ArtsUnapologetically queer and colourful, Two Pansies — on now at the Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery in Halifax — sees the debut of two artists-on-the-rise.Unapologetically queer and colourful, this Halifax art exhibition sees the debut of two artists on the riseMorgan Mullin · CBC Arts · Posted: Nov 03, 2025 2:41 PM EST | Last Updated: 5 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 5 minutesFrom Autumn Star and Shay Donovan’s exhibition Two Pansies, at the Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery until Dec. 7, 2025 (Pam Correll)Pam Corell still remembers when she saw Autumn Star’s artwork for the first time. The acting curator at Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery, Corell was in the midst of a business-as-usual visit to an open studio day at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University, when the works in Star’s space stopped her and a colleague in their tracks. “One of her large sculptures was there, and then paintings on the wall,” Corell recalls. “Seeing someone who can do effective sculpture, along with having a really nice painting technique? That’s rare. And we saw it right away.” Corell and her colleague looked at each other and nodded. “We saw something that we don’t see that often … a skill set and the confidence to experiment in these different mediums.”That studio space, which made Corell into an instant fan, was arguably the prototype for the show Star and fellow multidisciplinary artist Shay Donovan would end up mounting at the SMU gallery. In their shared studio space, the two friends and classmates created things on a massive white wall. “We called it … what was it? Unfathomable wall? Magical wall? I can’t remember,” starts Star. “It was something like: ‘The magical wall full of mystique and wonder’ or something,” supplies Donovan as the pair laugh. “Yeah, we labelled it,” Star adds. From the exhibit Two Pansies, on at the Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery until Dec. 7, 2025. (Pam Correll)The pair’s penchant for world-building was on display back then, but, with the arrival of their show Two Pansies at the SMU gallery (on view until Dec. 7), it’s clear this instinct has only grown. The show is an immersive exhibit that creates a dreamlike domestic space, and asks viewers what the idea of “home” can mean for queer people. It centres around the characters of two pansies — animated flowers whose stems and leaves are bodies and limbs. These flowers narrate the show’s film element, inhabit the domestic space, and, as Donovan puts it, constitute “alter egos” for the artists themselves.Star and Donovan built most of the pieces in Two Pansies on-site at the SMU gallery, a throwback to the days when they shared a creative space. They even created a fake living room for the show, bringing in a couch and painting faux windows.“We were both tired of the white cube and just white cube galleries in general, and pretty excited about a more radical approach to installation that’s in an institution,” Star says. “So having the opportunity to have that room and it be a full immersive spot was exciting.” When the two first entered the space, they found themselves a bit stuck and overwhelmed by the possibilities. So they wound up using a very lo-fi solution to jump-start the process: they put some tape on the wall. “Where a door might be, or where a floor mat or a plant might sit,” explains Star. “And then it snowballed into: ‘If the two pansies had a place together, what would that look like? What would that space be?’”
SMU art exhibition asks viewers what the idea of ‘home’ is for queer people
