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About the ArtistAllison Tunis has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Alberta, and a graduate diploma in Art Therapy from the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute. She works mainly in cross-stitch embroidery, but also explores mixed media involving acrylic painting and gel transfers, and has self-publishing a body positive colouring book entitled Body Love: A Fat Activism Colouring Book, which can be found on Amazon in many countries.
Tunis is currently developing and facilitating a Queer Youth Art Club through the Alberta Sex Positive Education & Community Centre (ASPECC), which is a project supported by the Edmonton Arts Council and the Edmonton Community Foundation. As well, she is in the process of developing a body of work themed around language, social norms, and the experience of living as a fat person in our society. Previously, Tunis was the Artist-in-Residence for Youth Empowerment and Support Services (YESS), on grant from the Edmonton Arts Council, working with high-risk youth in the Edmonton area to create art in a therapeutic and activist context, as well as creating her own body of work focusing on body diversity, feminism, and reducing weight-based and mental illness stigma. Allison's first solo exhibition premiered at the Alberta Craft Council Discovery Gallery in January 2018, and was well-received. It went on to travel to the Calgary location, and Allison has been slated to be a part of a number of group exhibitions and commissioned projects in 2019 and beyond. Her pieces question our society’s obsession with aesthetic beauty, restrictive beauty standards, and body conformity, while exploring her own struggle with body image and a hunger for more diverse representation. Issues of feminism and intersectionality, diversity in media representation, and social constructions of beauty all influence Allison's work as an artist. |