Christos Pantieras, Chair
Pantieras completed a Master of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture at York University (Toronto, ON) in 2015 for which he earned an Ontario Graduate Scholarship and SSHRC funding. He has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions including: The Ottawa Art Gallery (Ottawa), The Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives (Toronto), Modern Fuel ARC (Kingston), AXENEO7 (Gatineau), Artcite Inc (Windsor), Circa-Art Actuel (Montreal), and Artcite Inc (Windsor). Pantieras’ work is represented in the holdings of the Ottawa Art Gallery, Library and Archives Canada, The Diefenbunker: Canada’s Cold War Museum, Smokestack Studios, the City of Ottawa and several private collections. He has received professional grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the City of Ottawa.
Kelly Rendek, Vice-Chair
Rendek graduated from the Master in Fine Arts program at the University of Ottawa. She also holds a BFA from Concordia University, an MA in Mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin, and a BA from McGill University. After a professional career as an actuary, and several years consulting for international development organizations, she switched focus to pursue her artistic practice on a full-time basis. She has participated in a number of group exhibitions in Canada and was selected as a finalist in the 2019/2020 Salt Spring Island National Art Prize competition (Salt Spring Island, BC). During her MFA studies, Rendek received a 2022 Canada Graduate (SSHRC) Scholarship and the 2023 Penny Cousineau-Levine Award for outstanding thesis support paper.
Niki Economo, Treasurer
Economo is a professional artist whose approach to working is organic with a strong sense of colour, movement, and energy. She is an elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists and the Ontario Society of Artists and regularly participates in several group and solo exhibitions. Her work can be seen at the Ottawa Art Gallery, Koyman Galleries, and in the collections of the Ottawa Heart Institute, Hochelaga Inn (Kingston), the 2019 CHEO Dream of a Lifetime Home and many private collections. Niki provides live painting demonstrations as a guest artist to local Art Associations. She has a management background in the nonprofit sector and holds a certificate in business administration from the University of Ottawa.
Jadzia Romaniec, Secretary
Romaniec received a BA in art and psychology. She combined these two areas in her graduate studies in art therapy. She holds a Registered Practitioner designation with the Ontario Expressive Arts Therapy Association. She has worked with several local agencies to deliver art therapy programming. In addition, she has developed and delivered personal growth and team building workshops using visual arts for the workplace. Jadzia has been an active member in Arts Health Network and several Ottawa studios. Her commissioned work can be found in numerous schools in the Ottawa Catholic School Board.
Paul Mora, Member-at-Large
Mora graduated from the University of Ottawa’s Bachelor of Fine Art program in 2022. He is an emerging painter who works in the American and Canadian Social Realist tradition. Mora’s artistic practice draws significant influence from his previous work experience as a general contractor and HVAC maintenance technician, which dates back to 2015. He is particularly engaged by the often overlooked and undervalued “invisible labour” involved in constructing the spaces we interact with on a daily basis. Through his art practice, he sheds light on his lived experiences, and those of his colleagues, emphasizing the human elements that are frequently disregarded when considering workers.
Ted Willis, Member-at-Large
Willis received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1968 from the College of Art and Architecture at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He taught Art, Design, and Art History to children, adolescents and adults in the Ontario Public School System, and privately, for thirty years. Willis was Gallery Director and Studio Manager of the former Platform Gallery and Studios based in Ottawa. He is a painter and mixed media artist who questions the role of a contemporary painter to create work that is fresh and personal alongside the legacy of over 100 years of abstraction.
Mirana Zuger, Member-at-Large
Born in Canada, Mirana Zuger is a multi-disciplinary artist working in painting, sculpture and performance. Her works are found in public and private collections in Canada, the U.S., Europe and Asia. Zuger’s work was featured in a collaborative community project hosted by the Brooklyn Museum. She performed in The Precarious Workers Pageant in conjunction with the 56th Annual International Exhibition: All the World’s Futures at the Venice Biennale in Venice, Italy. Recent projects include collaborations with Lane Co Arts dance company in New York City, COCOON a public space sculpture by Kate Brown, South Bronx, and Park Terrace Care Centre, creating work with brain trauma patients in Queens, NY. She holds an MFA from Queens College, City University of New York and is a graduate of Concordia University, Montreal (Bachelor of Fine Arts with distinction).
STAFF
Anna Frlan, Administrator
Frlan received her BFA from the University of Ottawa where she was introduced to sculpture and industrial steel. She has been innovatively transforming steel ever since, while studying its history and impact from the twentieth century to the present. Anna created an entire kitchen of steel objects for her Kitchen Anatomy series in 2010, and exhibited her Atomic Anxiety series of sculptures at the Diefenbunker, Canada’s Cold War Museum, as their 2016 artist-in-residence. Anna has received project grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the City of Ottawa and the Corel Endowment for the Arts.
Nancy Brandsma, Custodial
Brandsma is a contemporary artist born in Montreal in 1975. She has been actively involved in the French-speaking artist community in Ottawa since 2009, where she currently resides. Her oil abstracts have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across Ontario and Québec in several galleries and public places. Nancy divides her time between painting in her studio in Ottawa and teaching art to young and old in her community. Her captivating textured, monochromatic and minimalist work
SUPPORT
David Drapeau, Technology
Drapeau is an expert in the creation of Enterprise IT Architectures with over thirty three years experience in the IT profession, most of it related to the telecommunications industry. He held the position of “Senior Director – Strategic IT Architectures” when he retired from Bell Canada. His post-retirement volunteer activities include providing IT advice and web site support to non-profit organizations (e.g. Studio Space Ottawa, the Ottawa Guild of Potters and Scouts Canada).
Ada Brzeski, Bookkeeping
Brzeski received a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, a Bachelor of Commerce and a certificate in volunteer management. In 2006 she began working in pottery, inspired by her Polish roots and the colourful Wycinanki (Polish paper cutting). Over the years she has held executive positions in numerous not-for-profit organizations, most recently acting as Treasurer for the Ottawa Guild of Potters. She is one of the founding members of Studio Space Ottawa
Past Board Members
Tiffany April
Kathy Bergquist (President, 2019-2021)
Ada Brzeski
Susan Cartwright
Christine Fitzgerald
Anna Frlan
Atticus Gordon
Ray Romanovich
Susan Roston