MISSION: We champion craft.

VISION: Making craft a meaningful part of life and building a connected community of creators and supporters. 

MANDATE: We deliver on our Mission and achieve our Vision by:

• CONNECTING individuals and communities with craft

• GROWING craft artist careers through opportunities to network, learn, present, and access markets

• PROMOTING craft as a professional career and its cultural and economic importance

• INSPIRING participation and achievement through recognizing excellence

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

VIRGINIA EICHHORN
CHAIR: MIDLAND, ONTARIO

Virginia M. Eichhorn has worked in the visual arts field for over thirty years. As a professor at Georgian College (Barrie Campus) she focuses on post-graduate advanced museum and gallery studies, fine arts, and cultural studies. With an emphasis on ecological, environmental, non-traditional exhibition spaces and community outreach and collaborations, her work as an independent curator has seen her presenting exhibitions at numerous prestigious national and international venues. In addition to curating, she has written numerous catalogue essays and has contributed articles to prominent Canadian magazines including Artichoke, Canadian Art, Border Crossings, ESPACE Sculpture, and international magazines such as Ceramics Monthly and for institutions including the National Gallery of Canada, the MacKenzie Art Gallery and others.  She was a founding member of the Queen West Gallery district in Toronto and in 2009 she won the Jean Johnson/Melanie Egan Award for Curatorial Excellence awarded by the Ontario Crafts Council. Under her leadership the Tom Thomson Art Gallery was one of only 4 public art galleries to receive an A rating from the Ontario Arts Council which means the gallery exceeded the standards of excellence artistically and administratively. She was Chair of the City of Kitchener Public Art Working Group, was a lead on developing the City of Owen Sound’s Public Art Policy, and has overseen the concept to realization of numerous public art projects across Ontario.  Eichhorn has developed an art practice that is focused on alternative narratives and voices, using traditional and non-traditional art and craft forms. She is currently working on a collaborative project with Anong Beam and Maria Hupfield to take place at the MacLaren Art Centre summer 2024, and is part of the Time Travel Collective who are developing a major exhibition for THEMUSEUM (Kitchener, ON) in 2025.

CHRISTIAN BERNARD SINGER
VICE CHAIR: GEORGIAN BLUFFS, ONTARIO

Christian Bernard Singer is an eco-artist, independent curator, teacher and writer. Working with ephemeral materials from nature, his practice explores notions of consciousness, Queer and more-than-human ecologies, place, and time-passing as a way to explore his relationship to the natural world. Singer holds an AOCAD from the Ontario College of Art and Design and an MFA from The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. His works have been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout Canada and the United States and published in 20 catalogues and books. Singer was also Senior Curator of the Tom Thomson Art Gallery and Curator of the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery. He has curated nearly 100 exhibitions of national and international artists, including three major retrospectives, and his writings have been published internationally. Singer is also Director and Curator of the Green Cube Gallery, a hub for environmental art and teaches sculpture at the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCADU).

NIKESH SHAH
TREASURER: STOUFFVILLE, ONTARIO

Nikesh Shah is a Chartered Professional Accountant and Certified Fraud Examiner, and currently serves as Director, Finance Transformation at the Hospital for Sick Children, Ontario’s largest paediatric hospital. Nikesh has nearly ten years of experience supporting and guiding board of directors on financial planning and reporting as well as strategic decision making and change management. Nikesh also has significant experience in supporting the growth of small business through financial planning, marketing, and retail. Having observed the use of art and craft in paediatric healthcare settings, Nikesh is a great believer in the therapeutic benefits of creativity and self-exploration. Nikesh is an aspiring adventure photographer and is passionate about photographing nature, culture, and architecture. Nikesh also has great appreciation for architecture, contemporary art, and music, and thoroughly enjoys observing the creative process and the discovery of aspiring artists across all disciplines.

HELEN SONG
SECRETARY: TORONTO, ONTARIO

Helen Song is a Toronto-based craft artist who specializes in ceramics. She currently runs her own business and teaches at clayArt Studios, where she works alongside a diverse community of artists and ceramic enthusiasts. Helen was previously the Philanthropy lead for Harbourfront Centre’s Development department. She gained valuable experience fundraising for a dynamic arts and culture organization where she catered to the organization’s network of donors through research, events and annual campaigns, and secured grants for its diverse roster of programming. Helen holds a BA in Art History from the University of British Columbia and completed additional training in the visual arts and graphic design. She has an international background which contributes to her global perspective on life and art, including prior experience with art institutions in China and the United States. She maintains a passion for discovering and supporting emerging artists and elevating craft as an art discipline. She is also an emerging collector who is interested in ceramics and illustrative works. She looks forward to offering her skillset and experience in strategic planning and fund development activities to support Craft Ontario in service of her love of craft, as well as building on her leadership and governance experience.

DIRECTORS AT LARGE

BARBARA BANFIELD
GEORGINA, ONTARIO

Barbara has always had a passion for working with her hands, and after graduating from the University of Western Ontario, embarked on a career in the garment industry. She graduated from the Academy of Fashion and Design in Toronto, and started a 15 year business that manufactured imported and exported technical outerwear. After the free trade agreement, a recession and three children, Barbara became head buyer for Northern Getaway. This was a great opportunity to balance a smaller scale business with a large corporation, combining manufacturing and retailing. After 25 years, Barbara decided to take time for family and follow a more creative path. After several years of taking pottery classes and workshops, Barbara enrolled full time in the Craft and Design Program at Sheridan College in 2007, and graduated in 2010 with above honours. This opened up a whole new community of clay. In 2010 she joined the FUSION board of directors, where for over a period of 12 years she held many different portfolios, including President. Her key passion during this time was developing and delivering over 10 mentorship programs throughout Ontario. Barbara currently lives in the Township of Georgina, where she has her own clay studio, making and selling work, and also serves as Chair of the Georgina Studio Tour. She is active with Toronto Potters and many of the ceramic guilds in Southern Ontario.

KATY BAKER
ETOBICOKE, ONTARIO

Katy Baker is a certified international trade professional (CITP), CPA-CMA, and has been an Export Development Officer and more recently operated her own Export Consultancy. Over the course of her career she has worked and collaborated with some of Canada's top trade development entities: Innovation PEI (PE), Kisserup International (NS), Atlantic Craft Alliance (NS), Grow Trade Consulting (ON), and BDC (ON) to name a few, where she worked, collectively, with over 500 companies across multiple sectors (bio-science, agriculture, fisheries, tech, craft & consumer products) and world trading regions (China, India, Brazil, UK, EU and US markets) assisting in client-companies' global growth ambitions. In her earlier career, Katy was the managing director of two non-profits, a Craft Development Officer and a regional event specialist building cultural collateral in her home province of Prince Edward Island Katy graduated from UPEI with her B-Com majoring in Marketing.

CHRISTY HALDANE
DOURO-DUMMER, ONTARIO

Christy Haldane joined the Glass program at Sheridan College in 1996 and has been working with glass as her primary medium ever since. She further participated in a student exchange program with the Canberra School of Art in Australia, which expanded her experience of the intrinsic value of the relationships between art, artists and the broader community. With over two decades as a practicing glass artist, Christy rarely relegates her work to the confines of the studio, and exercises her diverse set of skills in fostering relationships. This is demonstrated through her work as website and membership coordinator with the Glass Art Association of Canada (GAAC), the pivotal role she played in establishing the Electric City Culture Council (EC3) as a sustainable arts incubator in Peterborough, as well as her proprietorship of Proximity Fine Art; a gallery hub on Stoney Lake that made the work of Peterborough Country available to collectors and enthusiasts from across the continent. Christy continues to evolve her practice as a glass artist and has successfully moved her business online to better respond to the market during the Covid-19 pandemic. Christy's life experience dictates that the future is unpredictable and the last couple of years have driven that home, but she sees no end to her continued championing of the arts toward creating a united and sustainable arts community.

DARRYL KYTE
TORONTO, ONTARIO

Darryl Kyte brings a wealth of experience in communications, entertainment, media, and law to his role on Craft Ontario Board of Directors. He started his career at the CBC where he distinguished himself as a host and producer on the award-winning television series Street Cents. Darryl continued his career working as a journalist on several investigative television series which include the CBC’s flagship program The National. In 2010, Darryl transitioned to a career in law cultivating his legal expertise in entertainment law at a top firm in Toronto. Darryl has worked with an array of creative entities, artists, and musicians at all levels of their careers. While he still works with clients in the arts his professional focus now centers on class action litigation. He remains deeply engaged in the arts community and is currently working on a variety of creative endeavors which include podcasts and documentaries. Darryl also volunteers his time and expertise to mentorship programs, educational initiatives, and charitable organizations; he hopes his contributions can help empower the next generation of aspiring artists and advocates.

JON PACKER
TORONTO, ONTARIO

Jon is an experienced senior communications professional. As an entrepreneur he founded and operated an award-winning Canadian public relations agency with a particular client focus in the areas of culture, design, and the built environment. Jon now partners with select executive leaders in Canada and globally on marketing/communications activities focused to influence positive business and social outcomes. Jon is a part-time faculty member at Seneca Polytechnic in the Corporate Communications program. Educated in the UK with a speciality in 3-D Design (ceramics), Jon is a long-time, passionate advocate for the arts as a writer, educator, supporter, and sometime maker. He served three terms on the Board of Directors at the Gardiner Museum, Canada’s ceramics museum, and is closely involved with the Toronto School of Art, an independent, non-profit offering an array of accessible arts programming. Jon continues to expand his Board governance experience as an active Board member with the Impakt Foundation for Social Change.

VIKTORIYA RUDENKO
OTTAWA, ONTARIO

Viktoriya Rudenko is a visual artist with over 43 years of experience in the field of visual arts. She studied art and design in Ukraine and Russia, and moved to Canada in 2009. After focusing on learning English and taking on different roles, she rediscovered her passion for art in 2014 and began painting as a way of expression. Since then, she has studied new art mediums such as glassblowing and has exhibited her work. She is also a committee member of the Royal Ontario Museum and has received grants from the Ontario Arts Council for professional development. Recently, Viktoriya participated in the Disability Holiday Market in Toronto, Ontario, and is a member of the Deaf Culture Centre. She is known for bringing new methods of art and representation to the Deaf community through her work.

JOSÉ NIAISON
OTTAWA, ONTARIO

José Niaison has over thirty-five years of experience in the field of visual arts. He recently retired from the Canada Council for the Arts where he spent the last twenty-two years. Among his responsibilities as a Program Officer were all grant programs to fine craft artists and organizations, including the Jean A. Chalmers Fund for the Crafts and, until 2018, the Saidye Bronfman Award (now a Governor General Award). Fully bilingual, José cultivated relationships with provincial/territorial craft councils and the Canadian Crafts Federation, facilitating access to public funding opportunities for the craft sector nationally. Before joining Council, he also gained invaluable experience in the management of commercial and public galleries, both in Montreal and Ottawa. Trained as an artist and an educator, José has hands-on experience of many craft practices, with an emphasis on ceramics, and a deep enthusiasm and appreciation for the creative process and technical skills of craft artists.

JEANETTE ROMKEMA
TORONTO, ONTARIO

Jeanette Romkema is an educator and artist, with a long history of volunteer and community involvement. As an educator, Jeanette currently holds a Masters Degree in Education, serves as Strategic Director and Senior Partner with Global Learning Partners, Inc., a global education and training firm, and is adjunct faculty at the University of Toronto. As an artist, Jeanette earned her Bachelors in Fine Arts in Michigan and a graduate degree in fine arts from Belgium with a focus on photography. In her vocation, she has always woven education and art together. As a customer of Craft Ontario, Jeanette has long admired the craftspeople whose work is featured in the Shop and desired to make a contribution to the craft community. As she has served on several Boards in leadership roles, she brings a wealth of governance experience to the position at Craft Ontario. Jeanette further brings a special interest in the collection and appreciation for Indigenous art and artists. Her profession has allowed her to travel extensively around the globe, and she has a solid collection of artwork from many corners of the world.

CELESTE SCOPELITES
PETERBOROUGH, ONTARIO

Celeste Scopelites is the Director of the Art Gallery of Peterborough, previously the Director/Curator at the Art Gallery of Sudbury, and prior to that Manager of the Residency Program and Curator at the Living Arts Centre. Her education was both in fine art and craft, specifically textiles. She graduated from the OCA Textiles Department and continued her studies at Cranbrook Academy of Art's Fibre Department. In her early career as a craftsperson she ran her own weaving business and studio shop. This practical experience served her well in future roles, and her interest and passion for craft has influenced many of the public gallery exhibitions she has programmed. In her current role at the Art Gallery of Peterborough she has helped build its Shop reputation for representing craft, and works with local initiatives, such as the Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour, to connect with and support craft. She has hands-on experience in dealing with critical and time sensitive organizational challenges, and she welcomes the opportunity to bring the expertise of her experiences to help support the ongoing vitality of Craft Ontario.

BRANDON SOUSA
TORONTO, ONTARIO

Brandon Sousa is an experienced corporate communications professional who has worked for some of Canada’s largest brands and publicly traded companies. With a passion for travel, Brandon writes articles on destinations around the globe for magazines and online news publications, and is accredited by the Travel Writers’ Network. Brandon holds a Graduate Certificate in Public Relations with Honours from Humber College, a Bachelor of Arts in Media, Information & Technoculture, and a Certificate in Writing from the University of Western Ontario. He served on the Craft Ontario Board of Directors from 2016 to 2018 during the organization’s chapter of change.