Staff

Eric Lesage – Volunteer and Facility Manager

Eric Lesage is an interdisciplinary artist, occasional writer and constant factotum. Lesage was Artistic Director of the artist-run center La Maison des artistes in Winnipeg. Lesage’s practice is interested in the intersection of craft and conceptual art. Ideas of labour and handmade objects have led Lesage to engage in process based installations, performance, assemblage and site specific interventions. He has exhibited at the Winnipeg Art Gallery and Raw: Gallery of Architecture and Design, and most recently in Make: Alter:Repeat at the Comox Valley Art Gallery. He also collaborated with the ITWÉ Collective on their site specific installation MANIFESTIPI. He has written reviews for aceart inc’s Paperwait and for Liaison. He has also served on the Board of Directors of l’AGAVF and of CARFAC BC and CARFAC National.

volunteer@gachet.org

Cecily Nicholson – Finance Administrator

Cecily Nicholson (MA, Kroc Institute, University
of Notre Dame) has worked in the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood since 2000. Eleven of those years were with the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre. She is experienced in project and crisis management. Her work with and of communities impacted by poverty and stigma spans two decades. Her work as a poet, both creative and social, is often in collaboration with artists and spaces for education. She is an appointed member of the Emily Carr Research Ethics Board and the author of Triage (Talonbooks, 2011) and From the Poplars (Talonbooks, 2014), winner of the Dorothy Livesay prize for poetry.

operations@gachet.org

Kendra Place – Programming

Kendra Place is a writer and artist. She has written essays, reviews, and parallel texts for C Magazine, Fuse, Artspeak, and Platform Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts. Her artwork, based in photography, video, performance, and writing, has been presented at NGTVSPC, Plug In ICA, Gallery 111, aceartinc, La Maison Rouge, Le Musée international des arts modestes, and the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery. Her research has been supported by arts residencies with Public Preparation and Est-Nord-Est, as well as grants from the arts councils of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Canada. Kendra studied histories of art and architecture and critical theory in formal and informal contexts. As one-third of the Free Associates collective, she completed a two-year curatorial mentorship program with MAWA, a feminist art centre in Winnipeg, Treaty 1. She has worked with artist-run centres, community groups, and collectives as a coordinator, volunteer, organizer, curator, editor, and assistant.

programming@gachet.org

Sylwia Kisynska – Communications and Design

Sylwia is a graphic designer with a passion for photography and fine art. She developed her knowledge of art in Fine Art High School through to completing her Masters in Art History. Sylwia moved to Canada from Poland in 2006. She graduated from Design Essential program offered by British Columbia Institute of Technology and Emily Carr University of Art + Design in 2011. This program taught her how to use her background in Fine Arts to create various design solutions. Sylwia has been working at Gallery Gachet as a communications and design coordinator since 2011.

communications@gachet.org