Chance Shermet

Chance Shermet is a Toronto-based artist designer who creates works intersecting the areas of object, sculpture and installation. After completing a co-op at a cabinet shop, he discovered a passion and appreciation for woodworking and craft. Upon completing the Industrial Design program at OCAD University in 2021, Chance has shown work across Toronto at Artscape Gibraltar Point, DesignTO x OCAD U, J-Spot and Ignite Gallery. Chance has recently received the Emerging Artist Award from the Dan Lawrie International Sculpture Collection and participated in the Rimbun Dahan artist residency in Selangor, Malaysia during Summer 2024.

Chance finds inspiration from humanity’s material culture and Natural phenomena. Working mostly in Natural materials like wood, stone and metal, his goal is to imbue works with a timeless quality in conversation and critique of existential, social, and environmental matters.

Objects and materials are often referenced or used as a lens to interrogate the dynamic relationship between people, place, the constructed, and Natural environments. For example, interpreting Natural rock formations as a sculptural form to reference their position as a spiritual object. This curiosity surrounding the objects and materials we interact with every day or just occasionally, manifests in works that subvert their material connotations and present questions of what it means to be human in the Natural world.