Evan Brien

Artists in Residence: April 1 - April 30, 2026

ABOUT EVAN BRIEN

During his four-week residency at the Kiyooka Ohe Arts Centre, Evan Brien worked in relief and assemblage, using layered materials and found objects to uncover histories embedded in surfaces. His process is guided by an intuitive sense of discovery, where he uncovers materials, tracing their past lives, and allows texture, colour, and form to reveal unexpected narratives.

Through this residency, Brien focused on slowing down and fully immersing himself in the process; testing new approaches, experimenting with materials, and allowing the surrounding landscape to influence his thinking around scale, time, and memory.

Artist Biography

Evan Brien is a self-taught artist based in Calgary, Alberta, working in relief and assemblage using found materials, simple mark-making, and layered surfaces. His practice explores the histories embedded within objects tracing time through texture, colour, and form, and uncovering the stories that exist beneath what is immediately visible.

Brien shares that life experience allows ample opportunity to develop an art practice even without a formal art education. From attending trade school for graphic design and print production, to working in arts adjacent trades such as sign making, sign painting, and film set painting, to observations of the every-day through jobs of general labour, Brien applies these experiences to the pursuit of art making.

Evan Brien has shown work both individually and in group shows, and has created public murals and sculptures alongside Josh Brien under the moniker “Bill’s Benevolent Association”. He participated in a residency at the Calgary Allied Arts Foundation in the fall of 2024 and shortly thereafter was part of an international residency through Buinho Creative Hub in Messajana, Portugal throughout the month of February 2025. These formal opportunities in the arts propelled his artistic development exponentially and Evan is on a mission to continue this growth in a life-long pursuit to visually interpret the subjective experiences of life.

Find out more about Evan Brien at evanbrien.ca