Episode 16 - Spark Box Studio

Art Conversations with Lisa Jayne Irvine

Since 2009, Chrissy Poitras and Kyle Topping have been hosting a vibrant community artist residency and printmaking studio in their rural Ontario farmhouse. Spark Box Studio has welcomed over 400 visiting artists from around the world who have come to find time and space away from their routines to focus on a variety of arts ranging from painting and poetry, to music and film.

Above all else, they view Spark Box as a resource by artists for artists. It's a place to create, research and grow. A place to learn, develop and explore. However artists, community members and visitors engage with them, the goal is to provide artists with the tools and connections to successfully share their vision with the world.

Both Chrissy and Kyle are graduates of the Queen’s University Bachelor of Fine Art Studio Program. Both are practicing artists working in painting and printmaking. Through their positions at Spark Box Studio, and as a former professor in the Art and Design Foundations Program at Loyalist College, Poitras and Topping have organized, developed and run courses on a variety of studio arts and arts management topics. They are highly involved in their artistic community and have built a career that is rooted in creation, community and public outreach.

On today’s episode Chrissy & Kyle talk about what it’s like running their residency program at Spark Box Studio, the challenges of the pandemic, community arts and their new YouTube projects.

Interested in learning more about the projects Chrissy and Kyle discussed on the episode. Check out the links below:

1. The Art Discourse video series. In this series Chrissy & Kyle answer art questions that have been sent to them over the years (mostly art business related). http://sparkboxstudio.com/artdiscourse/

2. Flat Files series. Also Chrissy & Kyle been hosting live Instagram studio visits with artists. https://sparkboxstudio.com/flatfiles/

3. Love Letter videos to past residents. This was Chrissy & Kyle’s first entry point into YouTube land which they had to pause for awhile because the time it was taking to create them was too much, but they’re hoping to bring them back in 2022. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpvuHJVnldV6HxcpiSNSt4_awj_HX-OLC

4. Artist Confessional, a series that looks behind the scenes as Chrissy and Kyle work through projects at the studio. So far they have made one episode for this and have footage for more but haven’t had the time to focus on it. So stay tuned! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpvuHJVnldV5jULptsDmDe6SQDe_eOZW4

5. The Spark Box Gallery, If that wasn’t enough to keep them busy. Chrissy and Kyle have opened a small gallery in Bloomfield! If you’re in the Prince Edward County area, check it out.

6. Virtual Emerging Artist Award and exhibited the work of the award winners (paying them each an honorarium). Here is information about that show here: https://sparkboxstudio.com/2021-emerging-artist-award/

Find me on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/artconversationswithlisajayne/ or at my website at www.lisajayneirvine.com