ARTFUL ADVENTURES
Artists Bio
Ruth Howard
Ruth is the founding Artistic Director of Jumblies. With Jumblies, she has created and led a series of multi-year Toronto residencies involving hundreds of people, and resulting in large-scale performances and other participatory projects that combine visual imagery, performance, music, movement, oral history and community arts practice. She and Jumblies have produced two previous Canada-wide tours: Train of Thought (2015), and Four Lands (2016-18).
Adrienne Marcus Raja
Adrienne Marcus Raja is a multidisciplinary artist whose practices blend painting, audio, installation, moving images and photography. She enjoys working with miniature worlds, interweaving voices of personal stories and puppetry. A Malaysian artist with Kelabit and Hainan ancestry currently is living in Toronto, her works has been presented nationally and internationally. Adrienne is Jumblies’ Media and Project Manager.
Arie Verheul van de Ven
Arie is a Composer and Violist living between Toronto and The Hague. He grew up as a Suzuki violinist while also studying Klezmer and Canadian fiddle styles and has is fascinated with the scratches, squeaks, and other unpitched noises strings can make. Arie is a member of improvisation ensemble HARP+ and has performed in concerts presented by Soundstreams and NUMUS. He regularly collaborates with Jumblies and the Gather Round Singers in Toronto.
Catherine Moeller
Catherine Moeller is a multidisciplinary artist. She facilitates art activities with seniors at the Weston-King Neighbourhood Centre. Catherine's work is infused by her passion for photography, puppetry and social justice. She dances as a form of expression, is a member of Jumblies choir, and works for Jumblies in other community outreach and engagement roles.
Celēs Emmerson
Celēs Emmerson is a young twenty-something currently enrolled in the Theatre Arts & Performance program at Centennial College. She founded her own theatre company, Fable Project, in her first year of studies alongside some of her dearest friends and colleagues, and has continued to build its foundation up through her time there and beyond. She has played many parts over the course of her theatrical career both on and off stage, as her love for the performing arts extends to a passion for leadership behind the scenes. Celēs believes that nurturing active imaginations nurtures innovation, and that is precisely what she aspires to do with the art she puts forth into the universe.
Christina Volpini
Christina Volpini is a Hamilton-based composer whose work explores gradual unfolding through time, found objects, and musical textures. Her music has been performed and commissioned by Esprit Orchestra, Array Ensemble, Continuum Contemporary Music, and others. An avid arts administrator, Christina was a core organizer of the Montreal Contemporary Music Lab (LMCML) and Toronto Creative Music Lab (TCML).
Jesse H. Wabegijig
Jesse is an Ojibway from Wiikemikoong Anishnaabek Territory located on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. Jesse is a playwright, performer, director and sculptor/puppet maker and they were most recently working as an Associate Producer with Clay and Paper Theatre. Jesse is passionately involved in the preservation of native cultural heritage. Jesse has had the opportunity to work with many historically significant companies that have shaped both the indigenous art and public art sector in Canada. They include: Debajehmujig Storytellers, Shadowland Theatre, the National Arts Centre, Paprika Festival, Jumblies Theatre, Community Arts Guild and MABELLEarts.
Marianne Alas
Marianne Alas is a textile artist, educator and culinary nutritionist.
She has been making costumes, textile art and good food with community members for many years with organizations including Jumblies, Community Arts Guild, Arts4All and MABELLEarts.
She has done costume work for the Canadian Opera Company, Video Cabaret, Luminato Festival. She teaches both textiles and cooking workshops. When not cooking or sewing she can be found growing vegetables in her backyard.
Paige Mehmet
Paige Mehmet is a 20 year old actor, writer, director and producer based in Toronto. She grew up obsessed with storytelling, and fantasy worlds, and so it wasn’t a big surprise when she co-founded her own theatre company and co-wrote her first play at 19 years old. Currently she is studying at Centennial College, in her third year of the Theatre Arts and Performance program where she has had the opportunity to work in many capacities as an artist. If Paige isn’t working as an artist she’s probably playing video games or reading. In the future she is excited to continue to grow as a performer and have the opportunity to tell stories that stay exciting and engaging.
Rakefet Arieli
Rakefet Arieli is a visual artist focused on collage and dioramas. Rakefet participated in group exhibitions in Toronto and Tel Aviv, her works were published in “Making The Cut Vol 1: The World’s Best Collage Artists”. As an immigrant she experienced the complexity of rebuilding life and identity in a new country, which is expressed in her Canadian themed artwork, and her interest in finding ways to create a sense of community.
Rhys Lourie
Rhys is a 19-year-old aspiring trans actor, artist, and writer. He dreams of acting both on stage and screen, but also hopes of writing worlds that people can enjoy. Rhys is currently in his last year of college for Theatre Arts where he’s had the opportunity to be in multiple plays such as Love and Information by Caryl Churchill, where he played multiple roles, and CRUNCH, a devised piece inspired by the writing of Italo Calvino, where he played the Detective and CMer 44. His main goal in life is to inspire others and to create a community where trans actors can be themselves both in and out of the spotlight.
RJ Mayo
RJ Mayo is a non-binary actor with from Ottawa about to enter their third and final year of Centennial College's Theatre Arts and Performance program. Recent credits include Ganymede in Crunch (Centennial College), Nikothiki in Lysistrata (Worlds Elsewhere Theatre Company) and various roles in Love and Information (Centennial College). With Rag and Bone’s Summer Shakespeare Camp, they’ve been assistant director for As You Like It, and played Orsino in Twelfth Night, Helena in All’s Well That Ends Well, and Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. During non-plague year summers, they work at the same camp teaching Shakespeare to kids aged 10-18
Shifra Cooper
Shifra is a community artist, choral director and educator. She is the founding director and conductor of The Gather Round Singers community choir. She worked at MABELLEarts for five years including as Assistant Artistic Director, and has collaborated on community arts projects across Canada. She holds a Masters of Teaching at OISE (University of Toronto) with a research speciality in facilitating intergenerational singing
Shlomit Segal
I'm a graphic designer and visual artist with a love of printmaking and mixed media. I've also been active in the labour movement & on various social justice and environmental issues. My secret talents include writing sketch comedy and cooking soup. I always jump at any chance to work on a Jumblies project.
