims, who were born into the cycle of domestic violence, addiction and neglect. Through her art and activism, she sheds light onto the splits caused from such events, giving voice to herself and those re-traumatized by being caught in the myriad bureaucracies and injustices of the mental health system, justice and correctional systems.
Newly elected to the Board of Directors of Modern Fuel, Chas is excited about using her raw emotion and unorthodox approaches to connect with many diverse communities, particularly those not typically engaged in the world of Contemporary Art.
Scott Bucsis
Board Director
Scott Bucsis is a musician, composer and picture editor working in the film and television industry with a specialized interest in sound design and sonic environments. He has recently been fortunate enough to move to Kingston full-time after being involved with numerous musical projects while in Toronto as well sitting on the Artspace ARC Board of Directors while in Peterborough. Scott is very passionate about the importance of the engagement of the arts with the community and is excited for the opportunity to be part of the amazing work at Modern Fuel.
About our Board and Committees
Modern Fuel is a member-driven organization that consists of a General Assembly, comprised of all members in good standing, and a working, hands-on Board of Directors. Our Board of Directors is comprised of 12 directors, in addition to two non-voting post-secondary student positions (currently vacant), and the majority of the board must self-identify as artists to maintain the organization as artist-run at its core. The role of the Board of Directors is to provide stewardship, direction and support to the organization in accordance with Modern Fuel’s vision, mandate and values. The Board of Directors is elected by our membership at our Annual General Meeting. When necessary, additional board members are recruited throughout the year, and join the board in interim positions until they can be legally elected at the next AGM.
Our Board of Directors is a working board, in every sense of the way. Along with governance matters of ensuring by-laws and budgets are respected, they all play an active role in Modern Fuel’s programming and operations, assisting our small staff on a regular basis. Each board member must sit on at least two committees and must take the lead on at least one fundraising initiative during any given calendar year. The committees are further filled with community member volunteers.
The Programming Committee is in charge of selecting exhibitions from the call for submissions and other artistic opportunities that may arise. They also help in developing and implementing our additional programs such as residencies and roundtables.
The Development Committee is in charge of identifying potential grants and foundations, assisting with grant writing, and planning our major fundraising activities for the year. They are further tasked with reaching out to the broader Kingston community and volunteer recruitment.
The New Media Workspace and Library Committee maintains the proper organization of these two resources, writes grants specifically for the acquisition of new media equipment and text-based resources, and produces specific workshops to activate these resources and make them available to the community.
The Finance Committee is chaired by our Treasurer and supervises the financial well-being of the organization. They assist the Executive Director with financial reporting and audit preparation.
The Human Resources Committee is responsible for hiring major positions, ensuring the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of staff and interns through policies, and check-ins, and assisting with conflict resolution should the need arise. Our Nominations Committee is an ad-hoc committee of the Human Resources Committee. They meet with potential board members to make sure that they fully understand the commitment that is required.
The Executive Committee is comprised of the Co-Chairs, the Secretary and the Treasurer. They help supervise the progress of all committees, assist the Executive Director with long term strategic planning, and draft important policies.