Visual Art
curated by Shawnee Danielle
Nextfest is pleased to present visual art at our festival at the Roxy Theatre’s Miller Art Gallery. The gallery is open to the public during festival hours and free to visit.
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migration
2025
Copperplate etching and relief.
14 x 20 inches.
Jenna Zoe Sampson
Jenna Zoe Sampson is a settler emerging artist born and raised in Amiskwaciwâskahikan. Her fine art practice emphasizes etching, ceramics, and soft sculpture. Jenna’s work often explores themes of land, queerness, and connection, focusing on interspecies communities within urban forest spaces. She holds a BFA in Art and Design from the University of Alberta. Recent exhibitions include: Where We Land, 2025 at SNAP Gallery, Strange Currents, 2025 at The University of Alberta FAB Gallery, and Fair Weather, 2024 at the Art Gallery of Alberta Community Gallery.
Lord of the Squirrel Trail
Acrylic on Canvas
Viviane Forest
Vivian Forrest was born with a degenerative eye condition which left her with 4% functional vision. While attending school for the blind, she learned sculpting, painting, music and discovered the Paralympic sport movement and competed for Canada in 3 Paralympic Games, earning seven medals,
in two sports – becoming the first Canadian female to win gold medals in both summer and winter Games, retiring in 2013. In 2021, she reconnected with painting and has a fascination for light and colour creating dramatic palettes, using the vision she has left to paint as much as she can.
The Forest Watches
2025
Oil on Canvas.
24 x 40 inches 2025
Sweta Bhoje
Sweta Bhoje is a self taught artist, where her art is driven by passion, intuition, and a desire to express the world as she sees it. Each piece reflects her personal journey, where creativity and self-exploration guides her work. Free from the constraints of traditional training, she embraces experimentation and develops a distinct style that makes her work an authentic extension of who she is.
visceral
2024
Nylon, yarn, embroidery thread, beads.
16 x 20 x 16 inches.
Maria Shironoshita
Maria Shironoshita is an emerging artist living and working in Treaty 6 territory, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Maria is Japanese Peruvian and immigrated to Canada at the age of four. She is a multidisciplinary artist exploring feelings of childhood and home. She has exhibited at the AGA Community Gallery, Rutherford Galleria, FAB Gallery, Stollery Gallery, DC3 Art Projects, and Edmonton City Center. Her work is funded by the Edmonton Arts Council. Maria currently holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art and Design from the University of Alberta.
Comfort in Purple Seas
[Work in Progress]
Proposal Submission, 2026
Gouache and Acrylic on Cradled Wood
Panel
20 inch by 20 inch
Agatha Lidia Chacinski
Agatha Lidia Chacinski, a first-generation citizen of Canada, was born 1986 in Beaver Hills House (Edmonton), on Treaty Six Territory. DespiteAgatha’s love of the arts starting at age four, her career led her into psychology. Realizing she missed a vital component of practicing art in her life, she returned to her passion in 2017, pursuing a career as a self-taught artist. Agatha is a mixed media artist, working in watercolour, acrylic, gouache, ink, coloured pencil, linoleum printmaking, and digital illustration.
You Are Doing Good 잘하고 있어
2025
Hanji
23.6 inch diametre
Eunju Park
Eunju Park is a self-taught Hanji artist based in St. Albert, Canada. Born in Ulsan, South Korea, beginning her artistic practice later in life while navigating grief and mental health challenges, turning to art as a way to heal and reconnect with her cultural roots. Working with torn Hanji, Park transforms Hangul (Korean letters) into abstract compositions that carry messages of encouragement and self-acceptance. Her practice focuses on emotional resilience and the quiet power of affirmation. She also hosts workshops where participants learn Korean letters and engage with the tactile, grounding process of tearing Hanji and creating their own pieces.