about
Keeley Haftner (b. 1985) is a Saskatchewanian-Canadian artist based in the Netherlands whose multidisciplinary practice centers waste as both material and metaphor. Through intimate acts of transformation, her work challenges extractive systems and prompts new ways of thinking about social and ecological relations. She was born and raised on Treaty 6 territory, on the traditional lands of the Cree, Saulteaux, Dene, Dakota, Lakota, Nakota, and Métis nations, to whom she and her ancestors are deeply indebted.
Her work has been exhibited internationally across the USA, Canada, and Europe, including at Schering Stiftung Berlin (DE), the Art Institute of Chicago (USA), and the Keramiekmuseum Princessehof (NL). Haftner received her BFA from Mount Allison University (2011) and her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2016).
She has received numerous awards and honours, including a longlisting for Canada’s prestigious Sobey Art Award and a shortlist nomination for the Netherlands’ biennial De Kei Prize. Selected residencies include the European Ceramic Workcentre (NL), Vermont Studio Center (USA), Living in the Play: NIDO II (IT) by the Poor Farm (USA), and SÍM (IS). She has presented and created work for Transmediale (Berlin), Open Engagement (Queen’s Museum, NYC), Chicago’s Architecture and Terrain Biennials, and This Art Fair (Amsterdam). Selected publications include The 3D Additivist Cookbook and BAKSTEEN | BRICK (Kunsthal KAdE). Her work is held in numerous institutional and private collections, including the Ceramic Museum of the Netherlands and The Over Holland Collection. Haftner is a two-time recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts Research and Creation Grant and a Professional Artist with Stroom (NL).
Photo Credit Jon Burung
