Desneige Frandsen grew up in the Midland area and returned quickly after completing her undergrad because she couldn’t stay away from beautiful Georgian Bay. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and Public Policy from the University of Guelph. She is currently a JD Candidate at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law at Ryerson University.

She has completed several research projects with goals such as better connecting First Nations reserves with their nearby municipalities and working towards more cultural awareness and understanding in mental health care for Indigenous community members. Working within the Indigenous community taught her more about her Metis roots and allowed her to connect meaningfully with many Indigenous community members and organizations. She has also done some work with the 2SLGBTQ+ community, youth and other power minority groups.

Desneige continues to work on several research projects and runs her own small marketing business while pursuing her legal education. She loves to grow, learn new things and meet new people. In the free time that she has, she loves to cuddle up with her dog or get together with family and friends.

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Desneige Frandsen a grandi dans la région de Midland et est revenue en ville après avoir terminé ses études de premier cycle parce qu’elle ne pouvait pas rester hors de la magnifique baie Georgienne. Elle a obtenu un baccalauréat en justice pénale et politique publique de l’Université de Guelph. Elle est actuellement candidate au JD à la Lincoln Alexander School of Law de l’Université Ryerson.

Elle a complété plusieurs projets de recherche avec des objectifs tels que mieux relier les réserves des Premières Nations avec leurs municipalités voisines et travailler à une plus grande sensibilisation et compréhension culturelles dans les soins de santé mentale pour les membres des communautés autochtones. Travailler au sein de la communauté autochtone lui en a appris davantage sur ses racines métisses et lui a permis de trouver des liens significatifs avec de nombreux membres et organisations de la communauté autochtone. Elle a également travaillé avec la communauté 2SLGBTQ+, les jeunes et d’autres groupes minoritaires de pouvoir.

Desneige continue de travailler sur plusieurs projets de recherche et dirige sa propre petite entreprise de marketing tout en poursuivant ses études juridiques. Elle aime grandir, apprendre de nouvelles choses et rencontrer de nouvelles personnes. Dans le temps libre dont elle dispose, elle adore se câliner contre son chien ou se retrouver avec sa famille et ses amis.

Isabel Brandt is a graduate of the MA program in Art History and Visual Culture at the University of Guelph. Her research interests include the relationship between art, property law and the politics of restitution.

Erin J Coholan is a photographer and director based out of Georgian Bay. Her fascination with the arts began at a young age through her camcorder, and disposable cameras. She graduated with a BFA from Ryerson Image Arts. She is very interested in working within a community space to drive inclusivity and experimentation. Her still and moving images are influenced by ideas surrounding femininity, the human condition, and the melodramatic. Working with dated costume, prop and location, she maintains a cinematic retrograde that drives her aesthetic.

Judy grew up in Whitby Ontario and graduated from U of T in 1969. She worked for IBM Canada for 25 years including some assignments in Vancouver and New York. Since retiring, and with her retired husband of 50 years, she has been combining travel, (including living half the year for 8 years on a boat in Mexico, and long trips to Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, South Africa and most recently Spain and Portugal) with living in the most beautiful area of the world, southern Georgian Bay.
She started taking classes with Quest when she moved to the area in 2004, started volunteering with Quest in 2011, joined the Board in 2012 and stepped down as president in 2019, turning over to Leigh Stevenson. She is still on the Board and involved in several committees.

Ruth Quesnelle currently works as an Indigenous Student Advisor for the Simcoe County District School Board. She is a proud Métis Citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario. Ruth is also from the Historic Métis community of Penetanguishene and a descendant of Drummond Island.  She has been a tailor for 36 years and has been making Métis historic clothes for the last 14 years. Ruth has made historic clothes for Métis Nation of Ontario, for many Métis citizens, 2015 Pan Am games and the 2010 opening ceremonies for the Vancouver Olympics. Ruth was recognized with the Ontario Heritage Trust award for her contribution to preserving and promoting Métis History and Culture. She has sat on the Georgians Bay Métis Council and volunteered on the Métis Rendezvous’ committee.  Ruth is very proud of her Métis heritage and loves sharing her Métis knowledge with others. That knowledge ranges to finger weaving, jigging, beading and embroidery to name a few. She also does Métis presentation and facilitates many different workshops.

Jeff Holloway is a Wealth Advisor with RBC Dominion Securities in Midland and brings over 25 years of experience to the Treasurer role Quest. He is a former partner at a Leadership Consultancy firm and was a Vice President at publically traded Fortune 500 Global Human Resource Consultancy Company. He was also the former controller at the NHLPA and earned his Chartered Accountant designation (CPA, CA) while working at the accounting and advisory firm PWC.  Jeff also holds the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation and he has an Honors degree in Mathematics from the University of Waterloo.

Leigh Stevenson is a museum and cultural enterprise specialist, with a background in Art, Art History as well as business. As a Canadian with over 20 years working in North America and Europe, Leigh has worked for or been a consultant to institutions such as:

• The National Galleries of Scotland
• The Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
• The Royal Ontario Museum
• Parliament of Canada
• Parc zoologic de Paris
• The Courtauld, London
• Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Smithsonian, National Portrait Gallery

Currently Leigh is the Director, Business Operations for Ingenium Canada – Canada’s National Science and Innovations Museums, Ottawa

Marilyn Green graduated from Queen’s University with a BA in History & Art History, a B Ed in History and Art from the University of Toronto and a Visual Arts Specialist from York University. An Art Educator with a special interest in clay and printmaking, she is now a retired secondary school visual art teacher.

A Quest volunteer, for over 15 years, on the board for 11 years, serving first as Adult Education chair, then Exhibition chair, she also volunteered for the 6 year Steam Roller Print event, Kaleidoscope and Art Slam.

Marilyn is involved with Quest because she believes in lifelong learning especially related to art and supports what Quest is striving to accomplish.

Michael Farnan is a multidisciplinary artist and educator, with extensive experience as both an exhibiting artist and Sessional Professor at the University and College level. He holds a Studio-based Ph.D. in Art and Visual Culture from Western University. Farnan’s work focusses on Canadian representational history and discourses surrounding colonialism, wilderness, nature, and nationhood.

Michelle is a resident of Midland who believes in education and is a proud supporter of the Visual Arts programs at Quest.  Michelle is a Portfolio Manager and Wealth Advisor at the Midland RBC Dominion Securities branch and is a dedicated member of the Board of Directors.  Michelle is committed to ensuring that Quest Art School + Gallery provides access for all to enjoy the education and experience of visual arts in the North Simcoe region.

Peggy Breckenridge was one of the founding members of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Operations Committee for the Midland Cultural Centre. She served as Secretary and an Officer of the Board until her resignation in June 2015.

Peggy formerly served as Mayor of Tiny Township and sat as a Councillor on the Simcoe County Council. She also sat on the Performance Management Committee at County, the Simcoe County Museum Board, the Georgian Bay Chamber of Commerce Board, the Physician Recruitment Steering Committee, the Severn Sound Environmental Association and the Severn Sound Sustainability Committee.

Peggy taught at the secondary school level for ten years before launching her business career, which has included senior sales and marketing positions in several major consumer products companies. While President/General Manager of Sunbeam Canada, she was instrumental in a major operational turn-around of the Canadian division of this multi-national appliance manufacturer.

As an entrepreneur, Peggy has been instrumental in the successful start-up of three new ventures, ranging from a food consulting and marketing business, to a manufacturing enterprise serving the automotive industry.

Abigail LaChapelle is a digital and traditional painter from the Georgian Bay area. They are interested in interdisciplinary forms of art-making, oftentimes combining traditional techniques with expanded digital softwares such as Photoshop, After Effects, and Illustrator. With a passion for storytelling, their work often explores concepts of character, environment, and the connections we make between literature, history, mythologies, and art. Recent projects include pre-viz/animation for the Toronto Youth Wind Orchestra, the King Street Community Art Project, to-be-released album artworks, freelance commissions, and an upcoming illustration collaboration with Ian McCallum for Munsee language readers. In 2020, they attained their BFA with Distinction from OCAD University’s Drawing & Painting: Expanded Animation and Digital Painting program in Toronto, Canada. They received further education from the Digital Media program at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, California.

Virginia Eichhorn has worked in the visual arts field for thirty years and has been the Executive Director and Curator for Quest Art since 2018. Previously she was the Executive Director & Chief Curator for the Tom Thomson Art Gallery, was the first full-time curator for the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery and was one of the founding members of the Queen West Gallery District in Toronto. She is a graduate of the Art History programme at Queen’s University and continued her studies at the University of Toronto. As an independent curator she has presented exhibitions at numerous prestigious venues including the XII Biennale of Art at Villa Nova Cerveira in Portugal. She has worked extensively with artists from across Canada and abroad, developing exhibitions for high profile Canadian galleries and museums. In addition to curating, she has written numerous catalogue essays and has contributed articles to prominent Canadian and international magazines such as Ceramics Monthly. She was president of the Ontario Asociation of Art Galleries and a board member for Cahiers métiers d’art /Craft Journal. She is currently the Vice Chair and Treasurer for Craft Ontario (formerly the Ontario Craft Council) In 2009 she won the Jean Johnson/Melanie Egan Award for Curatorial Excellence given by the Ontario Crafts Council.

Born in Hamilton ON and a resident of Midland since 1981, Charlotte has enjoyed a four-decade career in Marketing, Event Management, Merchandising, and Sales for luxury consumer goods.

Charlotte’s lifetime preoccupation with the visual arts has had opportunity to develop and mature in retirement in her works focused on colour, texture and movement, in paint, glass and fibre media. Her artwork may be found in private collections in Nova Scotia, Alberta and Ontario.

Volunteering with Quest Art has provided Charlotte with an opportunity to learn more about the Art industry and its place in the community, and also to learn new methods and explore practices within the vibrant local artists’ group.

Retired teacher (history, art and media) Peter Fyfe is originally from Kingston, Ontario, with degrees in Fine Arts (York) and Education (Queens). He has also studied Art, and Art Administration at Banff. In the last few years, Peter’s art career has been accelerating, most recently with his 2020 Quest show,  Unbounded Detours and Other Curiosities. His work includes decorative painting (the chair and canoes are two favorite depictions), but also multimedia explorations of topical social issues and contemporary aesthetics. Peter currently lives in Orillia, and is married with two children and two cats.

Lifelong Go Home Bay boy now lives in downtown Midland with his cat, Stella.
I come from a family of artists: painters, writers and musicians.