ABOUT MARIAN

Canadian interdisciplinary artist Marian Wihak was born and raised in the city of Regina, in the great plains of South Central Saskatchewan, and lives and works in Toronto, Ontario. Originally trained in theatre design, and with a long-standing career as a film designer as well as an established painting practice, she holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design from OCADU.

 

In recent years, Marian's painting practice has expanded into installation work built on her familiarity with and understanding of spatial responsiveness and metaphoric narrative, while integrating her design and visual art practices to develop new possibilities in immersive and experiential environments. This serves Marian’s overarching interest in interconnectivity inherent within the evolutionary process, and the overlapping perceptive and phenomenological aspects of chaos, the sublime and duration. 

 

Marian's installations have been shown at Loop Gallery, the Toronto Design Offsite Festival, Word on the Street/Sculpting New Words, Come Up To My Room, Nuit Blanche, Art Spin, Hazeloton Lanes, The Artist Project and Cleveland’s IngenuityFest, while her painting and drawing has shown at the John B. Aird, Edward Day, and Bau-Xi galleries in Toronto, as well as Kitchener's Rotunda Gallery, The Oeno Gallery, and the Art Gallery of Regina.

 

She has been the recipient of numerous nominations and awards for her theatre and film design work, and as a visual artist has being supported by the Canada Council and the Ontario Arts Council. Marian was a Finalist in the RBC Painting Competition (2001), her work has been exhibited across Canada, and can be found in private and corporate collections across North America.