Natalie Hunter Open Studio at ARS

On Friday, 13th of November at 5PM, Visual artist and educator Natalie Hunter, currently in Tallinn as part of the Nordic Artist Exchange (NAX) residency program, invites art enthusiasts, curators, and colleagues to an open studio visit and artist talk. During the event, Hunter will share insights into her artistic practice, present earlier and in-progress work, and showcase material exploration and studio research during her residency in Tallinn.

Residing in Tallinn between October 15th and November 15th with the support of The Cotton Factory (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) and the Canada Council for the Arts, Natalie Hunter has focused on research, material experimentation, and creating a new body of sire responsive work. Growing up in Hamilton as the daughter of a steelworker, Hunter’s practice is driven by an interest in how industrial history shapes communities, identities, and environments. Throughout her residency, she has been visiting various post-industrial sites, while conducting material research in the studio. Her goals for this residency explore conceptual and visual parallels between Hamilton’s industrial past and Estonia’s post-industrial architecture and urban landscapes. Tallin’s Baltic Bay shares many similarities to Hamilton’s proximity to Lake Ontario and its steel making history. Working with themes of light, time, and memory she is also interested in studying Baltic light and its effects on the body and mind using hand cut glass as daylight becomes shorter in the region.

Natalie Hunter’s work explores the poetics of time, memory, embodied sensory experience, and the relationship between light, architecture, and materiality. The studio visit and presentation offer an opportunity to engage directly with Hunter’s multilayered and material-sensitive practice. She is best known for her experiential, photo-based installations on transparent film works that combine analog film photography and handmade color filters alongside sculptural works that incorporate glass and wood to study light and time.

Natalie Hunter holds an MFA from the University of Waterloo, where she is a sessional instructor, and her work has been exhibited in public art galleries and artist-run centres across Canada and internationally. In addition, she is the recipient of the 2025 Liu Shiming Distinguished Educator Award, recognizing her outstanding contributions as a studio art educator.

You are warmly invited to join this inspiring gathering, discover the artist's works, and engage in conversation around light, memory, and the emotional legacy of evolving urban environments.

Location: ARS studio 323
Language: English