Position made possible by the generous support of TD Bank Group through the TD Ready Commitment.
The Koffler Centre of the Arts is thrilled to welcome artist, curator and arts educator
Dainesha Nugent-Palache to the new role of TD Assistant Curator of Education and Exhibitions. This new position is made possible by the generous support of the TD Bank Group through the TD Ready Commitment.
Dainesha Nugent-Palache joined the Koffler as Education and Public Engagement Assistant in 2017 through a Young Canada Works internship and was involved in the conceptualization, research, and execution of workshops and education initiatives. Upon the completion of her internship, she was hired as Education & Exhibitions Coordinator to oversee the delivery of Koffler Studio Offsite, an enriched afterschool visual arts program for mostly newcomer children living in underserved neighbourhoods. With the success of the first offsite program at Thorncliffe Park Public School, Nugent-Palache went on to produce and deliver an expanded slate of community-based educational programs, collaborating with organizations such as SKETCH, Tropicana and the Toronto District School Board. She and Koffler’s Education and Public Engagement Manager Patricia Ritacca were recognized for their exemplary work in the field of arts education by the Ontario Association of Art Galleries, through a 2019 nomination for OAAG’s Education Award for best arts education program in the province.
A practicing visual artist, Nugent-Palache graduated from OCAD University’s photography program where she was the recipient of the Dorothy Hoover Research Award, and the OCAD University Photography Faculty and Friends Award. Her artwork has been exhibited nationally through venues such as the AGO, Gallery TPW, and TRUCK Contemporary (in Calgary), and internationally in New York, Finland, and Vienna. Nugent-Palache’s artworks are included in the Wedge Collection and TD Bank Art Collection, as well as several private collections.
Through her performative video works and photographs, Nugent-Palache explores the dichotomies and paradoxes inherent in representations of Afro-Caribbean femininities. With an exuberant approach to colour and display, her work often negotiates with forms of glamour, excess, and other photographic strategies inherent to the visual cultures of capitalism. Flirting with anthropological and archaeological realms, often produced as a result of her familial digging, Nugent-Palache’s practice is concerned with visualizations of Black diaspora across pasts, presents, and speculative futures, producing portraits and other still life-based works.
In her new role as TD Assistant Curator of Education and Exhibitions, Nugent-Palache will continue to grow the Koffler Studio Offsite program through ongoing collaboration with Thorncliffe Park PS and the expansion of the program into other underserved Toronto communities. Nugent-Palache will also continue to build her curatorial practice through supporting Koffler Gallery Director/Curator Mona Filip with exhibition research and production.
Read the full press release here.