Sookie Bardwell

Artist, Educator, Facilitator, Writer

Education

Solo Exhibitions

• 2028 — Queer to Care, Fitzhenry Atrium, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON
• 2009 — Freud, Don't Get Hysterical, Show & Tell Gallery, Hamilton, ON

Group Exhibitions

• 2023 — SWARM Annual Members Show, Hamilton Artist's Inc., Hamilton, ON
• 2014 — Fat In Public, Black Cat Gallery, Toronto, ON
• 2010 — Jeonju Artist's Collective Art Crawl, Various Locations, Jeonju, South Korea
• 2009 — Shazam!: Hamilton Youth Arts Network Art-A-Thon Exhibition, Hamilton Artist's Inc., Hamilton, ON
• 2008 — Natural Histories, Sky Dragon Centre, Hamilton, ON
• 2008 — Peep Show, Show & Tell Gallery, Hamilton, ON
• 2008 — Show & Tell: School of the Arts Graduate Show, McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, ON
• 2008 — Cacophony, McMaster University New Space Gallery, Hamilton, ON

Professional Experience

• 2019–Present — Support Group & Workshop Facilitator, Sheena's Place, Toronto, ON
• 2018–Present — Co-founder & Director of Content Development, Challenge Accepted Learning Collective, Toronto, ON
• 2018–Present — Co-founder, Head Instructional Designer, Facilitator & Relational Coach, Chub Love, Toronto, ON
• 2019 — Program Coordinator, Pearson Seminar on Youth Leadership, Pearson College UWC, BC
• 2009–2010 — Youth Arts Network Coordinator, Youth Engagement and Action Hamilton (YEAH), Hamilton, ON
• 2005–2009 — Gallery Assistant & Museum Docent, McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, ON

Selected Learning Design & Facilitation

• 2025 — Shifting Shame — Sheena's Place — Workshop Series
• 2025 — 2SLGBTQIA+ Inclusive Movement and Sport — Challenge Accepted Learning Collective for the Elementary Teacher's Federation of Ontario (ETFO) — Workshop
• 2024 — The Art of Body Liberation — Sheena's Place — Workshop Series
• 2023 — Disability and Chronic Illness Support — Sheena's Place — Twelve-week Support Group
• 2022 — Intro to Body Liberation — Challenge Accepted Learning Collective for Health and Physical Education Canada, SPIRIT project — Workshop
• 2021 — Let's Get Critical: A Body Liberation Watch Party — Sheena's Place — Ten-week Critical Media Analysis Skill-building Group
• 2019–2021 — Robust Relationships — NEDIC (2019); Sheena's Place (2021, 2020); University of Western Ontario (2020) — Workshop/Presentation
• 2019 — Delicious Boundaries for Organizers — LGBT+ Youthline — Webinar
• 2019–2020 — In the Thick of It: Challenging Fatphobia for Everyone's Well-being — Wilfrid Laurier University (2019); Western University (2020) — Presentations
• 2018 — Creating a Size-Inclusive Practice — Guelph Sexuality Conference — Workshop
• 2016 — Draw the Line Against Transphobic Violence: Consent, Rape Culture and Transphobic Violence Intervention — Egale for Campuses and Secondary Schools Across Ontario — Workshop
• 2015 — Safer Schools 201: Practical Strategies for Creating LGBTQ-Inclusive School Communities for Educational Professionals — Egale for Educators Across Ontario — Workshop

Publications

• Bardwell, Sookie. "Hefty Harm-Reduction: Body Liberation and/as Anti-Violence Work." Fat Studies in Canada: (Re)Mapping the Field, edited by Allison Taylor, Kelsey Ioannoni, Ramanpreet Annie Bahra, Calla Evans, Amanda Scriver, and May Friedman, Inanna Publications & Education Inc., 2023, pp. 373–395.
• Bardwell, Sookie. "Far Too Fat." Far Too Fat Zine: Finding Ourselves, edited by Sookie Bardwell and Erin Warner, no. 1, 2021.
• Bardwell, Sookie. "Far Too Fat @ Work." Far Too Fat Zine: Fat at Work, edited by Sookie Bardwell and Erin Warner, no. 2, 2022.
• Bardwell, Sookie. "No Such Thing as Far Too Fat to F*ck." Far Too Fat Zine: Fats Fuck; The Sex Issue, edited by Sookie Bardwell and Erin Warner, no. 3, 2023.
• Bardwell, Sookie, and JDP. "Creating a Big Fat Medical Utopia – Part 1 + 2." The Polyphony: Conversations Across the Medical Humanities, 19 Nov. 2021.