CAAF Artist Residencies
CAAF offers studio residencies with the aim to support emerging artists to reach their full potential. By providing space and funding, the CAAF Studio Residency enables emerging artists to further explore their creative practice and take advantage of opportunities that CAAF can provide. Artists are also encouraged to share their process and engage with the community during their residencies.
THE CAAF STUDIOS
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APPLY TO THE CAAF STUDIO RESIDENCIES
CAAF’s cSPACE Studio
Suite #435, 1721 – 29th Avenue SW, Calgary, AB
The studio is located on the fourth floor of cSPACE Marda Loop, a multi-disciplinary creative hub and arts incubator.
280 square feet
Natural light (with room darkening blinds) and adjustable LED lighting
High speed Wifi and fibre connectivity
Elevator
Fully accessibleCAAF’s 500 Collective Studio
#500 – 321 50the Avenue SE , Calgary, ABThe studio is located at 500 Collective, a collective of working spaces for creatives.
85 square feet
Natural light
Wifi
Fully accessible
Current Resident - cSPACE Studio
Nikki Farzi - July to September 2026
Nikki Farzi is a Calgary-based multidisciplinary artist working in fluid art, jewelry design, painting, and installation. Her practice explores movement, color, and the emotional connection between people and place.
Inspired by the Canadian Rockies, the Northern Lights, and her travels, Nikki creates work that captures the fluidity and energy of the natural world. Using acrylic pouring and mixed-media techniques, she transforms abstract patterns into paintings, immersive installations, and handcrafted jewelry, extending her artwork beyond the canvas into wearable forms.
Travel plays a significant role in her creative process, influencing her use of color, texture, and storytelling. Through her work, Nikki seeks to evoke a sense of wonder, exploration, and connection, inviting viewers to experience familiar landscapes and memories through an abstract lens.
Her artistic practice is rooted in experimentation, embracing the unpredictable nature of fluid art while creating pieces that celebrate movement, transformation, and discovery.
Current Resident - 500 Collective Studio
Yu Chen
My work focuses on portrait painting, cultural identity, and personal stories. I was trained in both traditional Chinese painting and Western oil painting, and I combine these styles to explore ideas of heritage, belonging, and the emotions connected to migration.
As an artist who promotes Chinese culture and Hanfu, the traditional clothing of the Han people, I’ve always been interested in how different cultures express their heritage in Calgary at the present time. This has led me to my current project, “Portraits of Belonging,” focused on learning more about other artists’ backgrounds and building connections with them through my paintings.
This new body of work is heavily influenced by community interactions. I intend to invite people from different cultural backgrounds and engage in conversations with me, and then paint them wearing their traditional clothing. Through this process, I will create portraits that reflect their stories, culture, and personal experience of immigration.
