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2025 DESIGN

Artwork by Alice Olsen Williams, Gillian Turnham and Michael Morritt

The artwork featured in ReFrame’s 2025 posters, tickets, website, and merchandise was produced through a commissioned collaboration between artists Alice Olsen Williams, an Indigenous quilt maker, and Gillian Turnham, a practitioner of traditional Islamic geometric art. The resulting artwork, digitally rendered by Michael Morritt, reveals a natural harmony between Alice’s quilting and Gillian’s geometric work. It reflects ReFrame’s core values while recognizing the interconnections we share with each other and with the natural world. ReFrame is deeply grateful to these artists for their contributions.

 

An older individual with straight, dark hair cut in bangs stands against a plain background. They wear a patterned top and two necklaces, one featuring a round pendant and the other a turtle-shaped pendant. The person is smiling slightly. Behind them is a framed piece of artwork with abstract designs, partially visible. The image is in black and white.Alice Olsen Williams is a certified public school teacher. While looking after their four children and their home, Alice completed her B.A. from Trent University, Peterborough, ON, as well as developing her skills in beadwork and sewing. In 1980 she discovered quilting, mastering the techniques which allow her to create the meticulous hand-quilting in her bed coverings and wall hangings. Gradually Alice formed the concepts which would be the basis for her distinctive style and work. Blending her cultural heritage into a unified whole, she envisions the central motif to depict the symbols and themes of her mother’s Anishinaabe culture, surrounded by the conventional North American quilting blocks and patterns which were developed and continue to be evolved by those women and their descendants who came to this Land from Europe, the legacy of her father’s people. Through her understanding of the teachings of the Elders, Alice has created her own Life symbol. She continues to grow as an artist, searching for new ways to express the Spirit of Creation in the images of her designs.

 

A person wearing a textured, flat cap with three small metal studs on the side, rectangular eyeglasses, and a knitted scarf. They have a lip piercing on the left side of their bottom lip and are smiling slightly. The image is in black and white, with the background softly blurred, suggesting an outdoor setting.Gillian Turnham graduated from NSCAD University as a fine metalsmith, creating miniature sculptural works in metal, wood, and stone. Her work investigated elements of structure and traditional design through architectural miniature. Building on her interest in architectural ornament, her attention turned towards tessellating geometric patterns. Since 2019 Turnham’s work has explored ever more complex patterns from the Islamic tradition. She has received training and mentorship from some of the world’s premiere educators in Islamic geometric design. Her recent work fuses medieval geometry, drawing and illumination techniques with contemporary fine art practice, resulting in watercolour paintings of traditional patterns which reveal their underlying mathematical structures.

Gillian has recently expanded her practice to include teaching and community engagement. Alongside exhibitions and commissioned works, she is a regular teacher for the King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts and has developed outreach initiatives to enhance awareness and understanding of traditional arts in the community.

 

A black-and-white portrait of a person with short, neatly combed hair and a trimmed beard. They wear rectangular glasses and have a calm, neutral expression, looking slightly upward. The background features a patterned design with geometric and abstract shapes, possibly tiles or artwork, with some contrast between light and dark areas. The person is dressed in a dark-colored shirt or top.Michael Morritt is a filmmaker, designer, and communications specialist based in Nogojiwanong. An artist of many disciplines, he has built a career across diverse and unexpected settings, always aiming to elevate those around him through supportive and inclusive collaboration. Honoured by the trust ReFrame and the artists have placed in him, he designed the poster and developed the theme for the 2025 season.

 

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