BIO
Nomi Drory, BArch BEd, is a visual artist with a background in architecture and experience in various forms of movements; ballet, mime, athletics. Over the course of her career, she has explored a variety of media, including sculpting, drawing, painting, cutouts, video, and multi-media installations. She has participated in dozens of group shows in commercial and public galleries in Toronto and New York. Her work is part of the University of Toronto’s art collection, as well as many private collections. Her work was in the official exhibit at the Nuit Blanche 2014.
Nomi’s recent art practice explores the shift from orienting through 'thought 'to firstly orienting through 'embodied experience'. Through that she explores the interaction of the body with the environment it is lived in. She strongly believes in the Body- Mind unity as an integral part of the artistic process.
Nomi was born in Bolivia, raised in Israel, and then moved to Canada as an adult. Through her experience as an immigrant, she developed both a pervasive sense of dislocation and a paradoxical attachment to disparate places.
Nomi got her bachelor’s degree in Architecture in 1989 from The Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. Following her graduation, travel, and a brief stint in New York, Drory came to Canada, settling in Toronto, which she has said “enabled me to gain the geographical and socio-cultural distance necessary to hear the voice of The Other.”
In 1996 she received her diploma from Art Centre of Central Technical School, and in 1999 She graduated with a Bachelor of Education from the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. In 2000, she returned to the Art Centre of Central Technical School as a teacher to instruct drawing, painting and history.
Currently Nomi is working on video installations and performance art. She created a process of drawing that invites participants to respond their environment through a kinesthetic and felt sense experience.
Nomi is a recipient of a 2018 Ontario Art Council grant For Visual Art
Exhibitions:
2016 Pivot, The Spoke Club, Toronto, Solo Show
2014 Mixing Toronto, Official Independent Project, 2014 Nuit Blanche, Toronto
2014 Drawing 2014, B. Aird Gallery, Toronto, Juried Group Show
2013 Inside Out, Monton Window Gallery, Toronto, Installation
2012 Drawing 2012, B. Aird Gallery, Toronto, Juried Group Show
2012 Affordable Art Fair, New York City, a guest of Blunt Collective
2011 Society of Canadian Artists, 43rd Open National Juried Exhibition, Toronto
2011 The Abstraction Attraction, Still Point, Brunswick, Maine, Juried Online Group Show
2011 Black and White, Linus Gallery, Long Beach, California, Juried Group Show
2011 In Practice, Central Gallery, Toronto, Solo Show
2011 Together, Loop Gallery, Toronto, Two-Person show
2011 Drawing 2011, B. Aird Gallery, Toronto, Juried Group Show
2010 Placeless - Placeness, Toronto Public Library, Fairview Branch, Toronto, Solo Show
2010 Members' Art Collections, Women's Art Association of Canada, Toronto
2009 Levitation, La Muse, Toronto, Group Show
2007 Landscape of Memory, Side Space Gallery, Toronto, Two-Person Show
2007 Mindscapes, Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto,
2006 Observations, Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto,
2005 X.C. Gallery, Toronto, Group Show
2004 A.A.F. Art Fair, New York City, Juried Group Show
Grants and Awards:
2018 Ontario Art Council, Visual Arts, Visual Artists Creation Projects Grant
2014 Ontario Art Council, Media Arts, Exhibition Assistance Grant
2011 Still Point Gallery, Brunswick, Maine, Artist of Distinction Award
1989 The Israel Institute of Technology Award for Thesis
Commissions:
2006 Winds of Change, commissioned by Ellen and William Michelson,
Faculty of Sociology, University of Toronto, Art Collection
2005 Memory of Abruzzo, 6' by 4' Oil on Canvas, Private Commission
2012 Levitating Figures, Oil on Canvas, 24"x48", Private Commission
Press:
2016 Pivot in the journal Public- Art, Culture, Ideas
2013 Still Point Arts Quarterly, Fall Issue,
2014 July 31, Living Toronto, Mixing Toronto, A Nuit Blanche
2014 BlogTO, Mixing Toronto, An Official Nuit Blanche Independent Project
2011 BLOG: Nomi Drory - Artist of Distinction, Still Point Art Gallery
1989 Rothschild Boulevard End, Architecture in Israel, 1989, Publication of Thesis
Other Professional Experience:
2000 - 2018 Visual Art Teacher, The Art Centre, Central Technical School, Toronto
1990 -1991 Architect, Kearns Mancini Architects, Toronto
1987 - 1990 Architect, Hayutins Architects, Tel- Aviv, Israel
1985-1989 Mime, Clown, Juggler, Self Employed, Tel- Aviv, Israel
Education:
1998 - 1999 Bachelor of Education, Senior, Art, History OISE, University of Toronto
1995 - 1996 Diploma in Visual Art, Adults Special Art Program,
Central Technical School, Toronto
1983 - 1989 Bachelor of Architecture, The Technion,
Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
1981- 1983 Pantomime, Juggling and Clowning, Nissan Nativ Acting Studio