McMaster University professors Adrien Crossman and Deborah Sloboda, and recent graduates of the Faculty of Humanities Ardyn Gibbs and Eli Nolet are among 27 local artists on the short list of nominees for the Hamilton Arts Awards in the Creator Awards category. 

The Hamilton Arts Awards are dedicated to celebrating and recognizing the contributions artists make to the community. Each year, citizens can nominate local artists, arts collectives, and arts community leaders and volunteers for consideration, who are then selected by independent juries of arts professionals based on their excellence and contributions to Hamilton. 

The Creator Awards recognize artistic excellence or innovation that contributes to artistic growth in Hamilton, advances the artform, and expresses cultural vitality and diversity. Nine recipients in this category will be recognized on June 12, 2025.  

Adrien Crossman 

Adrien Crossman is an artist, curator, and assistant professor in the School of the Arts at McMaster University. They act as director of Orchid Contemporary, an independent gallery run out of the garage in their backyard, and co-founded and co-run off centre, an online publication dedicated to writing about contemporary art.  

Crossman says they felt validated upon receiving a nomination but are most proud to be nominated in the same category as two of their former students. 

“Ardyn Gibbs and Eli Nolet were my students in the studio art program here at McMaster and are now my friends and collaborators,” they said. “I feel proud to be nominated alongside two trans kin whose work and friendship mean so much to me.” 

Crossman says their work is inspired and influenced by the queer and trans activists who came before them. Currently, their gallery Orchid Contemporary is showing spring can really hang you up the most, a new exhibit featuring a number of Hamilton based artists. They plan to dedicate the summer months to their solo exhibition which features all new work and opens in September at Artspace in Peterborough. 

Ardyn Gibbs 

Ardyn Gibbs is a digital new media artist, designer, arts worker, and recent graduate of McMaster University’s studio art program with a minor in community engagement. Their artistic work prioritizes feeling and desire while exploring the affective qualities of queerness and spatial relationships. 

Gibbs says being nominated for a Creator Award is a meaningful highlight in their career.  

“Upon graduating I wasn’t sure what to expect,” said Gibbs. “I was nervous, but I think this nomination has allowed me some certainty and confidence in my practice as an emerging artist. I am grateful to be doing the work that I get to do.” 

Gibbs recently finished a busy season of shows and collaborations. They are currently away at residency in British Columbia and will be spending the summer creating new work.  

Eli Nolet 

Nolet is an artist and arts worker who recently graduated from the studio art program at McMaster University. Their artistic work explores how technology and affective materiality can function as a vessel for self and queer potentiality. 

Deborah Sloboda 

Deborah Sloboda is a professor and reproductive biologist at McMaster University. She holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Early Origins of Health and Disease. Her work investigates early life impacts on fetal and placental development. She is the lead of The Art of Creation Project, an arts-based science translation program and public exhibition project that uses art to explain the importance of health before and during pregnancy to the public, policy makers, and social and healthcare providers.