Member Profile

Kristin Sjaarda

Lake Huron Sunset

About Kristin Sjaarda

Kristin Sjaarda is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Toronto. She attended the Colorado Institute of Art on a full tuition international scholarship. Known for her large scale, lush still-life images of garden flowers, her photography has been exhibited internationally. Kristin has also designed silk scarves using her own imagery, and hand-made ceramics for use in her photos. She has taught workshops on natural light photography and floral design as well as lectured at Sheridan College, the Ontario Science Centre, and TD Bank. In September 2022 and 2024 she was an Artist in Residence at Kingsbrae Gardens in NB and at the Royal Hotel in Picton ON, respectively. Her photography is included in many private and corporate collections including the TD Bank Corporate Art Collection. In January 2025, the Art Gallery of Hamilton hosted her third solo show. At Art Toronto in October 2025, her work was represented by Smokestack Gallery, Hamilton and Lustre Gallery, Toronto.

“Using Northern Renaissance paintings as a jumping-off point, photography is the medium through which I investigate the urban environment. Ontario-grown flowers, vessels from my Dutch immigrant family, birds and eggs borrowed from the ROM, and naturally-collected specimens are arranged and captured as still-life images. Inspired by the work of Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750), particularly the depiction of nature’s impermanence, these images reflect the fleeting beauty of flora while confronting contemporary concerns of climate-change and degradation. In this way ‘Vanitas’ is no longer symbolic of mortality but instead looks outward; an admonition to respect and preserve the environment that supports our existence.”