Stir ’Splainer: 4 women artists defying categorization at the Eastside Culture Crawl
Linda Suffidy, Tristesse Seeliger, Helen Alex Murray, and Aurora Caher work across mediums to produce works with distinctive style
Tristesse Seeliger working with textiles during a residency at A-Z West in Joshua Tree.
Eastside Arts Society presents the Eastside Culture Crawl from November 14 to 17 at various venues
AT THIS YEAR’S Eastside Culture Crawl, over 500 artists are showcasing their works across the Eastside Arts District in what will be one of the annual event’s largest editions since its inception three decades ago.
Among those artists, several excel within traditional 2D practices like oil painting, snapshot photography, and printmaking. Others base their craftsmanship in three-dimensional realms, from sculpture and jewellery design to stained-glass fabrication and woodworking. But there is also a handful of women artists working across mediums in spectacular ways that defy categorization altogether—four of whom include Linda Suffidy, Tristesse Seeliger, Helen Alex Murray, and Aurora Caher.
Over at Parker Street Studios, Ottawa-born artist Suffidy is exploring the theme of timelessness in her mixed-media works that pull inspiration from fossils and artifacts. She draws on her training at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design (now the Emily Carr University of Art + Design) and formative years spent in St. Louis, Missouri to weave historical elements into tactile pieces.
Seeliger is an Emily Carr University of Art + Design–trained multidisciplinary artist whose practice encompasses painting, weaving, murals, and collage. She is also an arts educator for the Vancouver School Board. At the Arts Factory, she’ll offer new takes on perception and orientation through works that merge painting techniques with woven elements.
Murray, a fluid abstract artist who has spent time living in Toronto and Los Angeles, is based at East Side Studios. She layers bold acrylic colours and resin with metallic-foil and mother-of-pearl details in rippling odes to the West Coast.
Caher will be at Parker Street Studios with Suffidy. Originally from Spain, the mixed-media artist uses accessible tools like scissors, glue, and vintage magazines to craft extraordinary collages—and her most recent project involves placing them on over 600 miniature cubes.
Ahead of the Eastside Culture Crawl, we’ve highlighted a work below by each of these artists that exemplifies their ability to break the mold.
Linda Suffidy’s Sediment, acrylic on sintra, 32.5 x 39.5 inches, 2024.
Sediment
Linda Suffidy
“Contemplating the world through the lens of deep time fills me with awe and wonder. Imagining the eons of the past and projecting into the distant future transforms everyday life: making it feel less routine, more extraordinary. Clues from the deep past—like the ginkgo tree outside my home—connect the present to this profound timeline. Considering our brief moment in the vastness of time evokes awe and wonder, making me feel small and yet deeply connected to humanity and everything around us.
“I distill these observations into textural ‘paintings’ inspired by the principles of historical-icon painting. My work is stylized rather than naturalistic, with timelessness implied by the absence of shadows and logical space.
“My work combines both painting and sculpture. I start by hand-carving sintra board to create a shallow bas-relief surface. I then apply acrylic paint using traditional techniques like impasto and glazing.
“Sediment grew out of memories of the sea fossils collected by my relatives on their Alberta prairie ranch. Line and layering are used symbolically to represent time, capturing a frozen moment in the impossibly long transformative processes of geology. Biological history is implied with organic shapes that suggest ancient marine creatures.”
Tristesse Seeliger’s A Record of Many Choices, acrylic on hand-woven canvas, 14 x 13 inches, 2024.
A Record of Many Choices
Tristesse Seeliger
“During my summer 2024 residency at A-Z West in Joshua Tree, I wove the ‘canvas’ for my latest paintings, merging weaving and painting into a unified practice,” Seeliger tells Stir. “This series reimagines the canvas as both medium and message, exposing its hand-woven texture to create a surface alive with tactile depth and detail.
“Inspired by influential weavers like Gunta Stölzl and Anni Albers, and guided by my mentors Sandra Crompton and Jane Stafford, I want to honour their legacies while pushing traditional weaving into a new context. Each piece bridges craft and contemporary art, celebrating the material narratives that emerge from blending paint and weave.
“This work continues my exploration of mapping—an ongoing theme—while shifting to capture the intersection of heritage and innovation. By inviting viewers to engage with the woven texture, I hope to spark curiosity about the intricate art of weaving and its relationship to fine art.”
Helen Alex Murray’s Olympus, acrylic, foil, and resin on wood, 36 x 36 inches.
Olympus
Helen Alex Murray
“This piece captures the essence of Vancouver’s natural landscapes, combining fluid acrylics, resin, and metallic foils to create a dynamic fusion of structure and instinct. Inspired by nature’s resilience and the pulse of city life, this painting forms an ‘emotional topography’, inviting viewers to explore both the calm and chaos within themselves. The deep blues flow like ocean currents meeting shimmering metallic waves, evoking both the tranquillity and intensity of the West Coast.
“As a queer, neurodiverse artist, my work reflects fluidity—not only in medium but in identity and perspective. Each layer embodies a part of my journey: a blend of resilience, transformation, and the embrace of the unknown. Like the diverse communities I represent, this piece challenges conventions and is an invitation to discover beauty in spaces beyond definition—where structure meets fluid motion, and control meets surrender.
“Through this work, I hope to create spaces where viewers can lose themselves, find solace, and engage with their own reflections. This piece is a conversation—an invitation to explore the beauty and complexity that lie just beneath the surface, waiting to be discovered.”
Aurora Caher’s ongoing project from the Tiny Figures series, 2023 to present, analog collage on wooden cubes, 1.5 x 1.5 inches. Photo by Carlos Bonmatí
Ongoing project from Tiny Figures series
Aurora Caher
“The piece I’ve chosen to highlight is part of my Tiny Figures series—collages on small wooden cubes that bring background characters into focus. The inspiration came from observing how, in crowded places or images, we rarely notice the people on the periphery.
“Creating this piece involved selecting magazine images where the focus wasn’t on a single subject but on the many characters in the margins. I carefully cut out these overlooked figures and placed them on wooden cubes, allowing each to occupy a unique, intimate space. The size of the work invites viewers to pause and wonder about the lives of these unnoticed people.
“Symbolically, each cube reflects how we’re all connected yet often overlooked—an anonymous part of the crowd. By isolating and highlighting these figures, I aim to capture moments that might have slipped away, encouraging a sense of presence and respect for life’s hidden stories. It’s a reminder that beauty often lies in the unnoticed, waiting for someone to take a closer look.”
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