Fei Disbrow experiments and plays with a variety of media to form sculptures and collages rooted in embodied experience. Her work prioritizes texture and form, composition and restraint. Disbrow’s pieces are visceral abstractions, emerging from both a rigorous and intuitive approach to making. Her use of materials challenges static notions of a medium’s meaning and purpose. She earned her BA in Geography from UBC, her MFA in Sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, and has participated in multiple artist residencies. Disbrow has exhibited in Canada and the US, and is represented by Gallery Jones in Vancouver and FriesenSolo in the US.
Exhibitions
Solo
2026 Quietly Palpable, Gallery Jones, Vancouver, BC
2026 The Familiar Unfamiliar, West Vancouver Art Museum, West Vancouver, BC
2023 Threshold and the Gut, Gallery Jones, Vancouver, BC
2022 Creep, Site-specific Commission, Art Gallery at Evergreen, Coquitlam, BC
2021 Vignette Exhibition, Friesen + Lantz Gallery, Sun Valley, ID
2020 Catalogue of Stitches, Gallery Jones, Vancouver, BC
2020 The Space Between, Friesen Gallery, Sun Valley, ID
2018 Beginning with Absence, Friesen Gallery, Sun Valley, ID
2014 Something is Dreaming This, Initial Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2013 Corpus Series, Buy Some Damn Art, Brooklyn, NY
2008 Open, Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, ON
2005 Next, IMAG Gallery, Pacific NW College of Art, Portland, OR
Group
2023 Fashion Fictions, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2021 Making Home, Fort Gallery, Fort Langley, BC
2021 Small Scale, Right Hemisphere: Part 2, Gallery Jones, Vancouver, BC
2018 The Space, Gallery Jones, Vancouver, BC
2018 Interspace, Gallery Jones, Vancouver, BC
2017 Flat-ish, Gallery Jones, Vancouver, BC
2017 GLUE, The Tent Gallery Evolution House, Edinburgh, Scotland
2014 Fiber Fever, Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO
2014 Cutting up Culture, Art in Transit, Pattison shopping mall network Cities across Canada
2013 Today, from yesterday and tomorrow, Gallery 918, Toronto, ON
2013 Assemblage Group Show, Initial Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2012 Hard Twist 7: Touch Me, Feel Me, Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, ON
2010 The Drawing Room, Pendulum Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2010 Incubate, Hybrid Gallery, Portland, OR
2006 8th Annual Juried Emerging Sculptors Exhibition, Canadian Sculpture Centre, Toronto, ON
2006 The Print Show, John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto, ON
2005 Porous Borders, The Portland Building, Portland, OR
2004 Cultural Radar, Richard M. Ross Art Museum, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH
2004 PNCA Faculty Show, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR
2003 any coming into existence: the birth of an idea, Forum Gallery, Bloomfield Hills, MI
2003 Xchange, Wayne Community Arts Gallery, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Education
2002-2004 Cranbrook Art Academy Bloomfield Hills, MI
Master of Fine Arts: Sculpture
2000-2002 Pacific Northwest College of Art Portland, OR
Fine Arts: Printmaking
1990-1994 University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC
Bachelor of Arts: Urban Economic Geography
Residencies + Grants
2025 Artist in Residence, Konstepidemin, Gothenburg, Sweden
2024 Artist in Residence, Listafólkasamband, Faroe Islands
2021/2023 Guest Artist, Material Matters Research Lab, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver, BC
2018 Artist in Residence, Vermont Studio Centre, Johnson, VT
2015 Artist in Residence, Independent residency, Banff Centre of the Arts Banff, AB
2008 Guest Renter Program, Open Studio, Toronto, ON
2005 Regional Arts and Culture Council Project Grant, Portland Building Installation, Portland, OR
2004-2005 Intermedia Department Residency, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR
Art Fairs
2024 Art Toronto, Gallery Jones, Toronto, ON
2023 Plural Foire d’art contemporain, Gallery Jones, Montreal, QC
2020 Art on Paper, Gallery Jones, New York, NY
2019 Art Toronto, Gallery Jones, Toronto, ON
2019 Seattle Art Fair, Gallery Jones, Seattle, WA
2017 Art Toronto, Gallery Jones, Toronto, ON
2016 Papier 16, Franc Gallery, Montreal, QC
2015 Papier 15, Initial Gallery, Montreal, QC
2014 Art Toronto, Initial Gallery, Toronto, ON
Talks + Boards
2018 Artist talk + studio tour, Contemporary Art Gallery Young Patrons, Vancouver, BC
2017 Artist talk, Friesen Gallery, Sun Valley, ID
2016-2019 Vice President + Strategic Initiatives Co-Chair, Board of Directors, Access Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2015 Artist talk, Contemporary Art Society of Vancouver, Vancouver, BC
2005 Artist talk, Intermedia Department, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR
Publications
2021 Simultaneous Explorations, by Sara Genn, The Painter's Keys
https://painterskeys.com/simultaneous-explorations/
2017 Beginning with Absence, Fei Disbrow’s debut at Friesen Gallery, by Yanna Lantz, The Weekly Sun
2017 Speculators of the Final Frontier, by Sunshine Frere, SAD magazine https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5bda1b41ec4eb716fb8c14b1/t/5c0b008d8a922d01cf8073d2/1544224921918/Speculators-of-the-Final-Frontier.pdf
2016 Seven Questions for Fei Disbrow, interview by Sunshine Frere, Thrive Art Studio Blog