Agata Derda - Printmaker / Visual Artist
Agata Derda explores the interpersonal dynamics of human existence. As stand-ins for human figures in her prints, she substitutes manipulated vegetation or forms staged within ambiguous, foreboding landscapes. Suggesting human-made construction, through these forms’ existence in the barren environments of her prints, Derda examines issues of gender, toxic masculinity, and the underpinning of systemic human suffering and socially manufactured misery.
Agata Derda is a Polish-Canadian visual artist and printmaker. She undertook a BFA in Printmaking at the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology in Ireland, followed by completing her MFA at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
Her work has been the subject of solo exhibitions in Canada and numerous group-exhibitions internationally in Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. Derda currently lives and works in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.
Education
2011 - 2013
Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking, University of Alberta, Canada
2006 - 2010
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, Ireland
Awards
2021 Grand Prix at the Biennale Internationale d’estampe contemporaine de Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada
2018 Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, Canada
2018 Nick Novak Fellowship, Open Studio, Toronto, Canada
2018 The Special Award of the Rector of the Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin, International Print Triennale Krakow, Poland
2012 The Mary Louise Imrie Graduate Student Award, Canada
2012 The Alberta Foundation for Arts Scholarship, Canada
2011 The University of Alberta Scholarship for MFA Graduate Students, Canada
2010 Student of the Year in Printmaking Award, Ireland
2010 Lorg Printmakers Bursary, Ireland
Visiting Artist / Workshops
2020 Workshop, Ottawa School of Art, Ottawa, Canada (canceled because of Covid-19)
2019 Visiting Artist Lecturer, Workshop University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK
2019 Visiting Artist Lecturer, Studio Visits, Medicine Hat College of Art, Medicine Hat, Canada
2017 Visiting Artist Lecturer, School of The Arts, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
Solo Exhibitions
2020 AFTERDARK Solo Show, Smokestack Gallery, Hamilton, Canada
2020 AFTERDARK Solo Show, Open Studio - Contemporary Printmaking Centre Toronto, Canada
2019 DARK ROADS Solo Show, One on One Gallery, Medicine Hat College,
Medicine Hat, Canada
2019 DARK ROADS Solo Show, Ottawa School of Art ByWard Gallery, Ottawa, Canada
2017 NOW WE LOSE Solo Exhibition, School of The Arts, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
2013 CREATURE OF CLIMAX Solo Show, FAB Gallery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
2011 HOMO APPARATUS First Solo Show sponsored by Lorg Printmakers as part of Bursary Award, Lorg Printmakers, Galway, Ireland
Group Exhibitions
2021
Canadian Contemporary Fine Art in Poland, Galeria Winda C, Wroclaw, Poland
The 21th International Print Biennale Varna, Boris Geogriev Varna City, Art Gallery, Varna, Bulgaria
Megalo’s 2nd Online Relief Exhibition, Megalo Print Studio, Kingston, Australia
InkMasters International Print Exhibition 2021, Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns, Australia
Biennale Internationale d'estampe contemporaine de Trois-Rivières, Selected Venues, Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada
2020
Murmuration - an exhibition celebrating 50 years of Open Studio – Contemporary Printmaking Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
FUTURE PROOF at Open Studio – Contemporary Printmaking Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
The International Biennale Print Exhibit: R.O.C. National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan
2019
8th International Triennale of Graphic Arts, Gallery of the Union of Bulgarian Artists, Sofia, Bulgaria
Guanlan International Print Biennale, Guanlan Original Printmaking Base, Shenzhen, China
Members’ Ink – Open Studio – Contemporary Printmaking Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Going to Ground, Kent State University Downtown Gallery, Kent, OH, USA
HIT Haugesund International Festival of Relief Printing, Haugesund Museum of Fine Art, Haugesund, Norway
37th Bradley International Print and Drawing Exhibition – Bradley University Galleries, Peoria, IL, USA
5th Bangkok International Print Triennale – Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre, Bangkok, Thailand
Megalo International Print Prize – Megalo Print Gallery, Canberra – Kingston, Australia
FRACTURED BEINGS: An Internal and Collective Look at Humankind with Grace Sippy (Two Person Show), Cedar Ridge Creative Centre Gallery, Toronto, ON, Canada
2018
Annual Artist Proof Fundraiser – Open Studio, Toronto, Canada
Pushing The Pull, Fort Lauderdale, Fl, USA
Intersecting Boundaries, Fundacja Doliny Palacow i Ogrodow, Bukowiec, Poland
The International Print Triennale MTG, Krakow, Poland
Wider Than High - Three Person Show, Hamilton Artists Inc., Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Seventh international Mini-print Biennale Ottawa School of Art, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Members’ Ink – Open Studio, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Squared – Fundraiser Art Sale, Hamilton Artists Inc., Hamilton, Canada
Going to Ground – Portfolio Exchange presented at the Southern Graphics Conference International, Las Vegas, USA
2017
Past The Hollow Body – Three Person Show, The Snake Pit, Hamilton, Canada
Annual International Contemporary Print – Miniprint Kazanlak 2017, The Art Gallery of Kazanlak, Bulgaria
2016
Artist Proof – Open Studio, Toronto, Canada 2015
2015
The International Print Triennale MTG– Krakow 2015, Bunkier Sztuki – Art Gallery, Krakow, Poland
2013
Prismatika – Illusions of The Universe, Steppes Gallery, Edmonton, Canada
The International Print Triennale– Krakow 2012, Where is Printmaking?, Contemporary Art Gallery, Opole, Poland
The 4th Guanlan International Print Biennale, Guanlan Original Printmaking Base, Shenzhen, China
2012
Walking On Walls, Society of Northern Alberta Print Gallery, Edmonton, Canada
Shy Rabbit Contemporary Arts Print International III, International Juried Online Exhibition, Pagosa Springs, USA
2011
SNAP’s Annual Print Affair, Society of Northern Alberta Print Gallery, Edmonton, Canada
The Collective Memory Project: Responses to Eugenics in Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
2010
Impressions ‘10, Contemporary Irish Printmaking, Galway Arts Center, Galway, Ireland
LE TEMPS DES SIRÈNES – The 2nd International Biennale of Women in Contemporary Art – Lorient, France
RDS Travelling Art Awards Exhibition, ISLAND Arts Center, Lisburn, Northern Ireland
Royal Dublin Society Student Art Awards Exhibition, RDS, Dublin, Ireland
Launch at Lorg Printmakers, Official Gallery Opening, Galway, Ireland
The Biennale International Miniature Print Exhibition VI – Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Honours Degree Show – GMIT student’s exhibition, Cluain Mhuire, GMIT Galway, Ireland
2009
Diverse Printmaking – Ordinary Degree Graduate Show GMIT student’s exhibition, RK Burt Gallery, London, UK
Diverse Printmaking – Ordinary Degree Graduate Show GMIT student’s exhibition, NUIG, Galway, Ireland
Proximity ‘09– Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology student’s exhibition, GMIT, Galway, Ireland
2008
RDS Travelling Art Awards Exhibition, Damer House, Roscrea, Co. Tipperary, Ireland
RDS Travelling Art Awards Exhibition, Alley Arts Center, Strabane, Co. Tyrone, Ireland
Royal Dublin Society Student Art Awards Exhibition, RDS, Dublin, Ireland
Proximity ’08 Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology student’s exhibition, GMIT, Galway, Ireland
*Work created between January 2019 and February 2020 was created with the generous support of
the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation