VCA2025

Paige Mills

Advanced Diploma
2025

Paige Mills (They/Them) is a multidisciplinary artist currently based in Embrun, Ontario. They have just completed their Visual and Creative Arts Advanced Diploma at Sheridan College in Oakville. Paige has been drawing ever since they were a child. Pursuing it throughout high school, Paige was awarded the “Certificate of Concentration in Visual and Performing Arts” at Cardinal Leger Secondary School. After enrolling in the Art Fundamentals program at Sheridan, Paige started to truly fall in love with the art they were creating. Their subject matter has mostly been about their identity and their sense of self. Their body, their emotions, whatever they’re feeling, it can find a way into Paige’s work. Paige’s main art mediums are acrylic paints, and printmaking.

Website: https://brightsidekin.myportfolio.com/work
Instagram: @brightsidekin

1. I love you/Inside and out

1. I love you/Inside and out

by Paige Mills

Side 1 (Double Sided) a piece about being kinder to myself despite all the horrors I've endured

Acrylic on Window

2. I love you/Inside and out

2. I love you/Inside and out

by Paige Mills

Side 2 (Double sided) a piece about being kinder to myself despite all the horrors I've endured

Acrylic on Window

Christmas 2011

Christmas 2011

by Paige Mills

This is a painting of one of the first photos I ever took on my Aqua Blue Nintendo 3DS. I just got it for Christmas and I guess I was very excited and took a picture of myself with the front facing camera. The portrait is encapsulated in the painted 3DS, complete with the touch screen Nintendo 3DS Camera menu. I wish I could go back to being a kid in my old childhood bedroom, but unfortunately humans have not invented the time machine yet. But, I still have this memory saved in my head, and in the SD card of my 3DS.

Acrylic on Masonite

Comatose

Comatose

by Paige Mills

The inspiration for this print came from a thought I had while I was in highschool. I wanted to find a way to go into a coma for about two years because I was so overwhelmed with living in my body, and being alive. A really good rest for a good amount of time, my hair growing and growing. And when I’d finally wake up I’d hoped that people would finally pay attention to me. Fortunately, I did not go into a coma and I no longer wish to go into a coma.

Lithography printed on Acrylic painted Mixed Media paper

Customize Me!

Customize Me!

by Paige Mills

This self portrait is a commentary on my depersonalization and derealization. Sometimes I forget what I look like, and the person in the mirror does not look, sound, or feel like me. I am painted in a computer window inspired by one of those girls dress-up games. The mouths are painted on separate pieces of mixed media paper with a sticky tack stuck on the back, so the mouths are interchangeable. But, none of them quite really fit.

Acrylic on Wood Panel, Cut out Painted mixed media paper stuck with tack

Face Plant

Face Plant

by Paige Mills

This is a painting of a photo of me taken when I was about two years old, and I had just fell onto my face and cut my eyebrow open- hence the name "Face Plant."

Acrylic on Masonite

i'll live in the bathtub

i'll live in the bathtub

by Paige Mills

self portrait, inspired by "Humpty" by Mitski.

Digital Illustration

Isolation Game

Isolation Game

by Paige Mills

Ever since I was a kid, I loved the park. There was always a park near my home, even now. Whenever I need to clear my head, I’m overwhelmed, or I’ve been around people for too long. Sometimes I just need to take a walk, smoke a cigarette, and go to the park. My knees and elbows are bruised and bloody, representing when I abuse isolation to the point of it hurting me. The shoes are on backwards, and they're the same shoes I used to wear when I was in elementary school. I think it adds a nice layer of uncertainty to the piece, and emphasizes the theme of feeling lost and alone.

Acrylic on Masonite

Nut Boy!

Nut Boy!

by Paige Mills

Mischievous little squirrel boy with an acorn :^)

Linocut Printmaking on Arnhem paper

Shame

Shame

by Paige Mills

This painting references that one 2010’s meme format, with the impact font. As a young child who had unrestricted internet access, I consumed a lot of those memes. And through consuming those jokes on the internet, humor became a coping mechanism. In the black frame, I am sitting facing the corner of a room, nude. Right underneath, the word “SHAME” in the impact font. In my work I use being naked as a representation of someone in their most vulnerable form. Even though I am hiding away in shame, I want the viewer to be able to laugh and connect with my painting and maybe think “Haha, same”.

Acrylic on Canvas

shmokie

shmokie

by Paige Mills

quick animation done in procreate.

Digital Animation

something stupid

something stupid

by Paige Mills

An illustration that expresses how it feels when you think you've said too much. (vaguely inspired by "I might say something stupid" by charli xcx.)

Digital Illustration

Werewolf As A Metaphor

Werewolf As A Metaphor

by Paige Mills

A piece about confronting my "Metaphorical Werewolf", and coming to terms that its okay to be yourself, without worrying about being too much.

Ceramic Sculpture, Foam Base, Painted with acrylic and watercolour