39| O akville B eaver | T hursday,July 5,2018 insidehalton.com Two Oakville artists are among the "brains" behind a pub- lic art fundraising initiative in Toronto. Katrina Elena and Sang Eun Ahn are two of the 50 artists cho- sen to take part in this year's Yo- gen Früz Pinkberry Brain Pro- ject. The Brain Project is a public art fundraising initiative where artists and designers from across North America design a brain canvas to be placed through- out the city of To- ronto. From July 4 to Aug. 31, the brains will be on the streets of downtown To- ronto, with the goal to raise money and aware- ness for Baycrest Health Sci- ences, which researches brain health. It also aims to get people talk- ing about the importance of a healthy brain. To date, the pro- ject has raised more than $2.3 million for brain health research. People from all over Canada are encouraged to come and see the brains, and start talking about brain health. Elena, 24, said she saw some brains that were part of a recent project, and researched it when she got home. "I was in Yorkdale in 2016, when they had all their sculp- tures there," said Elena. "I passed by and of course I love art, so I was intrigued by why they were there." She said she's blown away by the response to the exhibit, and how many people it has touched. That inspired this year's sculpture. Elena is an abstract artist cur- rently working and residing in Oakville. Working predominant- ly in acrylics and mixed media, she draws her inspira- tion from the nat- ural world focus- ing merely on form, movement and texture. The Holy Trin- ity Secondary School graduate said her brain was designed with a focus on community and how "that sense of belonging can help us feel more connected to those around us and our community and the world." "Communities have the power to nurture and heal." She used the symbol of honey- bees, their hive and the abun- dance of what we can create when we work together. She made her brain out of clay, and the actual honeycomb is made of wood that she cut by hand. The inside honey is resin and acrylic paint, with drips of Swarovski crystals. Elena just graduated from ear- ly childhood education from Sheridan College and is sure art will be a part of her life going for- ward. Meanwhile, Sang Eun Ahn is a Korean-Canadian painter and ce- ramic artist. Born in Seoul, South Korea, she attended the Sunhwa Arts School, where she majored in visual arts and devel- oped her fundamental artistic techniques. After moving to Canada as a young adult, Sang worked to fur- ther her artistic credentials, graduating from Sheridan Col- lege with a major in furniture de- sign. Combined with her subse- quent work as a full-time artist, Sang has become proficient with paint, ceramic and design. She used these skills to craft her brain for the Brain Project. Her artistic practice has fo- cused on porcelain. With a deep respect for craftsmanship, she creates porcelain objects to por- tray natural humaneness and be- nevolence. Nature serves as her primary inspiration and she of- ten uses flowers and animal forms to achieve the humane emotional delicacy that charac- terizes her work. To learn more about the Brain Project, go to www.brainproject- .ca. ARTS Oakville artists contribute brains to Toronto public art project Katrina Elena's artistic brain will be displayed in Toronto as part of the Brain Project. Katrina Elena photograph Project raises money, awareness for brain health JULIE SLACK jslack@metroland.com "I passed by and of course I love art, so I was intrigued by why they were there." -Katrina Elena