Instructors

Basma Elkhateeb

Basma Elkhateeb is a fashion designer with over 25 years of experience and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Fashion and Textiles with honors from the University of Helwan in Cairo, Egypt. As the head designer of Basma Boutique, she oversees garment production and possesses a comprehensive understanding of various fashion constructions, ranging from everyday wear to bridal and evening gowns. With expertise in both 2D pattern drafting and 3D pattern draping, Basma is fully capable of achieving a flawless fit by making sewing alterations to accommodate diverse body measurements and sizes.

Driven by her passion for continuous growth, Basma Elkhateeb continually hones and evolves her skills by actively seeking knowledge from various Private Corset Academies. Simultaneously, she generously imparts her expertise to individuals of all ages, serving as an instructor at multiple camps and workshops. Her teaching experience spans intensive courses catering to learners of all levels, from beginners to advanced.

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Emily Gillies

Emily C Gillies has been running a production dye studio since 2019. Their yarns and fibre are carried by many local yarn stores across Canada. Emily is currently a Master of Arts in Art Education candidate at NSCAD University. She has continued to pursue education and community-based endeavours while in Halifax, putting dyeing on the back burner while exploring the intersections of textile-based craft and community.

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Erin Wells

Well versed in a myriad of pottery techniques, Erin is a fantastic resource for potters of all skill levels. Whether you are looking to throw larger and more complicated pieces, explore surface decoration, master coil or slab-building, troubleshoot mould making, venture into figure sculpting, or just make some gifts for your friends and family, this instructor is ready to help you dive-in and get your hands muddy.
Originally from Hershey, Pennsylvania, Erin started her studies at Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) where she fell in love with clay under the tutelage of Robert Troxel. She created an exchange program with the world-renowned Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute and joined the university as their first western exchange student. She transferred to NSCAD University where she completed her BA in Fine Art: Ceramics, winning the first full Walter Ostrom Scholarship, before moving to Montreal to participate in numerous residencies while teaching workshops. She apprenticed under figurative sculptor Joel A Prevost for 2 years before moving back to Halifax where she currently works as the soul proprietor of Deep Harbour Pottery.

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Gina Brigante

Gina Brigante (b. 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba) is currently based in Kjipuktuk (Halifax, Nova Scotia). Brigante received her BFA in Ceramics (Honours) from NSCAD University in 2022. Her work has been shown in several group exhibitions during her time at NSCAD, including two in partnership with Parks Canada and Habitat for Humanity. In 2018 Brigante did a one month residency at Kejimkujik National Park, collecting research and inspiration from the natural environment while living in her tent in the woods. Although ceramics has been her primary focus, Brigante explored several other mediums during her years at art school such as printmaking, bookbinding, painting, sculpture, wood and metal works.

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Hannah Craig

Hannah W Craig is an art jeweller and silversmith from southern Manitoba, currently based in Halifax, NS. She holds a BFA in Jewellery Design & Metalsmithing from NSCAD University and a Preliminary Level Certification from the Canadian Gemmological Association, in addition to having previously studied Philosophy and Art History at the University of Winnipeg. Her work is inspired by myth, magic, and mysticism, drawing on concepts from existentialism and psychoanalysis to explore the depths of the human experience. Her creative practice seeks to bring an element of the magical and mysterious into the everyday.

Hannah is inspired by jewellery both for its emotional power and its technical challenges, and loves to share these parts of jewellery with others through exhibiting and teaching. Her jewellery motto is “I love problem solving” and she looks forward to sharing her favourite techniques and solving some problems with you!

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Jackie Toner

Jackie Toner, also known as Woods(wo)man Woodworking is an emerging woodworking and turning artist based in Windsor, NS. She is a self-directed artist who also holds BSc & MSc in Kinesiology and is currently a PhD Candidate in the field of Health & Safety. It was through her academia lifestyle that she leaned into working with her hands as a creative outlet and form of meditation. Through her work, Jackie aspires to showcase the natural beauty of woods from around the world while infusing modern design elements and techniques. Her current work focuses on unlocking alternative uses of the lathe and stepping outside of its traditional practices.

You can find her on Instagram at @woodswoman_woodworking or on her website: https://woodswomanwoodworking.ca/

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Jessie Fraser

Currently living in Kjipuktuk (Halifax), Jessie Fraser is a craft oriented visual artist working predominantly in the medium of fibre. Her practice considers how photographs, literature and cloth may be combined, to investigate the affective potential of woven cloth and text in site-sensitive installations. Fraser completed an MFA in 2019 at the Alberta University of the Arts in Craft Media. She has participated in multiple residencies, most recently at the Centre for Craft Nova Scotia and has exhibited work in a number of venues throughout Alberta and Nova Scotia; including group shows at VivianeArt and Stride Gallery. Image, text and textiles, along with photographic and weaving processes are used as sites of intuitive and emotional investigation. Using time as both a process and a material, Jessie’s practice is the process of weaving. She weaves not only with thread but also with historic narratives and atmospheric feeling.

https://www.jessieannefraser.com/

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Kelsey Borden

Kelsey Borden (she/her) is an artist, maker, and self-described textile nerd. She was born and raised in Halifax/Kjipuktuk, surrounded by crafty women and dabbling in anything creative she could get her hands on. She went on to attend NSCAD University, graduating in 2018 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Textiles/Fashion. Her work often combines her love of illustration with textiles, working with narratives around craft, family, and personal thoughts.

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Leandra Brandson

Leandra Brandson is an interdisciplinary artist currently located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She primarily focuses on queer identity, and how intersectional lived experiences can come together to form collective thought. She uses clay to build large-scale figurative sculptures. Her works primarily use paints, underglaze, and textiles to achieve a blend of surface textures. Brandson relies on lived experience and intersectional dialogue for inspiration.

Brandson graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with Honours in 2021 from the University of Manitoba. She held a position as an instructor in ceramics through the city of Winnipeg. From 2021 -2022, Brandson was an Artist in Residence at Medalta in the Historic Clay District. During her time in residence, Brandson taught and produced ceramic ware in Medalta’s production facility on-site. She hasshownin multiple spaces across Western Canada. Brandson relocated from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Halifax, Nova Scotia inlate 2022.

Website: https://www.leandrabrandson.com/

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Lena Turofsky

Lena Turofsky has been a passionate rug hooker for 25 years. She was first introduced to it at Craft Nova Scotia and was immediately hooked! Her love for rug hooking led her to other fiber arts, weaving most recently, and took up drawing to improve her rug-hooking designing skills. Lena’s love, excitement, and knowledge of rug hooking, combined with her passion and love for teaching has led her to introduce and teach rug hooking privately for many years.

Please check out my Instagram Account!
Lenas_rug_hooking

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Lindsay MacDonald

Lindsay MacDonald graduated from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with an MFA in Designed Objects (2009), and from NSCAD University with a BFA in Jewellery Design and Metalsmithing (2004). She was an artist-in-residence at the Harbourfront Centre metal studio from 2004-2007 and has exhibited her work nationally and internationally. Lindsay has been a jewellery instructor at multiple institutions including NSCAD University and The Shanghai Commercial School (through Selkirk College). Currently she is a sessional instructor at OCAD University, with a concentration in Jewellery History and Concepts. She maintains an independent studio practice in Ottawa. Her work has been acknowledged by multiple institutions such as the Canada Council for the Arts, The Ontario Arts Council, Craft Ontario, and most recently by the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair where she was awarded Best of Jewellery, 2021.

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Mackenzie George

Mackenzie George (he/him) is a fibre artist and designer working in rug hooking, hand-spun/natural dyed yarn, hand weaving, and needle felting mediums. With a professional background in graphic design and over 10 years of tinkering in fibre art and textiles, Mackenzie now works from his home studio (Harvest Folk Fibre Studio) in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Mackenzie has juried for craft shows, taken part in fibre events in Atlantic Canada and the United Kingdom, and has worked as a tour guide for the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia—interpreting to groups of all sizes, ages, and backgrounds. Mackenzie is an advocate for slow craft, regional fibresheds, and stronger regulations on global fast fashion brands.

To see more, visit harvestfolk.ca or instagram.com/harvestfolk.

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Maeve McKinnon

Maeve was born in suburban Ontario—a sprawling landscape of strip-malls, farmland, and Panera Breads. She grew up with an obsession for stories and continues to hone her skills for narrative buffoonery in her work. She attended NSCAD university and has recently graduated with a BFA in interdisciplinary art and a minor in art history. She was also the nominee in ceramics for the Student Art Award at NSCAD in 2023. Her inspiration often comes from a desire to pick at the loose threads of our increasingly confusing and technologically-bound world, and to describe her views on modern life. She delights in bringing humour into her work and invites viewers to share in on the joke.  

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Melanie Barnett

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Rhonda Miller

Rhonda Miller is a bookbinder with nearly twenty years experience and she has an undying fascination with book structure and historical bookbinding techniques. As a book artist, she does custom bookbinding, book repair and restoration, artists books, and paper marbling. Her work has been included in book art exhibits in various locations and in 2018 she won the Heritage Washi Award for her book in the CBBAG Art of the Book Exhibition. She has contributed to a number of bookbinding publications and has been interviewed for the Bookbinding Now podcast series.

While earning her Masters of Library and Information Studies, she took bookbinding courses through the Dawson Printshop at Dalhousie University. Later, she continued to develop her skills through a variety of workshops and intensive learning events such as the Paper and Book Intensive. Rhonda is owner and operator of MyHandboundBooks and Scotia Bookbinding and she teaches bookbinding classes at Craft Nova Scotia and at The Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland, Ohio. MyHandboundBooks.com

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Wenjing Yan

Wenjing Yan graduated in 2020 from Nova Scotia College of Arts and Design (NSCAD) University in Halifax with a BFA major in Jewellery Design and Metalsmithing. During her studies, she did an exchange in Germany at Pforzheim Hochschule. She also has BFA degree in Animation Design in China.

She has participated in many exhibitions. Among those exhibitions are the Solo “WE”Exhibition; Alchemy5 of 13th Enamelling Exhibition; the 19th International Silver Triennial Exhibition; New Taipei City International Metal Craft Exhibition; Annual SNAG Student Slide Exhibition; and the VMAA Vancouver Metal Arts Association [Play]ground Exhibition.

She loves to experiment with new materials and methods to create and develop her jewellery designs.

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