Nik Chermensky is a Russian-Jewish animator, filmmaker, and artist who recently relocated to Canada for the Master of Fine Arts (Studio Art) program at the University of Saskatchewan. Anchored in memory, Nik’s work invites the viewer to journey through time, place, space, and states of mind.

Having lived in Russia and having had the chance to see its culture and history from the outside, Nik’s art focuses on the internalized fear, pain, and guilt he carries, both from exceptional tragedies and everyday experiences. Nik’s work embodies many stories that confront seemingly incongruent narratives and brings them into a space for shared reconsideration. For Nik, his animation style, marked by the distortion of familiar objects and sounds and the dizzying movement of the camera and elements in the frame, is a way to get closer to reality, not the one perceived by everybody, but the one he feels.

Nik’s work has been screened and exhibited internationally in Serbia, Mexico, Israel, and at the Annual Graduate Interdisciplinary Conference at Concordia University in Canada.

Shona Dietz is a prairie based multi-media artist whose work has a strong connection to ritual and the everyday, involving memory and the aging process. Her practice is rooted in materiality; the history and associations of her materials become the content of both her installations and performance work. The alternate realities that she creates question our own perceptions of what or whose reality we actually live in.

Currently Dietz is examining how attitudes and behaviors can be altered by the experiential and perceptual shifts that occur if we are fortunate enough to age. These shifts rework the thought processes, creating random feelings of joy and comfort or fear and anger. Unexpected changes upset the status quo and greatly affect an individual and their communities, that is to say, all human connections - without bias. It’s a human thing…or perhaps it’s an animal thing?

“I am a Canadian of Indian origin, an interdisciplinary artist, and an MFA candidate at the University of Saskatchewan School for the Arts. My main research interests include community, land, heritage, rituals, and migratory experiences—whether human or material journeys—along with themes of memory, presence, and absence. I have developed these interests through various media, such as sculpture, photography, printmaking, drawing, and ethnographic research methods. My connection to diverse lands, cultures, and people's stories inspires my artistic journey. I begin with experimentation, research, and a desire to understand my materials. My work often fosters reciprocal relationships by promoting listening and sharing stories that celebrate rawness, unfinishedness, and fundamentals. I aim to create a dialogue between myself, my chosen materials, my methodologies, and my viewers. Working with a community in a different landscape strengthens my connection to my art practice. I value collaboration and critical reflection on subject matter. The ephemerality of absences enhances my presence as an artist”.