Cycle of Healing, Jessica Semenoff, 2022, Screenprint on paper, Courtesy of Eveline Kolijn
Reimagining Fire: The Future of Energy
September 2025 – August 2027
Reimagining Fire, The Future of Energy is a book publication and exhibition featuring a fine art print portfolio (Energy Futures) by a collective of twenty Albertan artists and twenty Albertan writers. These creatives were thoughtfully paired to share a collaborative vision of sustainable energy in Alberta, exploring pressing questions that arise as we imagine solutions to climate change and global energy transitions. The project was led by Eveline Kolijn – whose practice operates in the transdisciplinary space of art, science, and social activism. Eveline participated in a 2018 Fellowship with the Energy Futures Lab (EFL), a non-profit lab based in Alberta that brings together a diverse ecosystem of innovators and influencers from government, the energy sector, First Nations, non-profits, academia, and the arts. Connecting the dots, Eveline brought the Energy Futures artist collective together with the EFL’s network of experts, thinkers, and influencers to develop the ensuing book, print portfolio, and now touring exhibition.
Reimagining Fire, The Future of Energy is intended to be visionary. Many people struggle with forming an idea of our future, but providing a vision through an artistic lens can inspire, empower, and feed action. Bringing together authors, poets, scientists, and visual artists – all from diverse geographical, cultural, and professional backgrounds – acknowledges varied and valuable cultural relationships to the earth, climate, and future-building.
Curated by Eveline Kolijn, lead Energy Futures artist
Touring from the Alberta Society of Artists, TREX Southwest
Artist Biographies
Sylvia Arthur is a graduate of the Visual Communications program at ACAD and has Extended Studies qualifications in painting, drawing and printmaking. She works as an exhibit and graphic designer and maintains a visual art practice.
Jared Tailfeathers-5ikomh Kokomii (Colling Crone) is a biracial Blackfoot {Nitstitapi) and Caucasian multidisciplinary artist, musician/sound artist (music teacher), Blackfoot/ Treaty 7 art researcher/amateur historian, author and inventor. He works in various media, arts and culture groups, collectives, committees and galleries.
Kasia Koralewska is a textile-based artist living in Calgary. She has a BFA from the Alberta College of Art+ Design in Calgary, and MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz, Poland in 2009. She presently teaches in the Fibre program at the Alberta University of the Arts.
Jamie-Lee Girodat is a visual artist and educator and completed a BFA at the University of Lethbridge and an MFA in Printmaking at the University of Alberta. Her interest in health and misinformation informs her practice in drawing, printmaking, and animation.
Jessica Semenoff is a Calgary-based multidisciplinary artist in the early stages of her career. As a muralist, painter, and printmaker, Semenoff creates artwork revolving around nature into her practice.
Heather Leier is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Calgary. Through her printmaking, installation, and multimedia creative practice, she explores understandings of identity, trauma, and life-phases.
Hannah Gelderman lives and works in the arts in Edmonton as an educator, programmer, researcher and visual artist. She has a Master of Education in Adult Education and Community Engagement from the University of Victoria.
Heather Urness likes to play fast and loose with traditional printmaking techniques while embracing newer processes with more environmentally friendly methods and materials. She is an active member of the Alberta Printmakers’ Society in Calgary.
Jacqueline Huskisson is an interdisciplinary artist from Calgary. She received a B.F.A in Print Media from the Alberta College of Art + Design and an M.F.A in Interdisciplinary Studies from the Belfast School of Art.
Nadia Perna is a recent graduate from the Alberta University of the Arts with a major in graphic design and minor in object design. She is an activist with Fridays for Future Calgary.
Kate Baillies practised as a printmaker for over 40 years. Over the past years she started using safer Intaglio media and techniques which she explored at artist residencies at Zea Mays Printmaking, a “green printmaking studio” located in Florence, Massachusetts.
Carole Bondaroff lives in Calgary. She has taught at the University of Calgary, the Alberta College of Art+ Design, the Glenbow Museum, and both Calgary School Boards. Carole is coproprietor of The Heart Studio in Calgary.
Liz Ingram has taught over forty years at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and is currently Distinguished University Professor Emerita. Her art has been exhibited in numerous solo, duo and group exhibitions. Selected awards include Royal Canadian Academy of Arts membership; the Royal Society of Canada membership, the Order of Canada membership.
Katie Marie Bruce is an Instructor at the University of Lethbridge in the Faculty of Fine Arts, where she explores the affective/affected body and the intersection of emotional and non-performative labour.
Mary Kavanagh is a Tier I Board of Governors Research Chair and Chair of the Department of Art in the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Lethbridge. Weaving artistic and scholarly methods, Kavanagh examines the material evidence of war, industry, and weaponized landscapes . She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Academy of Arts and Humanities.
Stan Phelps was born and raised in Calgary, with a BFA from the University of Calgary. Since 1978, Stan has worked as a painter, muralist, printmaker, freelance designer, and coproprietor of The Heart Studio in Calgary.
Jill Ho-You is an Assistant Professor in Print Media at the Alberta University of the Arts. Her practice explores the intersection of trauma, embodied memory and the environment through a mixture of print media, bioArt, installation, and drawing. Her work has been widely exhibited and awarded internationally.
Eveline Kolijn is a printmaker and multidisciplinary artist from Calgary and explores intersections in art and science. She received a MA in cultural anthropology from Leiden University in the Netherlands in 1986 and a BFA from the Alberta College of Art+ Design in 2008. She is an Ambassador of the Energy Futures Lab.
Alex R.M. Thompson is a printmaker/artist currently based in Edmonton, Alberta. His work engages with the built environment. Thompson holds a BFA from OCAD University in Toronto and an MFA from the University of Alberta.
Tara Manyfingers has a Theater Production Diploma from MacEwan University. She received her BFA at the Alberta University of the Arts in 2019, and is currently pursuing a Master degree of Fine Arts at the Alberta University of the Arts, majoring in printmaking.
Author Biographies
Alice Major is a poet and essayist driven to connect science and arts. Awards include: a National Magazine Award gold medal and the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta’s Distinguished Artist Award. Alice has served as first poet laureate of Edmonton, president of the League of Canadian Poets and Writers Guild of Alberta, and chair of the Edmonton Arts Council.
Larry Kapustka has forty-five plus years’ experience in basic and applied ecology as a professor, government research scientist, and consultant in the areas of ecological risk assessment, ecosystem services, and sustainability.
Monica Kidd has published several books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction. She has a M.Sc and has worked for CBC Radio, finishing as CBC’s National Science Reporter and an editor for Quirks & Quarks. In 2004 she went to medical school and now works as a family doctor.
Kim Mannix (she/her) is a professional writer, with more than 20 years of experience in print journalism. Since 2014 she has been working as a poet and fiction writer. She has been published in several reputable anthologies and journals in Canada and the U.S.
Shannon Kernaghan writes and creates visual art from Alberta, Canada. Her work appears in books and journals- poetry, fiction and everything between.
Lori Claerhout is a writer and editor living in Athabasca. An intuitive dreamer, explorer, and boreal forest dweller, she is also an “organizer of words, thoughts, ideas, and people.
Alexis Kienlen (she/her) is a mixed-race writer who lives in Edmonton. She is a poet, fiction writer and journalist and has published four books, most recently the novel “Mad Cow.”
Kathryn Gwun-Yeen t’iffl Lennon was born and raised in Edmonton, with mixed HongKong Cantonese and Irish ancestry. She is working on a bilingual book of poetry, with support from the Edmonton Arts Council. She is also the co-creator, with Kyla Pascal, of Hungry Zine.
Natalie Meisner is an award-winning multi-genre author and 5th Poet Laureate of Calgary. Her work deploys the power of comedy for social change. Director of Changemaking and Full Professor in the Department of English, Languages and Cultures at Mount Royal University.
Barb Howard is a multi-genre writer who has published four novels and a short story collection. She is a recipient of the Howard O’Hagan Award for Short Story and the Canadian Authors’ Association Exporting Alberta Award.
Richard Harrison is the author of seven books of poetry, including the 2017 Governor General’s Award-winning “On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood”. Recently retired as Professor of English at Mount Royal University, Richard taught Creative Writing and courses in the essay and comics and graphic novels. He also has a B.Sc. in Biology.
Rosemary Griebel is a writer and professional librarian, with a passion for community building and nature. Her award-winning poetry has appeared in The Best Canadian Poetry in English, as well as on CBC Radio, literary magazines, anthologies, chapbooks, and on public buses.
Mar’ce Merrell is the author of four books of fiction, a journalist for newspapers and magazines, essays, and short stories for adults. Her most recent novel, “Wicked Sweet” (Macmillan, 2012), was a Barnes & Noble best summer read pick for young adults.
Emma Gammans’ interest in evolving energy narratives stems from her experience leading communications for the Energy Futures Lab. She has a BA in History and Creative Writing from the University of Calgary, and believes that stories are a powerful tool.
Donna Williams is a Calgary-based writer and recently completed an MA in English literature and creative writing at the University of Calgary. Her short stories have won awards and her Globe and Mail essays range from dementia to love angst.
Peter Midgley is an Edmonton-based writer, translator, and editor who has advocated for local writers and for diversity. His work has been recognized internationally and appears in print and non-traditional venues (e.g., guerilla poetry and graffiti in Palestine’s West Bank).
Mark Hopkins is Artistic Director of Swallow-a-Bicycle Theatre, which generates productive discomfort through art-making, and an Associate with Human Venture Leadership, which seeks to build our collective capacities to reduce ignorance, error, waste, suffering and injustice.
Michael J. Leeb is a Chippewa Cree/German visual artist, poet, writer, and historian. He was a regular contributor to OnSite Review and has been published in journals such as The Nashwaak Review; Existere; Red Ink Journal of Indigenous Arts & Humanities; and Lemon Theory.
Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike is a poet, children’s novelist, literary journalist, essayist, and the author of “Wish Maker” (Masobe Books, 2021) and “Double Wahala, Double Trouble” (Griots Lounge Publishing, 2021).
Maggie Hanna is a geologist with a BSc in Geology and experience in mining, and oil and gas exploration. In the past decade, she has focused on systems thinking and energy transition as a Fellow at the Energy Futures Lab, Associate at the Canadian Energy Systems Analysis Research group at the University of Calgary, and Technology Steward at the Engineering Change Lab.