About
About my working process.
An integral aspect of my working process is to salvage the lost, the forgotten, the overlooked, the discarded, the once-precious things that time forgot. I collect archetypal artifacts that function as time capsules embedded in the work. I not only resurrect select images, objects, and materials, but I elevate them to a higher status with greater meaning in a new context. The materials are evocative, and their transformative potential fuels the work. The materials I select convey a sense of wonder, whimsy, and nostalgia—of sweet remembrance and re-discovery—while simultaneously presenting a collision of time, materials, references, and values. I play with the patterns, nostalgia, and memory. Together this palette of gathered materials pushes the boundaries of my work into new arenas.
Past visual projects have spanned from invitational gallery installations , single channel video, to architectural commissions. Each present a unique opportunity to customize a space and provide it with a charged or shifted meaning through the use of accumulated, forgotten yet familiar materials.
I have also produced also done public commissions for architects, The Gladstone Hotel, trade shows, gallery installations, public buildings, and home interiors that requires creative problem-solving and address issues of scale, materials, and budget while infusing a unique sense of vibrancy and transformational use of materials. The works transform a space so that viewers enter a new realm
Selected CV
Education
MFA, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 1998
BFA, Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia (now University of the Arts), PA, 1983
Grants
Trinity Square Video Pitch Award, 2009
Canada Council for the Arts – Project Grant 2007
Toronto Arts Council – Visual Arts, Level 2, 2006
Ontario Arts Council – Media Grant for Emerging Artists, 2002
Lesbian and Gay Community Appeal, Grant for Video Production, 2002
Canada Council Travel Grant, 2001
Canada Council Travel Grant, 2000
Lesbian and Gay Community Appeal, Grant for Video Production, 2000
Awards
V tape Best Emerging Video Art Award, Toronto, ON, 2000
Toronto Urban Film Festival – Best of Category, 2009, Jurors Prize / Fiction, University of Oregon Queer Film Festival, Eugene, OR, Festival Favorite, New Zealand Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, Auckland, New Zealand, Festival Favorite, London Lesbian Film Festival, London, ON, 2nd Place / Documentary, University of Oregon Queer Film Festival, Eugene, OR. Fest Favorites, Wingspan Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, Tucson, AZ
Residencies
2014 Elsewhere, Artist in residence, Greensboro, NC
2007 Banff Centre for the Arts – IBanff, Alberta
Solo Exhibitions
2012 Now and When, The Convience Gallery, Toronto, ON
2004 You Only Live Twice, Zsa Zsa Gallery, Toronto, ON
Selected Group Exhibitions
2013 ReBuilding the We, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON
Troubling Masculinties,Video Fag, Toronto, ON
2012 Dear City, One Stop Media, Toronto, ON
2008 Parkdale International Art Fair, Toronto, ON
The After Party, La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, Montreal, QC
Plot, Engage, Disperse, James Canning Park,Toronto, ON
2007 Toronto Underground Film Festival, Toronto, ON
2006 Hand, Face, Body, The Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, ON
Jingle, The Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, ON
Art in the Fall at 401, Toronto, ON
2005 Blame Canada, Harvey Levine Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Queer in the Headlights, NOW Lounge, Toronto, ON
Making History: Construction of Queer Identity, The qu-Art Gallery, Toronto, ON
2004 Photorama, Gallery TPW, Toronto, ON
2000 Fall Screening, Uncommon Objects, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, ON
1999 Media Room, Arch Gallery, Chicago, IL
Commissioned Works / Screenings
Tresure Hunt, Kitchner/Waterloo Library, 35’ x 9’ glass wall mural (Slated to open 09, 2014)
Window Treatment(s) North York Youth Shelter, Toronto, ON
The Three Sisters, Interior Design Show 2007, 16’ x 16’ diameter chandelier, for Masco Corporation
Room 309 – Puzzle Room, Glastone Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, 2006
Better Fate Than Never, “Command Z” Program, Images Film and Video Festival,
Cherries in the Snow and ode to Joan Nestle, Inside Out Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, Toronto
The Housesitter, Inside Out Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, Toronto, ON
Videography (single channel works)
Under Construction, 1 minute, 2009
Sky Garden, 1 minute, 2007
Better Fate Than Never, 5 minutes, 2005
Class Queers, 52 minutes 2003
Cherries in the Snow an Ode for Joan Nestle, 4 minutes 2002
The Housesitter, 5 minutes, 2001
Baking With Butch, Episode 2, Co-Director Nina Levitt, 10 min. 2000
Baking With Butch, Episode 1, Co-Director Nina Levitt, 5 min. 1998
I Make Passes at Girls Who Wear Glasses, Super 8/Video, 2 minutes, 1998
The Lesbian Tapes (After Ilene Segalove”, 1 minute, 1997
She Loves Me., Video installation, 1997
Lisa Lisa, 10 minutes, 1997
Video Library Collections
Alberta College of Art and Design, ED
Several Secondary Public School libraries across Canada
Toronto Public Library, Toronto
University of Guelph, ON
York University, Toronto, ON
University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
Selected Film and Video Festival Screenings at Lesbian and Gay Festivals
(Canada) Toronto, Vancouver, Prince George, Calgary, London, Montreal, Winnipeg, Ottawa,
(US) San Francisco, Connecticut, Milwaukee, North Carolina, Tampa, New Orleans, Miami, Los Angeles, Fresno, Rochester, Washington DC, Portland, Chicago, Tucson, Berkeley, Seattle, Portland, Boise, Philadelphia (International) Amsterdam, London, Milan, Turin, Italy, Johannesburg, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Australia, Freiburg, Berlin, and Hanover, Germany, Paris, Brussels, Bologna, Auckland, Wellington, New Zealand, Oslo, Norway, Turku, Finland, Dublin, Ireland, Budapest, Hungary
Selected Reviews
Dick, Terence, Melissa Levin at Conveniece, Akimbo Blog, December 4, 2012 http://akimbo.ca/akimblog/?id=626
Farquharson, Catherine, “Levin’s Lessons”, Now Magazine, November 25, 2004 http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=144647
Doyle, John, Television review column, The Globe and Mail, April 29th, 2003
Giese, Rachel, “A Class All Their Own”, Xtra, April, 2003 http://dailyxtra.com/toronto/class
Marshall, Jeannie, “Halls Without Cat Calls”, The National Post, April, 2003
Lola, No.13, Fall 2002, “Cherries in the Snow – an Ode For Joan Nestle”
Shuman, Jane, “Lesbian to the Rescue”, The Link / Queer Issue, October, 1999
Noack, Andie, “Have you been assisted by a Lesbian Helper?”, Siren, (Toronto) Oct. / Nov., 1999
Marshall, Jeannie, “Here she comes to save the day!”, The National Post, July, 1999
