Larissa Blokhuis

Larissa's parents each immigrated to Canada as children, from Nederland and Jamaica. They met and married in Toronto, then moved to Calgary, where she was born and raised. In 2008, Larissa completed her BFA with a major in glass at the Alberta University of the Arts (formerly ACAD). In 2009, she moved to the coast temporarily to take a job as a glassblower on Granville Island. After establishing a presence in her new community, Larissa began pursuing opportunities throughout Western Canada.

She has been Assistant Teacher at Red Deer College and Terminal City Glass Co-op. Larissa has exhibited extensively in Alberta and BC, and divides her time between Calgary, AB, and Vancouver, BC. In 2016, Larissa completed her first public art piece, "Love Your Neighbour, Love Your Ocean," located at 2233 West 4th Ave, Vancouver, BC. In 2017, she joined the board of Curiosity Collider as Arts, Culture, + Collections Director. Curiosity Collider is a non-profit arts organisation that creates events which highlight the many connections between art and science. With new insights gained by working collaboratively, Larissa seeks opportunities to serve the artist community. She completed her first curatorial project with the Collider in 2018, called "Interstitial: Science Innovations by Canadian Women." Larissa is interested in a diverse range of topics, including nature, politics, psychology, and history.

New experiences and sights, as well as continuing research, feed her creativity. As a biracial artist, Larissa loves having two worlds to move between, or to combine. This is reflected in many aspects of her life, and most relevant to her work as an artist is the need to combine materials, and to combine art and science. Her current focus on using glass, ceramic, wool, steel, polymer, wood, and any other materials as needed has allowed her to develop a distinctive style. Larissa is inspired by the evolutionary history of plants, and by the points of overlap in different life cycles.