Janice Wright Cheney (born 1961) is a Canadian visual artist based in

Fredericton Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

Career

Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Quebec, Wright Cheney studied visual arts at

Mount Allison University Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839. Like other liberal arts colleges in North America, Mount Allison does not parti ...

(1983) and Critical Studies in Education at the

University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Americ ...

(2003). She teaches at the

New Brunswick College of Craft and Design The New Brunswick College of Craft and Design (NBCCD) is a public art college in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. The college's campus is located in downtown Fredericton, near the Saint John River. The college offers several fine arts and ...

. Her

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

art considers "themes pertaining to natural history and domestic labour". For example, one of her exhibits, ''Cellar'' at the

Beaverbrook Art Gallery The Beaverbrook Art Gallery is a public art gallery in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. It is named after William Maxwell "Max" Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, who funded the building of the gallery and assembled the original collection. It opened i ...

in Fredericton and the

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) is a public provincial art museum based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The art museum's primary building complex is located in downtown Halifax and takes up approximately of space. The museum complex compr ...

in Halifax, featured "hundreds of rats created from recycled vintage fur coats". ''Trespass'', featured at the

New Brunswick Museum The New Brunswick Museum, located in Saint John, New Brunswick, is Canada's oldest continuing museum. The New Brunswick Museum was incorporated as the "Provincial Museum" in 1929 and received its current name in 1930, but its history goes back muc ...

, comprised individual animals and insects such as coyotes, fleas, and a

giant squid The giant squid (''Architeuthis dux'') is a species of deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae. It can grow to a tremendous size, offering an example of abyssal gigantism: recent estimates put the maximum size at around Trace ...

, all incorporated into other exhibits throughout the museum. ''Disorderly Creatures'' at Rodman Hall Art Centre in St. Catharines,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

"transfigured insects from signs of shabby housekeeping into objects of beauty and power" by embroidering insects onto linens. Wright Cheney was one of the artists included in the 2012 "Oh, Canada" exhibit of contemporary Canadian art at the

Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) is a museum in a converted Arnold Print Works factory building complex located in North Adams, Massachusetts. It is one of the largest centers for contemporary visual art and performing ar ...

: her contribution was a "giant, rose-encrusted grizzly bear". Wright Cheney won the Strathbutler Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2004 and was elected to the

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor General ...

in 2010. Her artwork is included in the permanent collections of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the New Brunswick Museum, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, and the Canadian government's

Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Global Affairs Canada (GAC; french: Affaires mondiales Canada; AMC)''Global Affairs Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (). is the department ...

. Wright Cheney had an art exhibition in Nova Scotia, Canada in 2014 at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. In 2021, she also showed at the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island, Canada. Wright Cheney also offered her first piece to be auctioned at the Levis Art Auctions. The piece was "Apple Conga".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright Cheney, Janice Living people Mount Allison University alumni University of New Brunswick alumni Canadian women artists Artists from Montreal Anglophone Quebec people Canadian textile artists 1961 births Artists from New Brunswick People from Fredericton Canadian art educators Canadian women educators Women textile artists Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts