Staff & Board

Bethany MacKenzie is the programming director at Union House Arts.

Bethany MacKenzie (she/they) is a Queer Settler, emerging artist, and arts administrator currently based in eastern Ktaqmkuk, on the unceded homelands of the Beothuk and the Mi’kmaq (presently known as Newfoundland). They hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts (2021) from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador and have been acting Director of Union House Arts (UHA) since the spring of 2022. On top of their personal practice and administrative work, she also sits on the board of ATLANTIS (The Association of Artist Run Centres in the Atlantic) as their treasurer (2022-24).

In their artistic practice, Bethany uses labour and systems of routine as a means to explore the (in)visibility of “otherness” through land-body relationships, community, and Queer identity in temporal and rural spaces. Connecting to the sensitive and tender-hearted, they build upon and question how the social connotations and ‘rules’ within their own cultures have influenced the ways that she sees herself, her relationships, and her community; as enduring, ephemeral, shielded and vulnerable. Their work embodies this through the personal symbols, motif, and camaraderie between handmade objects, garments, and sculptures that perform and subvert ideas of domestic labour, Queer aesthetic, and gendered expression among the working class.

Diana Chisholm is a multi-disciplinary artist who’s work is rooted in sculpture and installation. Diana’s work focuses on the industrial nature of place and navigating new landscapes through multiple perspectives, humour, and social media. She received an MFA from the University of Saskatchewan (’15) and a BFA from Memorial University of Newfoundland (’12) and a BSc. in Interdisciplinary Studies from St. Francis Xavier University (’05). Chisholm has participated in group and solo exhibitions nationally and participated in residencies in Saskatchewan and Newfoundland. Diana lives and works in Parson’s Pond and Woody Point, Newfoundland where she is the Executive Director of The Trailhead Development Company.

Kate Golding is a British born surface pattern and wallpaper designer based in Bonavista, Newfoundland.  Fascinated by the small details in daily life and the beauty of her natural surroundings, Kate unites the world as she sees it with her passion for interior decoration.  All of her artwork is forged by hand using brushes, ink and fine line pen on thin transparencies on a light table.  Kate’s designs can be found on collections of wallpaper, textiles, art prints and she also works with clients to create custom designs for special projects.  Kate is a graduate of Northumbria University in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne where she completed her BFA.

Emily Jan (b. 1977, Los Angeles) is a Chinese-American artist, writer, and educator currently based in Amiskwaciwâskahikan/Edmonton, AB, in Treaty 6 territory. Jan creates intricately crafted, hyper-realistic installations of found objects inhabited by handmade flora and fauna. She is guided in her work by the spirit of exploration, kinship, and curiousity. 

As an award-winning artist, Jan has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally since 2011 and teaches on the sculpture faculty at the University of Alberta. As a writer and illustrator, she has written and illustrated three books and contributed writing to catalogues for the PHI Foundation (formerly DHC/ART), the Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), and the publications esse : art + opinions and Contemporary HUM.

K. Claire MacDonald is an artist and jewellery designer based in Bonavista, NL. She is a graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design where she completed a BFA with a Major in Jewelry Design and Metalsmithing. Her work is characterized by a mix of organic forms and soft, graceful lines, often serving as a tiny mementos of the coastal landscapes of Atlantic Canada. Claire owns and operates a studio and shop in Bonavista called Kind Seas.

Chelsea Mitchell is a lawyer based in Trinity East, NL. She holds a JD and MA in Economics from Queen’s University and a BA from St. Francis Xavier University. Since relocating to the Bonavista Peninsula, Chelsea has been an active volunteer in her community. She also sits on the board of Otter Housing Association, a non-profit affordable housing association in Port Rexton. For the past several years, Chelsea has been developing her skills in the fibre arts, particularly weaving, spinning and knitting. 

Megan Samms (they/she) is an L’nu and Nlha7kápmx visual artist, Indigenous agriculturalist, beekeeper, and community worker who, drawing from her varied practices, works collaboratively with mediums to articulate story, messages, and continued dialogue within their respective historic and contemporary place-based contexts. She’s known for weaving and natural dye work, but uses photo, and performance interventions to remember and triangulate entangled presence and relationality with place and time. Samms is a collaborator and is an emerging Ancestral Skin Marker who apprentices with mentors Dion Kaszas, Keith Callihoo, and Jerry Evans. She lives in her home community in one of their two ancestral territories: Katalisk, Ktaqmkuk, Mi’kma’ki, Wabanaki Territory.

Samms shares work in non conventional or non institutional art spaces like abandoned buildings, Land or community spaces; in solo and group exhibitions at Artist Run Centres, as well as at the Rooms provincial gallery in Ktaqmkuk, regional galleries, and at various festivals; Samms was a participating artist in the Bonavista Biennale in 02023 and an Anchor Artist at Nocturne Festival in Kjipuktuk in 02025. In 02025 Samms administered the Second Wave Ancestral Marking Group Mentorship with mentor, Dion Kaszas; she was a Leighton Independent Artist in Residence (Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity), a TC2 Weaver in Residence (Centre for Research and Innovation and in private studio); and was long listed for the Sobey Art Award (National Gallery). In 02024, Samms was awarded the Theodore Prize from the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, Wabanakik; in the same year she was nominated for the Sobey Art Award (National Gallery), and for various awards from VANL-CARFAC and was shortlisted for the Craftsperson of the Year. Samms’ work has been shared in a variety of artful and peer-reviewed publications including the Journal of Creative Cartography from the University of Arizona, Riddlefence Magazine, and Beside Magazine. They have received generous attention from media like CBC, Visual Arts News, and the Globe & Mail. Megan is the chair of the board of Union House Arts in Port Union, Ktaqmkuk. Their (forever continued) education is Land, peer-to-peer, and mentorship based.