Elizabeth MacKenzie (born 1955) is a Canadian artist based in Vancouver known for her drawing, installation and video since the early eighties. MacKenzie uses drawing to explore the productive aspects of uncertainty through the use of repetition, interrogations of portraiture and considerations of intersubjective experience. Her work has been characterized by an interest in maternal ambivalence, monstrous bodies, interrogations of portraiture and considerations of the complexity of familial and other interpersonal relations.
Early life and education
Elizabeth MacKenzie was born 1955 in Trois-Rivières, Québec. MacKenzie graduated from the
Ontario College of Art in 1979 and received an MFA from the
University of Saskatchewan
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
in 1993.
Curating and professional roles
Elizabeth MacKenzie is sessional faculty at
Emily Carr University
Emily Carr University of Art + Design (abbreviated as ECU) is a public art university located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The university's campus is located within the Great Northern Way Campus in Strathcona. The university is a co-e ...
in Vancouver. She co-curated a number of exhibitions including ''Persistent Resistance: Early video in Vancouver'' exhibition in Vancouver with Canadian art historian and Curator
Jennifer Fisher and artist and professor,
Marina Roy at the
VIVO Media Arts Centre
VIVO Media Arts Centre, run under the Satellite Video Exchange Society, (SVES) is an artist-run centre and video distribution library located in Vancouver, Canada. It was founded in 1973 to promote the non-commercial use of video technology by pro ...
in 2008''.'' She co-lead with
Cindy Mochizuki
Cindy Mochizuki (born 1976) is a multimedia Japanese Canadian artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Through her drawings, installations, performance, and video works created through community-engaged and location-specific research projects, ...
and Kristina Fiedrich the ''Vancouver Draw Down 2011: Summer of Ten Thousand Drawings'' a citywide workshop series sponsored by the
Vancouver Parks Board
The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, commonly referred to as the Vancouver Park Board, is the elected board with exclusive possession, jurisdiction and control over public parks in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Established by sectio ...
.
Practice and collaborations
Her practice includes an ongoing commitment to collaboration, curating, writing and teaching.
Elizabeth MacKenzie is also one of the founding board members of the YYZ Gallery in Toronto.
''The Underside of Shadows'' was a collaboration between MacKenzie and writer
Jeanne Randolph that undertook to extend their earlier long distance, technologically mediated collaboration at Artspeak Gallery in Vancouver from September 8 to October 13, 2001. MacKenzie's work has been contextualized alongside visual artist
Nancy Spero in Jo Anna Isaak's book; ''Feminism and Contemporary Art: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Laughter''. MacKenzie produced the video ''I am an Artist My name is....'' in 1986 with Canadian artist and York University Associate Professor
Judith Schwarz
Judith Schwarz (born 1944) is a Canadian visual arts, visual artist. Her work has been featured in exhibitions since 1979.
Early life and education
Judith Schwarz was born 1944 in Vancouver, British Columbia and is based in Toronto, Ontario. She e ...
.
Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions includ
''UnBecoming: An Annotated Exhibition'' curated by Sarah Cavanaugh in 2016 at Seymour Art Gallery in North Vancouve
''The Gaze of History: Portraits from the Collection'' curated by Darrin Martens, Burnaby Art Gallery at
Deer Lake (British Columbia)
Deer Lake is a lake in central Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Deer Lake is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna and features a number of walking trails. These trails connect the lake and its surrounding forests and fields to a number of am ...
in 2012. "At the BAG, MacKenzie has used powdered graphite to draw portraits of the building’s former occupants directly on the gallery’s white walls. The effect she achieves is pale, insubstantial, ephemeral—ghostly, really." ''Reunion, curated by'' Corrine Corry at the Richmond Art Gallery in
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
, British Columbia. In the 2004 review of this exhibition art critic Robin Laurence writes; "Reunion seems to be about the slippery intersection of love, loss, memory, and meaning; about attempts to call up the dead through both photography and obsessive recollection; and about the impossibility of fixing any person, place, or thing through such attempts." ''The Underside of Shadows'', in 2001 with writer
Jeanne Randolph at Artspeak Gallery in Vancouver. Group exhibitions include
Mount Saint Vincent Art Gallery (Halifax) the
Agnes Etherington Art Centre (Kingston), the
Glenbow Museum (Calgary), the
Mackenzie Art Gallery
The MacKenzie Art Gallery (MAG; french: Musee d’art MacKenzie) is an art museum located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The museum occupies the multipurpose T. C. Douglas Building, situated at the edge of the Wascana Centre. The building holds e ...
(Regina) and the
Vancouver Art Gallery (Vancouver).''Dessin-Installation-Drawing-Installation'' in 1984 at The
Sadye Bronfman Centre for the Arts in
Montréal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...
curated by
Diana Nemiroff
Diana Nemiroff (born May 1, 1946) is a Canadian curator and art historian in the field of contemporary art.
Career
Diana Nemiroff has numerous exhibitions to her credit, including ''Land, Spirit, Power: First Nations at the National Gallery of Can ...
.
Collections
Elizabeth MacKenzie's work is in the collection of the
National Gallery of Canada and found in the Art Bank at The
Canada Council,
as well as the Burnaby Art Gallery.
Selected bibliography
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:MacKenzie, Elizabeth
1955 births
Living people
21st-century Canadian artists
20th-century Canadian artists
Canadian video artists
Canadian installation artists
University of Saskatchewan alumni
20th-century Canadian women artists
21st-century Canadian women artists