Charmaine Lurch

Lurch was born in Jamaica and came to Canada at the age of six.^[1] She holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies from York University and diplomas in design and illustration from Sheridan College, both in Ontario.^[2] In addition, she studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design University in Toronto, and the School of Visual Arts in New York City ^[3]

Lurch's work often incorporates themes of world histories, Black history, diversity, equity and environmental issues.^[4] She is active as an art educator in Toronto.^[1] As a lead artist with the non-profit group Inner City Angels, Lurch leads interdisciplinary public art projects involving children.^[5][6] Her sculpture Bees is installed in the Regent Park social housing development in Toronto.^[7] She cites artists including Lynette Yiadom Boakye, Jasmine Thomas-Grivan, Denyse Thomasos, and Theaster Gates as inspirations.^[8] Lurch has been critical of the way the traditional power structures of the art world systematically exclude artists of colour.^[9]

Lurch's work has been exhibited at a number of venues including the Royal Ontario Museum, Nuit Blanche, the University of British Columbia, and the National Gallery of Jamaica.^[3] Her work A Mobile and Visible Carriage was prominently featured in the group show Every.Now.Then at the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2017.^[10][11]

• Compounding Vision, solo exhibition at RiverBrink Art Museum, 2019-20^[12][13]
• Critical Mass, Art Gallery of Guelph, 2018-19^[14]
• Settling in Place: Aylan Couchie, Martha Griffith, Charmaine Lurch, MacLaren Art Centre, 2018^[15]
• Here We Are Here, Royal Ontario Museum and Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 2018^[16]
• Every. Now. Then.: Reframing Nationhood, Art Gallery of Ontario, 2017 ^[17]