This July, join THIRDSPACE Summer Artist and Mentor-in-Residence Van Maltese for a series of hands-on, perception-warping workshops that invite you to draw differently, look curiously, and think playfully.
These events are open to all ages and experience levels—just bring your curiosity (and maybe your sweet tooth).
Programming: - Workshop 1: Drawing with Your Non-Dominant Hand
- Shake up your routine in this unconventional drawing session with Van Maltese. You’ll alternate between your dominant and non-dominant hands for quick gesture sketches and extended studies—focusing on process, discovery, and breaking away from habit.
- Workshop 2: Eye Scream
- What do you see in the cracks in the pavement? Van Maltese will guide you through a walk in and workshop in the park to explore pareidolia—the brain’s tendency to find familiar forms in random patterns, like faces in clouds or animals in tree bark. The evening ends with a group discussion with a scoop of gelato from Futura Gelato, reflecting on the links between perception, desire, and sensory reward.
- Artist Talk: Van Maltese
- Join Van Maltese as they share insights from their two-month residency at OCAD U, including recent research, studio explorations, and the ideas shaping their evolving body of work. Known for using illusion, trickery, and associative play, Van’s practice challenges how we see, hear, and make meaning from our surroundings.
Register here:
About the Summer Artist and Mentor-in-Residence:
Van Maltese is a Toronto-based interdisciplinary artist and a graduate of OCAD University (Class of 2010). Their practice examines pattern recognition, brain plasticity, and the ways sensory conflict can reshape our thinking. They are the recipient of the 2012 RBC Canadian Painting Competition national prize and the 2018 Glenfiddich Artist-in-Residence Program Canadian prize. Most recently, Van served as the 2023 International Randall Chair in Painting at Alfred University. Their work has been shown across North America at institutions including: |
