Kayla Polan (b. Canada 1994) is a multidisciplinary artist working across traditional and new media. She is a current MFA Candidate at the University of Waterloo. She received her BFA, major in Drawing & Painting, from the Ontario College of Art & Design University.
Her practice melds feminism and popular culture to investigate contemporary ideas about domesticity, the home, and consumer culture. In her current work, Polan aims to deregulate notions of appropriateness surrounding bodies, and push through generalized domestic imaginaries to grapple with lived experience and materiality of the domestic sphere. Polan examines the importance of interior space in shaping new subjectivity, and the concept of home through ideas of queer interiority.

Lauren Armstrong
Kaylon Polan
What are you working on now? 
I’ve got a bunch of things on the go at once right now. I’m currently a grad student at the University of Waterloo; I’m working on my thesis and planning for a solo show in April at UWAG. I’m producing a lot of different work for the show, and then I’ll pair it down. All of the work reflects on questions of personal and social identity, and the search for meaningful experience and connection in the everyday. The concept of home is present throughout all the work, thinking about the lived experience and materiality of the domestic sphere... 

Yi-Shuan Lee is a Taiwanese-Canadian artist based in Toronto, Canada. Lee’s multidisciplinary practice includes drawing, painting, sculpture, and film. His works features striking plays on odd and surreal narratives along with a cinematic approach to his palette. Lee has exhibited works across China, Taiwan, Japan, Italy, France, America, and Canada.

Lauren Armstrong
Yi-Shaun Lee
What are you working on right now?
Earlier in the summer I completed a body of work that I have been working on for the past two years, and exhibited them separately in three different countries. Right now I am finishing up a commission for an album cover and just started doing research for my next series of works.
Describe your studio space – What is your ideal environment to work in?
Funny how this question came up. I just picked up my keys last weekend for my new studio. It’s in an old monastery, with some really nice patterned wallpapers and leftover chairs and tables that I bought from the church for 50$. Ideally I would love to have a bigger studio space so that I can move-in a full couch to rest my back during breaks.
How has your works developed since you first started painting (Making works)?
I don’t even know where to start with this question…