Stronger Together Collaborative Residency
Bree Rappaport, Caryn Wei Ya Xie, Nathan Zhe, Sophia Herrington
Artists, diagonally from the top (left to right): Bree Rappaport, Caryn Wei Ya Xie, Nathan Zhe, and Sophia Herrington. Photos courtesy of the artists.
Artwork, top to bottom: Rappaport, paprika plains, oil on board; Xie, detail from Bamburgh Circle, oil on canvas; Zhe, Virtual Mannequin, installation; Herrington, The Arch of Return, stone lithography with watercolour and silkscreen. Photos courtesy of the artists.
ABOUT THE RESIDENCY
Launching an exciting year ahead, Union Gallery is turning over the Main Space to its membership with a unique residency opportunity for hard times. Stronger Together Collaborative Residency will assemble an ad hoc collective of 4 artists open to co-creating experimental art that boldly responds to our new curatorial theme: in this economy?!
Through a call to UG members, we invited open-ended proposals that consider and respond to manufactured scarcity, late-stage capitalism, economic precarity, and the improvisation of everyday life in the face of these challenges. This opportunity will expand the artists’ practice through a unique period of skill sharing, dialogue, and co-creation.
The artists in residence will be offering public programs throughout the summer — stay tuned for dates and activities! In the meantime, join us for a launch party? in this economy?! celebrating the launch of our curatorial year on Wednesday, May 28, at 6pm (RSVP).
MEET THE ARTISTS
Bree holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCADU). While in school, she pursued projects around social and environmental justice, community economic development, and art as an educational tool for the needs of marginalized people. She lives and works in Kingston, dividing her time between teaching art based classes full time at Leahurst College ( Kingston, Ontario), keeping her own art practice as a member of Dead On Arts Collective, 12 Cat Arts Collective and spending as much time as she can outside in nature.
Caryn Wei Ya Xie (b. 2002) is a visual artist and educator. By appropriating digital aesthetics to reimagine her documented lived experiences, Xie’s interventions translate a personal history of immigration into a broader conversation on the diasporic experience of fragmented identity and memory. Xie received a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) from Queen’s University in 2024, where she was the recipient of the Liu Shiming Scholarship and Medal of Visual Art. She is currently working towards her Bachelor of Education.
Nathan Zhe (He/Him) is a Chinese multidisciplinary artist, producer, director, marketing director and photographer based in Canada and China. He's in his fourth year of Bachelor of Arts (Hounors) in Media and Performance Productions specialization. With a strong foundation and passion in producing, directing, marketing and arts administration, Nathan has worked extensively behind the scenes of film and theatre productions, coordinating teams and ensuring creative visions are brought to life.
Sophia’s art draws on nature’s themes of growth, transformation, and interconnectedness. Using traditional printmaking methods like lithography and silkscreen, she creates layered works that reflect the fragile yet resilient ties between humans and nature. Symbols like roots and leaves explore these connections, while her careful process mirrors life’s cycles. Her work tells stories about how the environment shapes us, how we shape it, and inviting viewers to reflect on the visible and invisible threads that link all living things.