b. 1973, St. John, NB
Currently based between Takaronto/Toronto, ON, and Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc/Heffley Creek, BC, Holly Ward is an interdisciplinary artist of settler ancestry working with sculpture, multi-media installation, architecture, video and drawing as a means to examine the role of aesthetics in the formation of new social realities. Stemming from research of various visionary practices such as utopian philosophy, science fiction literature, Visionary Architecture, counter-cultural practices and urban planning, her work investigates the arbitrary nature of symbolic designation and the use-value of form in social and subjective contexts. More recently, Ward’s practice seeks to develop artistic engagements with non-human entities and ecological systems in a future-oriented practice focused on sustainability and holistic adaptation to rapidly changing natural and cultural contexts.
From 2009-2010 Ward was the Artist in Residence at Langara College, wherein she commenced The Pavilion project, a 22’ geodesic dome serving as a catalyst for artistic experimentation involving artists, writers, designers and Langara College students. Ward has produced solo exhibitions at Artspeak, the Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery, the Kelowna Art Gallery, Or Gallery, YYZ Gallery, Republic Gallery, Volta 6 Basel, and others. She has participated in group exhibitions in Canada and internationally. Publications include Planned Peasanthood (Kamloops Art Gallery, 2021), Volumes (Blackwoods Gallery, 2015), Every Force Evolves a Form (Artspeak, 2012), and “For Now, on Holly Ward’s Persistence of Vision”, a critical essay in Jeff Derksen’s After Euphoria (JRP Ringier Press, 2013). Her work has been collected by the Vancouver Art Gallery, Fogo Island Arts, and Scotiabank. Public Commissions include Cosmic Chandelier (UniverCity at SFU, Burnaby, 2016) Monument to the Vanquished Peasant (Western Front, Vancouver, 2016), and The Wall (CBC and the Vancouver Heritage Foundation, 2011). Holly is an Associate Professor in York University’s Visual Arts program.