Bren completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Victoria and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. She has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, Innovation PEI, and the Squamish Arts Council. Her work has won the CBC Poetry Prize, The Malahat Review Long Poem Prize, the ARC Poem of the Year Award, and was a finalist for the Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award. In 2016-2017, she was the Writer in Residence at the Ranger Station Art Gallery in Harrison Hot Springs.

Laurel Terlesky is a Canadian interdisciplinary artist with a Master of Fine Arts Degree from Transart Institute and a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Victoria. Her international presence includes exhibitions and on-screen works viewed through television, large-scale projection, and the internet.

Her artistic exploration revolves around the use of technology in communication and relationship-building. Terlesky delves into the nuances often overlooked, investigating tacit recognition and implicit awareness through physical encounters that engage the senses.

Utilizing touch-activated audio and motion-triggered lights, her installations delve into the permeable boundary of human skin and the exchange between interior and exterior awareness during tactile experiences. These installations prompt questions about embodiment, memory storage in the body, and the mediation of past, present, and future through touch. Terlesky’s artistic process seeks to bridge gaps, address disconnections, challenge false dualisms, and repair communication breakdowns, ultimately inviting viewers to reflect on the nature of human connection and the role of technology in shaping it.