Quan Steele

Toronto, Ontario, Canada. • Multidisciplinary Artist

quan@quansteele.ca‍ ‍ •. www.quansteele.ca‍ • IG/FB : QuanSteeleArts

ARTISTIC PRACTICE‍ ‍

Quan Steele is a multidisciplinary artist working across installation, performance, sculpture, painting, video, and ephemeral art. Her site-responsive and participatory practice explores human–nature relationships, impermanence, ecological vulnerability, reciprocity, empathy, and collective responsibility.

Working with natural, found, recycled materials, and mixed media, Quan creates temporary installations and performances in response to particular landscapes. Her recent work focuses on forests, deforestation, fire, biodiversity loss, regeneration, and the interconnectedness of people and environments.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITION

2026 Interconnected, Art Etobicoke Storefront Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS & INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS

2026 Flora do Fogo — International exhibition project, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

• The Language of the Cerrado, Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas, Brazil

• The Sweat of the Landscape, Foto Ponto Gallery, Campinas, Brazil

• The Time of the Journey, TOTE Cultural Space Gallery, Sousas, Campinas, Brazil

2022 Sky Banner, selected for OSA 150th Anniversary Exhibition, Queen’s Park, Toronto, Ontario

SELECTED COMMUNITY-ENGAGED & PARTICIPATORY PERFORMANCES

Be With Trees • Quiet Voices • Dancing Forest • Many Hands, One Forest • Seeing the Unseen

RESIDENCIES‍ ‍

2026 Serra da Canasta, Cerrado, São Paulo, Brazil

2025 Action Support Forest, Mountain Island Arts Residency, Wells, British Columbia 2025 Standing Up for the Alliston Aquifer Residency, Tiny Township, Ontario

2024 Standing Up for Temagami Old Growth, White Bear Residency, Temagami, Ontario

2024 Deforestation/Disruption, Jordan River, Vancouver Island, British Columbia

INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION‍ ‍

2026Flora do Fogo, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil Participated in an international collaborative environmental art project bringing together Canadian and Brazilian artists through exhibitions, residency activities, symposium presentations, nature walks, site surveys, collaborative performance, and audience participation. The project involved direct engagement with vulnerable landscapes and explored forest fires, biodiversity loss, deforestation, ecological change, and regeneration.

ARTIST PRESENTATIONS & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

2026 Presentation, symposium, and community participation, Fazenda Boiada, Cerrado, Braziln

2026 Panel participant, West Toronto arts community discussion on connecting generations

2024 Artist presentation, Deforestation/Disruption, Legacy Gallery, Victoria, British Columbia

SELECTED MEDIA / PRESS

2026 “Exposição internacional na PUC-Campinas promove diálogo entre arte contemporânea e preservação ambiental” — PUC-Campinas

2026 “Arte pela floresta” — Correio Popular

2026‍ ‍Television report on Broken Forests Brasil 2026 — YouTube

PUBLICATIONS‍ ‍

2022 Book article/review, Voices of Journey and Voice of Excels, OSA 150 Years Anniversary: Breath, Heart, Spirit

2021 Illustrator, Thế Kỷ Của Những Vật Tế (The World of Things), poetry book by Lưu Diệu Vân, Văn Học Press

2016 Illustrator, M of December, poetry book by Lưu Diệu Vân, Vagabond Press

EDUCATION & MENTORSHIP PROGRAMS

1989-1991 Graphic Design and Production Diploma, George Brown College, 1990-1992

2021 New Generation Mentorship Program, mentor Judy Major-Gerardin, Burlington Art Centre.

2008-2010 Sculpture Mentorship Program, mentor Reinhard Reitzstein, Burlington Art Centre.

2010 Hot Box Sculpture Mentorship Program, mentor Reinhard Reitzstein, Joshua Heritage Arts Centre.

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

Ontario Society of Artists (OSA)
Broken Forest Fireweed (BFF)
Etobicoke Arts Group (EAG)