CV/Bio
ARTIST STATEMENT
Since leaving my warehouse studio in Vancouver, Canada in 2011, I have searched for ways to interlace elements of my existing art practice (formerly consisting of making paintings for commercial galleries) to include sculpture and installation. To incorporate sewing techniques learned from my mother and to continue working with wood as taught to me by my father. Through ongoing research and the development of a methodology that I call ‘Day-to-Day Aesthetics’, I’ve created a stream of artwork that works to answer my ethical and creative queries.
The Day-to-Day Aesthetics methodology involves a steady, consistent daily drawing practice, and a focus on the importance and meaning of the materials used in making works of art while maintaining earth friendly, sustainable ethos. By developing an acute awareness, sensitivity to and respect for my surroundings (which due to my semi-nomadic lifestyle is ever changing) the work evolves as a direct response to both where my studio is located and what (re)usable materials I discover. Discarded objects, collected ephemera, collected bits and parts ignite ideas, sometimes immediately, other times months or even years later.
I feel that my task as an artist is to create stimulating, intriguing and inspiring work that may transport the viewer to a state of wonder and/or inquiry. Using my past experience, immediate surroundings and creative space, I make objects, installations, and video/soundscapes that seek to enrich and broaden the experience of those that come in contact with them. The work sets up key narrative elements yet leaves the specifics for the co-creative audience to fill in. I want my work to become a movement toward connectivity to the environment and to each other, to emote in a way similar to experiencing the beauty of nature, to inspire its audience to ask questions and discuss solutions, experience emotions and delve deeply into the humanity and fragility that is life.
My love of the environment is lifelong, my concern for its welfare, profound. This has lead to experiences of living in a wide variety of surroundings and my heartfelt desire that the work I create succeeds both aesthetically and in effectively communicating the poetics of geography in a deeply personal way.
DAY-to-DAY AESTHETICS
MANDATE FOR A METHODOLOGY
To focus on the importance and meaning of the materials used in making works of art while maintaining a sustainable, earth friendly ethos.
To develop an acute awareness of and respect for one’s surroundings, in turn providing depth and meaning to the art work created.
To uphold a steady, consistent daily art practice as creative exercise that aids in producing coherent bodies of art work and presents potential for improved mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.
Through consistency of observing, collecting, making, doing, recording, researching, the artist will create work that evolves naturally, authentically and progressively.
Through sharing interests, research, conversation, interaction and support the artist will build an important sense of primary and secondary community.
There is no one way to participate in this methodology, therefore freeing the artist to expand, experiment and grow within his/her own personal mission.
CURRICULUM VITAE
E D U C A T I O N
Falmouth University Cornwall, UK MFA with distinction
Crawford College of Art and Design Cork, Ireland BFA
Bealart London, Canada
S O L O E X H I B I T I O N S
2024 Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery In the Garden of Exquisite Unknown Sarnia, CA
2019 Mount House Gallery Akin Uncountable Marlborough, UK
2016 Ranger Station Art Gallery Not Lost at Sea Harrison Hot Springs, CA
2016 Back Lane West Tender to the Sea:2 Redruth, UK
2015 Falmouth University Tender to the Sea Falmouth, UK
2014 University of the Fraser Valley Gallery draw the line Abbotsford, CA
2013 Elissa Cristall Gallery New Work Vancouver, CA
2013 Vancouver Art Gallery, Art Sales & Rental Featured Artist Vancouver, CA
2013 Ranger Station Art Gallery Exploring Totem Harrison Hot Springs, CA
2012 Parts Gallery dwell Toronto, CA
2012 Herringer Kiss Gallery stem Calgary, CA
2010 Herringer Kiss Gallery presage Calgary, CA
2008 Herringer Kiss Gallery stem & wing Calgary, CA
2006 Halde Galerie serenity Halde, Switzerland
2004 ARC Gallery elements Vancouver, CA
2003 studio blue gallery Constellations Vancouver, CA
1999 Art Gallery of the South Okanagan Cycles and Symbols Penticton, CA
1995 Michael Gibson Gallery Sixty-five Drawings London, CA
S M A L L G R O U P E X H I B I T I O N S
2019 Mount House Gallery Kindred Vessels Marlborough, UK
2018 Haida Gwaii Museum Artists in Gwaii Haanas Haida Gwaii, CA
2011 Herringer Kiss Gallery Abstract Hues Calgary, CA
2010 Toronto International Art Fair Parts Gallery Toronto, CA
2009 Parts Gallery orsa (S.Humston/Ric Santon) Toronto, CA
2007 Sopa Fine Arts stem & sentinel (S.Humston/J.Alfaro) Kelowna, CA
2006 Sopa Fine Arts elements Kelowna, CA
2006 Jacana Gallery sweet raw (S.Humston/Leah Rosenberg) Vancouver, CA
2006 Summit Gallery bloom Banff, CA
2005 Snap Gallery The Shape of Light Vancouver, CA
2005 Snap Gallery movement & stillness Vancouver, CA
2005 Sugar and Sugar rogers, ljubojevic, humston Vancouver, CA
2003 Vancouver Art Gallery, Art Sales and Rental Spring Exhibition Vancouver, CA
1997 Between Cultures Selected Group Exhibition London, CA
1995 MacIntosh Gallery, UWO Generating Voice London, CA
S E L E C T E D G R O U P E X H I B I T I O N S
2019 Mount House Gallery Artists’ Sketchbooks Marlborough, UK
2018 Buitenwerkplaats Starnmeer 365 Starnmeer, Netherlands
2017 44AD Gallery Art + Text juried exhibition Bath, UK
2015 Fringe Arts Bath The Manifesto of the Wall Bath, UK
2014 Herring Kiss Gallery The Painters Calgary, CA
2014 Elissa Cristall Gallery Soliel Vancouver, CA
2013 The Reach Public Gallery Fraser Valley Biennale Abbotsford, CA
2007 The Cultch Process & Intent Vancouver, CA
2006 Jacana Gallery Best Wishes Gallery Artists Group Show Vancouver, CA
2006 Sopa Fine Arts wrap it up Gallery Artists Group Exhibition Kelowna, CA
2006 ARC Gallery uncommon passion Group Exhibition Vancouver, CA
2005 Jacana Gallery Winter Group Show Vancouver, CA
2005 Halde Gallery Recent Contemporary Works Halde, Switzerland
2005 ARC Gallery uncommon denominator Vancouver, CA
2004 Gallery Jones Selected Artists Vancouver, CA
2004 ARC Gallery uncommon light Vancouver, CA
2004 Aion Gallery Art to Carry -artist’s book exhibition Vancouver, CA
2003 studio blue Gallery Artists Vancouver, CA
2003 Casa Gallery Gallery Artists Vancouver, CA
1998 Art Gallery of the South Okanagan Okanagan Creates Penticton, CA
1998 Art Gallery of the South Okanagan Treasured Chests Penticton, CA
1998 White Gallery Bealart Retrospective London, CA
1997 Figuratively Speaking Independent Group Exhibition Penticton, CA
1996 The Alternator Annual Member’s Exhibition Kelowna, CA
1995 The Big Picture Independent Group Exhibition London, CA
1995 London New Arts Festival Annual Juried Exhibition London, CA
1995 Michael Gibson Gallery Gallery Artist’s Exhibition London, CA
1994 London Art & Historical Museum 47th Annual Juried Exhibition London, CA
1994 Michael Gibson Gallery London Contemporary Artists London, CA
1994 London New Arts Festival Annual Juried Exhibition London, CA
1994 Forest City Gallery Big City Show London, CA
1994 Room Twenty-Three Group Exhibition Guelph, CA
1993 Michael Gibson Gallery Juried Miniature Exhibition London, CA
1993 Michael Gibson Gallery Contemporary London Artists London, CA
I N S T A L L A T I O N / P E R F O R M A N C E
2017 Sound of Nature, Sound of Art Live painting Lincoln Center, Oregon USA
2015 Fringe Arts Bath The Stories We Tell-installation with short film Bath, UK
2007 ECHO CHAMBER ChapelArtsCentre painting performance Vancouver, CA
2006 ECHO CHAMBER ArtistResourceCentre painting performance Vancouver, CA
2005 silence a live elevator installation Artist Resource Centre Vancouver, CA
2004 SHED multi media installation ARC building Vancouver, CA
A W A R D S & R E S I D E N C I E S
Marlborough College Artist in Residence 2018/2020 Marlborough, UK
Lucy Morrow Ceramics Invited Artist Residency Douarnenez, France
Cultureland Artist Residency Amsterdam/Starnmeer, Netherlands
Sitka Center for Art & Ecology Oregon, USA
Earthskin Artist in Residence Muriwai, New Zealand
Gwaii Haanas Artist in Residence Parks Canada & Haida Gwaii Museum
Back Lane West Artist in Residence Redruth, UK
BC Arts Council Education Grant
Ranger Station Art Gallery Artist in Residence Harrison Hot Springs, CA
Pollock Krasner Foundation Fellowship
Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild Artist in Residence New York, USA
Knock on Woods Artist in Residence Mayne Island, CA
BC Arts Council (Art Gallery of the South Okanagan) Exhibition Assistance Grant
Ontario Arts Council (MacIntosh Gallery) Exhibition Assistance Grant
Ontario Arts Council (Forest City Gallery) Exhibition Assistance Grant
City of London Arts Bursary
Michael Gibson Gallery, Juried Miniature Exhibition Best in Show Award
R E C E N T T E A C H I N G / W O R K S H O P S / L E C T U R E S
Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery Sarnia, CA Workshops & exhibiting artist lecture
Marlborough College Marlborough, UK Summer School
Marlborough College Marlborough, UK Artist in Residence lectures & teaching
Cultureland Amsterdam, Netherlands Artist in Residence lecture
Sitka Center for Art & Ecology Oregon, USA Artists in Residence lectures
Earthskin Muriwai, New Zealand Artist in Residence lecture & open studio
Haida Gwaii Museum Skidegate, CA Artist in Residence workshop & artist lecture
Trinity Western University Langley, CA Guest Lecturer
Artist Resource Centre Vancouver, CA Creative Daily Practice workshops
Opus Art Supplies Vancouver, CA Creative Daily Practice workshop
Ranger Station Art Gallery Harrison Hot Springs, BC Creative practice workshop
Falmouth University Cornwall, UK Undergrad visual research & drawing course
Back Lane West Redruth, Cornwall, UK Artist lecture
Vancouver Art Gallery Art Sales and Rental Feature Artist lecture
Elissa Cristall Gallery Vancouver, CA Artist lecture
University of the Fraser Valley Abbottsford, CA Artist lecture
Ranger Station Art Gallery several Artist in Residence workshops & artist talks
Byrdcliffe Art Colony Woodstock, USA Artist lecture & open studio
C O L L E C T I O N S
Private collections in Canada, United States, Britain, Ireland, Europe, Australia; Haida Gwaii Museum, Earthskin, Cultureland, University College Cork, Cenovus Energy, Walkaway, Encana Corporation
ARTIST BIO
Siobhan began her creative studies early with classical piano, violin and vocal while attending music and theatre school in her younger years, and continued studies at BealArt in London, Ontario and Crawford College of Art & Design in Cork, Ireland where she graduated with a BFA in printmaking and mixed media painting. She traveled extensively throughout Europe and North America, always carrying paper, pencils, paints and camera. Her collection of sketchbooks now numbers over a hundred and thirty.
Shortly after a life affirming tête-à-tête with congenital illness and subsequent open heart surgery, she moved to Vancouver, making homes and studios in a number of live/work buildings and one large converted factory space. She participated and volunteered with the East Side Culture Crawl, co-established the annual group exhibition at the ARC (Artist Resource Centre), hosted open studios, musical events, book readings, movie nights, pop-up restaurants, jam sessions and fully engaged her surroundings while making two and three-dimensional artwork.
Being evicted from her Vancouver studio/home late in 2011 when the landlord could not make the safety improvements required by the city, completing work for two solo exhibitions in a temporary studio and doing an Artist Residency in New York, kicked off the beginning of a new chapter of adventures when she was chosen as the Artist in Residence at Ranger Station Art Gallery in Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia. This one-year appointment changed the trajectory of Siobhán’s domestic life, reinvigorating a passion for the natural environment and solidifying her commitment to broadening the scope of her artistic practice. While she worked on introducing man-made elements into her long-standing visual lexicon of abstracted aspects of nature, she walked miles each day and began an ongoing photographic series titled ‘exploring totem’. She exhibited these alongside paintings, large scale drawings, assemblage sculptures as part of her Artist in Residence solo exhibition, in the Fraser Valley 2nd Biennale and as the Vancouver Art Gallery’s AR&S’s Feature Artist.
In 2014 Siobhán relocated to Cornwall, UK where she investigated the interdisciplinary nature of her art practice as part of the MFA Art & Environment degree, exploring themes of displacement from and connection to our natural environment. Whilst creating multi-dimensional work formulated from the happenstance of engaging fully with the experience of place and time, she developed a methodology called ‘Day-to-Day Aesthetics’. After being awarded the MFA with distinction, she returned to Vancouver, Canada where she set up a live/work studio.
Unable to settle in the city, Siobhan began applying for Artist in Residence positions as a way to continue her less commercially based art practice and since June 2017, she has been Artist in Residence at Haida Gwaii Museum in northern British Columbia, Canada; Earthskin in New Zealand; Sitka Centre for Art & Ecology in Oregon, USA; Cultureland in Amsterdam/Starnmeer Netherlands and at Lucy Morrow Ceramics in Bretagne, France. After a nomadic twelve months, Siobhan was selected as Marlborough College’s Artist in Residence for the school terms 2018/2019 where she used her time to paint, draw, build and keep a daily regimen of practicing music, writing and exploring, keenly observing, recording and being inspired by the natural world around her. She was invited to return for a second year, that contract ending in July of 2020.
The following seven months were spent living between England, Ireland, Scotland and eventually, in early 2021, she returned to Canada to be close to and help with her family. An accepted PhD proposal at University of Dundee to investigate the interconnectedness between art, nature, science and spirituality was put on hold. She continues to read her way through her reading list, draw, paint, make small scale sculptures and momentary land art interventions which you can see on Instagram at siobhan.humston.artist or siobhanhumstonart. Since mid-2022, Siobhán worked on a collection of drawings, fibre arts sculptures, sculptural installations, a film and soundscape which are featured in her solo exhibition at Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery from April 19 to September 1, 2024.
Siobhán’s artwork has been exhibited in over seventy solo and group exhibitions in commercial, artist-run and public galleries and is in private and corporate collections in North America, Britain, Europe and Australia. She is the recipient of a Pollock Krasner Foundation fellowship in conjunction with the Byrdcliffe Guild Artist Residency Program in New York, a City of London Arts Bursary, Ontario Arts Council and BC Arts Council grants, and most recently a BC Arts Council Education Grant for MFA studies at Falmouth University in the UK. She has been featured on City TV Vancouver & Calgary, the Vancouver Sun and CBC Radio’s Arts Report.
If you have questions about or are interested in exhibiting, purchasing or renting art work, please contact the artist at .