Rebecca Ramsey

Montreal-based Rebecca Ramsey holds a BFA from Emily Carr University and an MFA from Concordia University. She is interested in circulation systems and on the relations between bodies and architecture.

Ramsey works mainly in ceramics, so she took advantage of the residency at Est-Nord-Est to explore new materials, including glass and metal. Initially interested in creatinglacquer based on lunar ingredients, she then chose to broaden her research and make use of the technical workshops to experiment with other media. And that is how she began to create a group of works inspired by her observations of circulation systems in connection with cosmic imagery.

Ramsey made triangular forms out of glass, which she used to fabricate a series of small geodesic domes. She learned the copper foil technique to assemble the glass pieces, then used metal and soldering to design structures that evoke the solar system. These experiments allowed her to materialize her ideas in three dimensions: the compositions that she created became spatial notes, tools that helped her visualize her intentions. She explored transparency, reflection, and gravity as well concepts such as movement, orbits, and the relations among the planets.

The residency building at Est-Nord-Est, situated close to the river and natural elements,also offered Ramsey an environment that encouraged broader questioning of circulation among the moon, the stars, the sun, water, and tides. She immersed herself in reading legendary narratives, including those by Cyrano de Bergerac, Francis Godwin, and Johannes Kepler, seeking to make connections among science, history, and legend and examining how mythology can offer new ways to comprehend the world. The moon, receptacle of our desires and fantasies for eons, continues to feed her explorations on the formal and conceptual levels.