2026 Highlights

Highlights 2026

Students showed their support for our technologists during the support staff strike by postering campus with these “Missing Techs” posters.

The busy 2025/26 academic year began with a bit of hiccup – a support staff strike – which meant our team of indispensable, highly skilled studio technologists – Duncan Aird, Jason Cornish, Janelle Guthrie, Christina Pupo, and Mickey Wang were on the picket line for 5 weeks in September and October. For our close-knit community it was challenging to see our colleagues on strike. Collaboration between faculty and students made the strike survivable but all were relieved to see our techs come back to work after over a month without them!

Throughout the year, extracurricular and social activities included BBQs, potluck meals, pizza parties, picnics, and the annual Easter Egg Hunt, with participating students and faculty searching for egg-sized craft objects hidden in the studios. Some annual class activities act like rites of passage – 2nd year textiles students printing dye swatches and ceramics students building mini-kilns!

Field Trips Near and Far

Students, from all years of study, took advantage of the many field trips opportunities in the Greater Toronto Area and beyond. Gallery visits included touring exhibitions at Harbourfront Centre, Craft Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum, Art Gallery of Burlington, the Textile Museum of Canada, Gardiner Museum, Cambridge Galleries, The Lost and Found Gallery, and DesignTO, and Textiles students took in a performance of Orfeo ed Eurydice at Canadian Opera Company.

Field trip to the Royal Ontario Museum with professor Marc Egan.

Students visited working studios of professional artists and designers at Harbourfront Centre, Contemporary Textile Studio Cooperative, and Parkdale Pottery Studio to visit with designers, artists and makers such as Gitte Hansen, Heidi Earnshaw, Ranee Lee and Look-i-Like (Christina Zeidler and Deanne Lehtinen), as well as industry-leading businesses, such as Coolican and Company, Jake Whillans Studio, Mary Ratcliffe Studio, Valley Woodwork Studio, and Yabu Pushelberg.

In the last week of February and first week of March, 10 Sheridan Craft and Design students from Ceramics, Furniture, Industrial Design, and Textiles travelled to Guatemala as part of the Field Study course. This credit invites students to explore design through a transnational lens by engaging directly with the craft, culture, and context of another country. Led and organized by faculty member Kirsten White, the group collaborated with the Guatemalan social enterprise Itza Wood, as well as the women’s cooperatives Selva Savia and Fibras de la Selva.

The trip began in Antigua Guatemala, a historic city set among three volcanoes, where students developed an appreciation for the country’s rich material culture and traditions. They then travelled to the Petén region, home to Itza Wood, where they worked collaboratively in their jungle-based workshop and visited the Mayan ruins of Topoxte and Yaxhá.

Project outcomes include stools, tabletop objects, and candle holders that combine woodturning, weaving, and ceramics. The work introduces new techniques, materials, and levels of precision while responding to local materials and collaborative making processes. Together, the projects reflect experimentation, skill-building, and thoughtful adaptation to context and craft traditions.

Faculty Travels & Accolades

Several ceramics faculty participated in the exhibition “Canadian Small Favours” at the annual NCECA conference in Detroit, Michigan. This was an invitational exhibition put together by former faculty Jess Riva Cooper and Sheridan Ceramics grad Dana Dallal. The exhibition featured small works from a wide-ranging group of artists from across Canada. Professor Emeritus Bruce Cochrane was celebrated with the Excellence in Teaching Award at the NCECA Conference this year, a major achievement and honour.

Interim Industrial Design Studio Head Rafael Studart and Industrial Design Technologist Mickey Wang received the Sheridan College Generator Growth Grant for their submission, The In-House Design Agency: An Entrepreneurial Approach to Industrial Design. The project will be focused on developing a structure to allow students to internally design, manufacture, market and sell products as well as creating opportunities for industry partnerships.

Glass faculty member Jin Won Han presented the lecture “Introduction to CNC Machining for Glass-forming” at the Glass Art Association of Canada (GAAC) Conference in Whitehorse, Yukon, in June 2025. The lecture explored the use of Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machining in glass-forming processes, including casting, mold-making, and engraving, based on teaching experience at Sheridan College. Jin will present work at the Glass Fashion Show during the Glass Art Society (GAS) Conference in Corning, NY, June 2026, coinciding with the 75th anniversary of the Corning Museum of Glass. Curated by Sheridan alumna Laura Donefer, the Glass Fashion Show is a juried event renowned for over 20 years.

Glass faculty member Owen Johnson was shortlisted for the Luxembourg Art Prize, an annual international artistic prize organized by the Pinacothèque, a private museum located in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Owen was also a speaker at the Pilchuck casting conference, and will be returning to teach at Pilchuck, WA this summer.

Industry Partnerships & Community Projects

Once again, this year, students in Textiles worked in groups on projects led by studio head Thea Haines in collaboration with Creative Matters Inc., a Toronto based floor and wall covering design house founded in 1988. Students were provided input and support from Kayla Bortolotto, Emily Moffet, and Betsy Pelletier – all designers at Creative Matters – and Sheridan Alumni. Students took inspiration from rugs designed by Creative Matters and developed a series of designs incorporating a combination of techniques, such as tufting, needle punch, print (digital or screen printing), dyeing, felting, embroidery, and fabric manipulation.

The Industrial Design Industry Project partnered with Toronto based firm Hollis+Morris. Professor Kirsten White led students in a lighting design project with outstanding results - a unique opportunity to work with a leading local design firm, under realistic constraints and timelines, concluding with a presentation of fully functional lightning pieces.

Furniture professor Connie Chisholm and Associate Dean Zaiba Mian try out children’s stools at Right to Food Headquarters, built by 3rd year students during their annual Community Project course.

In our third-year Commercial Furniture Practices course, with support from faculty member Kirsten White students worked with Yabu Pushelberg. Throughout the course, students develop and pitch a collection of furniture to YP’s Product Development team.

For sixteen years, the Furniture Studio has fostered meaningful connections between students and local organizations through a community-engaged design initiative. This year we partnered with Indwell, an organization that provides affordable housing and supports for people seeking health, wellness and belonging, and Flourish, its real estate development arm. Students and tenants from Indwell’s Lakeshore Lofts Community collaborated to create furniture for Indwell’s new Creekside Community in Mississauga. Furniture faculty member Connie Chisholm, remains deeply involved and critical in these initiatives. Through her social enterprise, Codesign, she acts as a key link between the college and community partners.

This summer, Furniture students, Simone Hogeveen and Ellie Stagenberg will be helping to fabricate furniture for the Kerr Street Mission. This is an opportunity which enables students to satisfy their co-op placement while providing custom furniture to this valuable organization.

Industrial Design students test out their chairs built in their Furniture: Forms in Material course.

Audible commissioned a massive hand embroidery by textiles faculty member Kate Jackson to help celebrate and promote the launch of their new Audible Original recording of Pride & Prejudice. The embroidery, 7.5 feet in diameter, was designed by Kate utilizing traditional regency era embroidery motifs, was hand stitched, requiring over 700 hours of labour. Kate employed 14 artist assistants comprised of current textiles students and recent graduates, for many, the first opportunity to work on a commission of this scale. The finished embroidery was displayed during the Word on the Street Festival in Toronto’s David Pecaut Square.

Craft & Design also partnered with the Centre for Indigenous Learning and Support at Sheridan to host indigenous-led workshops in ribbon skirt/shirt making for indigenous students. This summer Craft & Design will participate in FAAD’s Pathways to Postsecondary initiative aimed guiding indigenous highschool students towards arts-related careers education at Sheridan.

Fundraising

Glass studio technologist Jason Cornish and Ceramics studio technologist Duncan Aird, installing sculpture by Matt Wedel outside the Ceramics studio. Matt Wedel made this piece as a demo during his visiting artist workshop in 2025.

Student fundraising activities included the annual ceramics Mug and Bowl O Rama, textiles Palentine’s Day Sewing Bee, and our annual Craft & Design Holiday Ornament Sale. Together, the students worked hard to raise funds make possible our programme of visiting artist talks and workshops, field trips, exhibitions, awards.

Ceramics students made and contributed dozens of bowls to the Gardiner Museum’s Empty Bowls event in support of the Anishnawbe Health Foundation.

Student & Alumni Achievements 

Lindsey Ainsworth (Furniture ’25), is the winner of this past year’s James H. McPherson Award in Woodworking given by Craft Ontario.

Michelle Foran (Furniture ’25), and her partner, Jamie Herman, of superblue collective, had a two-month-long exhibition this past fall at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Tennessee.

Many graduates of the Furniture stream were active during Toronto’s Design Week this past January; highlights included Joel Galenkamp (Furniture ’23), Alison Postma (Furniture ’24) and Ashley MacDonald (Furniture ’19) showing work in Studio North at the Interior Design Show.

The RBC Award for Glass, presented annually by the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery and supported by RBC is a prestigious award allows practising early-career glass artists to undertake a period of independent research or other activities that advance their artistic and professional practice. This year, once again, 3 out of 5 finalists were Sheridan Glass graduates. Bram Locknick (Glass ‘23) won runner-up. Claire Anderson (Glass ‘11) became studio manager at Terminal City in Vancouver and had articles in Glasshouse, a German magazine, Studio magazine and the Vancouver Guardian.

Natalie Rebmann (Glass ‘25) and Sara Moran(Glass ‘25), will also showcase their work in the Glass Fashion Show during the Glass Art Society (GAS) Conference in Corning, NY. 6 current students will be representing the glass studio at the GAS conference in this year.

In partnership with Artcast Inc., the ID Studio ran a work integrated learning project during the summer of 2025. The group participated in ICI’s (Investment Casting Institute) International Design Competition. Chloe Pangan and Gabriela Malheiro had their works selected for production by Artcast Inc. and for the second yar running, a Sheridan student won the contest. Gabriela’s Cod Fish door pull hooked the judges and reeled in the first prize.

7 Industrial Design students will participate once again this year in the annual Rocket Design Competition.

Ceramics exhibition opening reception at the Gardiner Museum, April 2026.

Student Exhibitions

Our annual graduate exhibition, Ideas & Objects ’26 took place at the Creative Campus Gallery, at Hazel McCallion Campus.

Off-campus exhibitions included: Ceramics graduate exhibition“Still, After” held at the Gardiner Museum in April. This spring, the graduating ceramics class will be joined by the graduating glass class for our first exhibition at the Art Gallery of Burlington in May.

Visiting Artists, Guest Speakers & Critics

Former furniture studio technologist Rob Diemert inspecting a student chair during end-of term critiques.

Our Craft & Design studios invited an array of professional artists and designers this year to visit our students and share their knowledge via presentations, lectures, workshops, and critiques.  Many of these distinguished professionals are also graduates of the Craft & Design program. 

Here are some of the folks we invited to our studios: 

Lindsay Pichaske – ceramic artist
Jess Riva Cooper – ceramic artist, former faculty member
Selina Chen and Matt Waterson - The Kiln Room JDZ, Jingdezhen, China.
Linda Rotua Sormin – ceramic artist, former Ceramics studio head
Nicole Coon – Alumni, class of 2020, and Designer, Yabu Pushelberg
Rob Diemert – Former Furniture Studio Technologist at Sheridan College
Peter Fleming – Former Furniture Studio Head at Sheridan College
Julian Gregory – Designer, Yabu Pushelberg
Mackenzie Langton – Alumni, class of 2020, and Head of Furniture, Hamilton Holmes
Andrew Reesor – Alumni, class of 2006, and former Furniture Faculty
Jean Willouhby – Alumni, class of 2010, and Fabric Specialist, Eventscape
Caroline Forde – Alumni, class of 2015, textile/costume breakdown technician
Olivia Mae Sinclair – Alumni, class of 2018
Juliana Scherzer – Alumni, class of 2018
Kate Jackson – textile artist
Gitte Hansen – textile artist

Award Winners 2026

Shahed Abu Aziz