ArtworxTO Spotlight: Pandora Skyes

Meet ArtworxTO’s Spotlight Emerging Artist Pandora Skyes, an interdisciplinary artist interested in creating immersive and interactive experiences by combining poetic narrative, performance arts, music, and augmented reality.

I’m an interdisciplinary artist interested in creating immersive and interactive experiences by combining poetic narrative, performance arts, music, and augmented reality. My mission is to help people experience the interconnected nature of existence and inspire a deep sense of wonder for life. I came to Toronto to study Human Physiology at U of T. My plan was to go to med school but the more I studied the more I became disenchanted with the Western medical system. After my second year, I left to do some soul searching. I began studying holistic nutrition and healing arts. I got certified as a Thai Massage Practitioner and Ashtanga Yoga Teacher. I was deepening my meditation practice when I stumbled upon a community of people who got together to practice sound healing. I became enchanted with the practice and started incorporating it into my yoga classes. This led me to meet a group of wonderful musicians who became my family and bandmates. We started organizing yoga and sound healing events in studios and public parks in Toronto, on a donation basis. One day, a popular Toronto DJ attended one of our events and had a transformational experience. He has been trying to figure out how to bring a healthier spin to the dance scene, and this, he said, was the missing ingredient. We co-founded a group called Lovelution, that curated sober dance parties with meditation, sound journeys and dance music. Over the next three years, we threw events in Toronto, and the US. We played at many festivals, including Summerdaze and Burning Man. Lovelution dissolved after a couple of years and I began deepening my writing practice. Being an immigrant, I was still a little insecure about my writing, so I went back to U of T and studied Literature and Poetry for a year. After dedicating a year to the craft, I felt ready to write my book, Bleed in Pages. This book has been my side project for the last several years and I'm happy to say that I'm finally pushing it through the finish line. I've done everything from writing to editing to formatting and design and will be self-publishing in the next few weeks. I've also been working on an EP with the same DJ who started Lovelution and I'm excited to launch it. As you can probably tell, I've had a lot of sporadic experience in many domains but because art has been a side gig, I haven't yet brought it all together in the way that I envision. Recently, I transitioned to being a full-time artist and I cannot wait to see what I can do. What I need most now is guidance and connections in the art industry. The things I want to create are BIG, and I cannot do it alone. I would love to find artists who want to collaborate and create life-changing experiences.

The ArtworxTO Spotlight Emerging Artist Award is supported by RBC through the RBC Emerging Artists Project.