Lors de l’exposition 2025/26 du Salt Spring National Art Prize, Kuhlein Migue a reçu le prix de résidence d’artiste SSNAP pour sa peinture Banai-Banai Overprint. Ce prix offre une opportunité de résidence qui lui permettra de bénéficier de temps et d’un espace dédiés afin de développer sa pratique et d’explorer de nouvelles idées.
En amont de sa résidence à venir sur l’île de Salt Spring en mai, Kuhlein revient sur ce que représente cette opportunité pour son travail et sur ce qu’elle espère approfondir au cours de cette expérience.

Questions-réponses présentées en anglais uniquement.

1.What did receiving the SSNAP Artist Residency Award mean to you at this stage in your practice?

Receiving the Residency Award has been such an honor. As an emerging artist, having this experience feels incredibly valuable for my creative and professional development. The dedicated time and space and the monetary award will give me the freedom to explore the many ideas I’m interested in, experiment with new processes, and take creative risks. Facilitating a workshop will also be a valuable addition to the educational experience I’ve been building since graduating from my BFA. This is my first residency so I’m really excited to see the creative directions it will take me!

2.What are you most looking forward to about the residency experience?

I’m looking forward to building meaningful relationships with the community and hopefully meeting other artists. It will be my first time on Salt Spring Island so I’m also really excited to explore the Island and meet new people!

3.How do you hope the residency might influence or support your creative process?

Getting the opportunity to dedicate an entire month to making art in a place with incredible landscapes will hopefully inspire me in new ways and allow me to focus on my work. I’m hoping that being around a supportive and creative community will also help me learn new things about art.

4.How does place influence your work more broadly?

My practice is fundamentally informed by my experience growing up in the Philippines. My paintings are often reconstructions of my memories and photographs of those landscapes from my childhood. I am also heavily inspired by my surroundings and how I experience a certain place. All of this imagery goes through a filter and turns into paintings that are fictionalized yet vaguely familiar. I’m looking forward to seeing how my experience of being in Salt Spring Island for a month will influence the imagery in my work.

5.What are you currently working on in the studio?

I’m currently working on paintings that deconstruct idyllic and essentialized depictions of rural life, land, and labour. I’m focusing on colonial photographs taken during the American occupation of the Philippines – particularly on photos that document abaca plantations. I have also been learning a lot about painting/drawing with oil paint as well as making my own paper. Most recently, I have been enjoying abstracting figures and figuring out ways they can interact with the landscape. I’m so excited to continue exploring these ideas during my residency at Salt Spring!

6.What advice would you give to artists considering submitting to the next Salt Spring National Art Prize?

Take good photos of your work, be confident about your submission, and don’t overthink it!