Current Exhibit:
About the Exhibition
Although she is known for her own innovative, vivid colour-blocking technique and imagery, in Being Seen artist Portia ‘Po’ Chapman celebrates the natural voice of nature. Inspired by the beauty of sunlight shining through rawhide when her handcrafted hand drums are held up toward the sky, Po’s experimental exhibition places the light source within glowing, wrapped rawhide vessels revealing the species’ markings formed by their actual lived experiences
Being Seen takes a very moving twist whereby the viewer momentarily becomes part of the installation, for when the viewer stands among the glowing hides, the viewer experiences the emotional delight of being seen too.
This exceptional, uplifting, minimalist-styled installation, simultaneously integrates the beauty of the structural art piece, species and viewer set against the grunge of a busy, monolithic, urban jungle. Becoming a juxtaposition of a stiff, cold and stoic exterior against a sumptuous warm and inviting interior.
Portia believes that “we all deserve to be seen. When “Being Seen… we glow!”
The exhibition will run at the KAC’s Pocket Gallery in the TETT Centre from 27 July to 18 September, 2026.
Opening Reception
30 July, 2026 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Kingston Arts Council | Tett Centre (370 King Street West, Kingston)
Free & Open to All
Come stand inside the glow.
On July 30th from 6:00 to 8:00 PM, the KAC invites you to an opening reception celebrating Portia "Po" Chapman's exhibition Being Seen at the Pocket Gallery. Po's handcrafted rawhide vessels hold light the way sunlight moves through a drum skin, and each one carries the markings of a life actually lived. Step into the space among the hides and you become part of the piece too, caught in that same warm light.
Po will share a short artist talk about the work and what drew her to it.
Light refreshments will be served. Free and open to all.
About the Artist
Portia ‘Po’ Chapman (BFAH 2019 – Sculpture & Installation, BEd – Visual Art, OCT – Artist in Community Education Specialist) is a contemporary Kingston based, award winning, professional, exhibiting artist, muralist, frame drum maker, and published multi-disciplinary illustrator, reclaiming her Indigenous ancestry through nature focused artwork.
Po is best known for her use of circular composition, and her own unique colour blocking style inspired by wild grapevine silhouettes cast by the noonday sun. As the Queen’s University recipient of the 2019 Medal in Visual Art, some of Po’s most recent artistic accomplishments include: Creative City Impact Awards Illustration (2025), Shortlisted Muralist for the Robert Bruce Parking Garage (2025), Cover Artist for the GAN Face to Face 3 Portrait Exhibition (2025), King Township Land Acknowledgement Illustration (2025), Exhibited in the Kingston Artist’s Showcase (2024/25), Strong Enterprises Mural Competition Winner (2024/25), 3 Murals and Installation for Base31 (2022/23), Solo Drum Exhibit at the John M. Parrott Art Gallery (2023), 10 Piece Digital Illustration Series for the Queen’s Office of Indigenous Initiatives (2020), 7 Piece Digital Illustration Series for the Queen’s Fac. Of Ed. (2022), and the Cover Artist/Illustrator for the textbook “Ways of Being in the World…” (2023).
Po has also been featured by the Toronto Guardian, the YGK Arts Project, County Arts, the Kingstonist, and the Queen’s Journal, among others. When not creating artworks, Po leads local community art workshops and art talks as well as teaching Media Art at Loyola in Kingston. When Po is asked why she creates beautiful reflective artworks that inspire conversation and the sharing of stories, she responds: “Life just feels better when we smile!”