Stir Cheat Sheet: Two artists worth checking out at Emily Carr University’s The Show

Here’s a snapshot of just two form-pushing talents out of the more than 400 on view at the massive grad exhibition, May 13 to 27

By Janet Smith

From Kimberly Campbell Ronning’s urban ndn; right, Sichen Grace Chen’s When Every Vein is Red Out of the Blue

The Show runs May 13 to 27 at Emily Carr University of Art + Design

WITH MORE THAN 400 artists’ works on view, Emily Carr University of Art + Design’s The Show ranks as one of the largest exhibitions in Vancouver.

The graduation celebration is also the best place each year to check out the next generation of visual artists and designers, with students working across sculpture, photography, and much more.

Here are just two members of the graduating class of 2026 who are pushing the forms of ceramics and painting in exciting new ways.

Consider it just a tiny taste of what’s on view come May 13.

From Kimberly Campbell Ronning’s urban ndn

Kimberly Campbell Ronning

The multidisciplinary artist who has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr has created a series called urban ndn—bold ceramic works that reimagine pop-culture imagery as sites of Indigenous reclamation. She renders everything from Land O Lakes butter packaging to crinkly chocolate bars and Cheezies bags in clay, inviting us to see the mass produced products in new ways—recasting consumer products with a sense of cultural pride. Each shiny, colourful piece explores themes of materiality and identity.

As Ronning says in her artist statement at The Show: “Drawing widely on recognized food packaging and branding, the work reimagines products that have historically used Indigenous imagery, shifting their meaning through subtle edits in branding, characters and design. The work invites viewers in through familiar packaging, before revealing layered narratives about places, family and self-authored brands.”

Sichen Grace Chen’s When Every Vein is Red Out of the Blue

Sichen Grace Chen

Master of Fine Arts grad Sichen Grace Chen is a painter, illustrator, and educator whose work explores water as a connective tissue between all living things. Instead of blue, Chen’s semi-representational paintings capture the marine ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest through saturated and warm colours—a nod to both the warmth of the body and the realities of ocean warming. 

In When Every Vein is Red Out of the Blue, she’s sewn together scrap canvas pieces to form the basis of a towering, large-scale painting. 

“I intend to immerse the viewers in an underwater experience of engaging with the sheer height and gravitas of a bull kelp forest,” she says in her artist statement. “Through layering multiple water-based paints and inks, this painting has a predominantly chromatic grey tone which is a nod to not only the pollution from industries that seep into the Salish Sea, but also the constant greywater generated by homes and other buildings, such as artists’ studios.”

Chen’s awards include those from American Illustration and Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles, with her works exhibited in galleries throughout B.C. and the U.S. She’s the co-founder and creative director of Atelier Aloera, a research-oriented climate collective and artist group based here.

Related Articles