Collect 2022 artist Spotlight: NOVA SCOTIA’S Toni Losey

Collect is the leading international fair for contemporary craft and design. Now in its 18th edition, Collect offers a carefully curated selection of artworks from the most promising artists living today, both established and emerging. Collect is produced by Craft Council, and acts as a “global hub of art and craft collecting”, with many works previously acquired directly by renowned institutions, including the V&A in London.

Following a successful online iteration in 2021, Collect Art Fair will be held in person this year at Somerset House in London in addition to an online presentation in partnership with Artsy. Opening to the public on 25 February, with a private view held on 24 February, this year’s selection of international galleries and artists promise an expansive variety of disciplines, spanning everything from neon to tapestry.

In anticipation of what will be the highlight of our February, we caught up with Canadian artists Toni Losey, presented by PIK’D (Lebanon), and Amanda McCavour, presented by the returning Cynthia Corbett Gallery (England), who will both be presenting new works for Collect 2022. Find out about Toni’s mesmerising sculptures and her creative process below, and follow us on social media or sign up to our newsletter to be the first to read about our conversation with Amanda.

Toni Losey: Canadian Ceramic Artist

Portrait of Toni Losey by Deedee Morris Photography, 2021.

Hailing from the Canadian Prairies and currently based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, ceramic artist Toni Losey creates sculptures that play with texture and mimicry in ways that pique our most otherworldly fantasies. I spoke to her to find out more about the works she’ll be presenting with Collect 2022 and the evolution of her practice. Read our conversation to discover Toni’s many inspirations, the techniques she uses and the evolution of her artworks.

Sandy Di Yu: Your sculptures often look like delicate organisms that straddle a fantastical world and a world of pure nature, ones that both seduce and warn us with their vivid colours and dynamic shapes. Are there specific aspects of nature or fantasy that you draw on when conceiving your sculptures? How do you usually begin the process of creation? 

Toni Losey: Over the years, my specific points of inspiration have developed and changed. In the first iteration of this sculptural work, I was looking to the ocean, coral reefs and nudibranchs, as a jumping off point. I found here a world of endless inspiration and variety but also felt disconnected from it as I was relying on the experiences and images of others to lead my work.  The lockdown of the last few years has offered me the opportunity to explore my own backyard, and I’ve found that inspiration is always close at hand. I have been working on my photography skills and have thoroughly enjoyed incorporating Mac photography into my daily nature walks. My photographs of lichen, fungi, slime moulds etc have become a resource for my sculptures that I feel very connected to.

The fantastical quality of my work does not have a specific origin. It is, however, done with intention. I feel it offers a slightly unbalanced moment for the viewer as they pivot between the feeling of familiar but otherworldly. This unbalance pushes for further examination and questioning as one tries to place these forms within our experiences of the natural world.

The making of a body of work often begins with an overarching theme or concept. My work often considers our world and the damage we are seeing in our natural systems but throughout the pandemic it has also started to encompass survival strategies of organisms when placed under pressure. I think the relevance of this shift to me is that I have begun to feel an increased kinship to nature as I see myself and others placed under the pressures of the pandemic looking for new survival strategies.

Toni Losey, Dottie, 2021. Earthenware, 25 cm x 23 cm x 27 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

SY: Could you walk me through the technical process of creating your ceramic artworks? Do you start with a lump of clay and just let inspiration take over? Do you meticulously plan each curve and dimple? 

TL: Each of my hollow works is comprised of multiple wheel thrown appendages. I am an intuitive builder and intentionally create opportunities for the sculpture to organically grow and develop as opposed to being prescribed and scripted. I believe the connection to the natural world is enhanced by the removal of an overly formulaic approach. I have developed over the years an evolving set of rules, based on and informed by my interpretation of nature and patterns of growth. This set of rules informs my decisions as the pieces are constructed and allows me to be reactive to the piece as it develops.  

SY: Does your location on the beautiful Canadian coast influence your works? Do you often recall your surroundings from when you grew up in the Prairies in your art? 

TL: I have been blessed to spend time in Canada from coast to coast. This country is huge and beautiful! When growing up, I was privileged to have artistic parents. My mom is a painter and my dad, a photographer. We would spend our weekends out in the country, sketching and photographing wide open fields of wild grasses, crocuses and lichen stained rocks. It was not until the time of reflection found in the last couple of years that I made the connection between these early childhood expressions and my inspirations of today. I suppose my work has always been rooted in the places I live, from the life found in our oceans to the fungi in our forests. I find joy and inspiration in looking to the tiniest of details found in nature, and when you live in a country as expansive as Canada, you are never at a loss for places in nature that inspire.

SY: I love the names of the works you’ll be including in Collect 2022: so succinct whilst lending a personality to each sculpture, almost making each piece into a character of a particular narrative. Is there any significance to these names? 

TL: Naming works has always been a challenge for me. I often feel that a name can be so leading and I never want to take the mystery away. As I put together this collection of works for Collect to be shown by Pik’d Gallery, I came to the realization that each of my works exists as a being, not necessarily personified, but possibly more as a pet or creature. When I identified this characteristic, finding names to fit their individual identities and energies was quite enjoyable.

Toni Losey, Oliver, 2021. Earthenware, 14 cm x 23 cm x 15 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

SY: Colour seems to dominate your works as much as form. How do you decide on using particular colours? Is there significance in how certain colours are matched with particular forms? 

TL: Colour intimidated me in the early days, my works only existing in black and white; it's hard to imagine now. The colour in my work is in direct response to the macro photography images I am taking for inspiration. I am hoping to develop this colour connection further as I would love to tie the works to specific locations and experiences. I look to one day include the inspiration images and the specific colours drawn from them as part of the work.

When matching specific colours to specific forms, I use a fairly intuitive approach. The colours are built up through the application of layer upon layer of surface. This layering allows me to respond to the piece, the form, as the colours start to emerge. By the time I have started to apply the colour to the work, its form, its “attitude” has largely already been defined. I see the addition of colours as an opportunity to enhance a mood or energy that I feel is already present in the work.

SY: How did you come to use ceramics in your practice? 

TL: I was privileged to start ceramics as part of my high school art program at the age of 14. I have worked on and off in it ever since then, focusing primarily on functional work until I went to the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University (NSCAD). Here, I was finally able to explore, through state of the art facilities and invaluable instruction, the sculptural practice I had always wanted to pursue. I credit NSCAD as the impetus and means for this turning point in my making.

SY: Are there any artists who have been greatly influential to your practice? 

TL: This list is by no means exhaustive!  Ron Nagel, Ken Price, Barbara Hemsworth, Lauren Mabry, Tessa Eastman, Karl Blossfeldt, Rory MacDonald, Joan Bruneau, Evan Hild

SY: Could you tell me about the specific pieces you’ll be including in Collect 2022?  

TL: This new body of work for Collect has been developed over the last 6 months. It is bursting with energy, movement and colour - dynamic surfaces using shifting colours and textures to emphasize the overtly gesturing forms bringing to light their playful natures. The work, drawing direct references from fungi, is joyful and “alive.” I wanted to share this energy and hope as we return to an in person exhibition. Fungi, an apt inspiration in this time, forms out of loss and decay just as we are hoping to grow out of these times of change and uncertainty.

Toni Losey, The Dance - Petulia and Pietro, 2021. Earthenware, 39 cm x 30 cm x 29 cm and 39 cm x 32 cm x 28 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

SY: What is your favourite work that you've created to date? 

TL: This tends to be a moving target with me, but currently I would say the work, “The Outside of Inside” (2021). The image of this piece has been chosen as the cover image for the promotional material for Ceramic Art London 2022. This piece I feel is highly successful in the interaction between the multiple forms and also excites me as it is what I believe is a precursor to future works where internal spaces may also be explored. 

SY: Have you presented work with Collect art fair before? What are your expectations?

TL: This will be my first time showing at Collect and I am so excited to meet with the community there, artists, galleries, patrons etc. I am a huge proponent of the value of connections and communities and see this as an opportunity to further develop these relationships.  

SY: Is there generally much difference between the reception of your work from Canadian versus British audiences? 

TL: The UK, specifically London, has the benefit of history, population and world-renowned galleries, and I have felt very privileged to have been offered some acceptance in such a market. Canada is a wonderful place to build and grow. I feel it has offered me the support and opportunity I needed to be ready to show my work at such a prestigious event as Collect.

To book tickets for Collect 2022, head to Craft Council’s website and sign up for their newsletter to get notified when tickets go on sale.

We also wanted to mention that we recently met the fascinating Canadian Isabelle Fish, and became acquainted with her womens’ membership club, Rue Pigalle, an international community that champions crafts and nurtures craftspeople They're doing member events in London during Collect, and during Ceramic Art London after that. Check them out here, and look for their March feature including Toni and other talented Canadians.