Artist of the day: Artist of the day, February 19, 2020: Shary Boyle, a Canadian contemporary visual artist working with porcelain sculpture, drawing, painting, and performance.

Shary Boyle (1972) is a Canadian contemporary visual artist working in the mediums of sculpture, drawing, painting, and performance.

Boyle was born in Scarborough, Ontario, the youngest of five children. There are no other professional artists or musicians in her immediate or extended family, though her mother and grandmother were gifted textile and folk-art hobbyists. She attended Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts high school where she studied art and music theatre daily, then went on to post-secondary studies at the Ontario College of Art, graduating in 1994. She was involved in the Toronto punk and hardcore music scene in her high school and early college years, singing in the band Liquid Joy. Her early interest in music and performance incorporated costume, poster and T-shirt design and the creation and free distribution of small photocopied 'zines. Her earliest 'zines and drawings were compiled in the compilation publication "Witness My Shame"

Her work explores themes of gender, identity, sexuality, power, and class, evoking emotional and psychic resonance through exquisite craftsmanship. She is particularly known for her explorations of the figure through porcelain sculpture. Boyle's earliest porcelain 'figurine' series (2002-2006) used commercial molds and traditional porcelain lace techniques to create sculptures that mined the historical relationship between decoration and excessive ornamentation as it relates to women and gender issues. The series was introduced in a solo exhibition at the Power Plant in Toronto. These early figurines became iconic in the Canadian contemporary art scene of the early 2000s, with the series acquired by major museums across the country and internationally. Boyle's early experiments with porcelain and her subversion of female hobby-craft from debased kitsch to contemporary art are credited with reviving porcelain and ceramics as a valid contemporary art medium in early 2000's Toronto, bridging a class divide and questioning hierarchy between 'low' and 'high' art through feminist intervention.

In 2006, her first series of porcelain sculpture was presented in a solo exhibition at the Power Plant in Toronto. In 2008 the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in Lethbridge showcased her work in a solo show, and in 2009 Boyle's work was first exhibited at Justina M Barnicke Gallery in Toronto. In 2010, Boyle's first national touring exhibition Flesh and Blood opened at the Art Gallery of Ontario. This exhibition was a joint venture between the AGO, Galerie de l’UQAM, and the Vancouver Contemporary Art Gallery. Boyle represented Canada at the 2013 Venice Biennale with her project Music for Silence. Boyle is a popular public speaker, with an extensive history of presenting public lectures, panel, and symposiums, and interviews internationally at universities, art centers, museums, and radio/online.

In addition to her sculptural and performance work, Boyle performs with musicians, creating shadow vignettes and "live" drawings, which are animated and projected onstage using vintage overhead projectors.

Boyle's work is included in many public and private collections, including The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Giverny Capital, Montreal Collection, The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Musee d'Art Contemporain de Montreal, The Bailey Collection, ON/NYC, The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, and la Maison Rouge, Paris.

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