Michelle Mackinnon, MFA, BFA (York)
Visiting assistant professor - Visual Arts
Email: mmackinnon@grenfell.mun.ca
Website:Link
Social media/LinkedIn: michelleleahmackinnon (IG)
Research interests/expertise
I explore how the notions, rituals and routines of home can endure and evolve within objects and what its existence beyond spatial and temporal boundaries may be. In a fragmented state that exists between the real and remembered, the objects I draw are intimately preserved to create a mapping of sorts—a rendering of the once familiar. They drift between the deconstruction and adoration of things and place in an attempt to (re)familiarize and fit myself into a new understanding of what was, or still could be, home.
Teaching
Drawing & Painting
Representative scholarly contributions
For 2020
- Straight Outta Corner Brook, Fall 2020, Feature Article by Ian McKay, Art North Magazine, Scotland
- In Practice: Michelle MacKinnon, interview with Mireille Eagan, The Rooms, St. John’s, NL, September 2020
- Corner Brook’s Morning Show, CBC NL, Pandemic Portraits, Interview Bernice Hillier, St. John's, NL, 28 August
- CBC, Online Interview, Corner Brook painter highlights pandemic productivity in portraits, St. John’s, NL, 30 August
- St. John’s Morning Show, CBC NL, Pandemic Portraits, Interview with Ramraajh Shrvendiran, St. John’s, NL, 28 August
- Visual Arts News, Summer 2020, New Exhibitions by Michelle MacKinnon, written by Jane Walker, NL
- Riddle Fence, Issue #35, Cover Image and Featured Artist, St. John’s, NL, March
- Hit List, Akimbo Feature, ON
- (em)brace, a response by Jane Walker, Jane Walker, Exhibition Publication, Eastern Edge Artist Run Centre, St. John’s, NL, January
Current research projects and grants
Exhibitions (Solo & Group)
- 2020 —
Pandemic Portraits, Grenfell Art Gallery, Corner Brook, NL
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Present Tense: Michelle MacKinnon – Pandemic Portraits, The Rooms, St. John’s, NL
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(em)brace, Eastern Edge Artist Run Centre, St. John’s, NL
- 2019 -
Pop-Up Exhibition, Union House Arts in association with the
- Bonavista Biennale, Port Union, NL
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Labour Laws, Union House Arts, Port Union, NL
- 2018 —
A Rendering of the Once Familiar, Alison Milne Gallery, Toronto, ON
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Touch, Trace, Feel with Andrew Testa, 180 Projects, Sault Ste Marie, ON
Residencies
- 2021 — (upcoming) Artist in Residence, CASA, Lethbridge, AB
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Artist in Residence, The Gathered Gallery, NL
- 2019 - 2020 —
Visiting Artist in Residence, Grenfell Art Gallery, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, Corner Brook, NL
(in progress 2019-2020)
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Artist in Residence, Union House Arts, Port Union, NL
Grants
- 2020 —
Professional Projects Grant, ArtsNL (Visual Art), NL
- 2019 —
Exhibition Assistance Grant, Ontario Arts Council (Visual Art), ON
- 2019 —
Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, Montreal, QC
- 2018 —
Exhibition Assistance Grant, Ontario Arts Council (Visual Art), ON
Collections
- 2020 —
The Rooms, St. John’s, NL
-
Hew & Draw, Corner Brook, NL
Invited Talks
- 2020 —
Pandemic Portraits, Creative Practice in the Age of Coronavirus, Universities Art Association of Canada, Vancouver, BC (online)
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between textiles and drawing…and a pandemic, Artist Talk, Mount Allison University, Sackville, NB
-
(postponed due to Covid-19)In An Absent Existence, Artist Talk, Grenfell Art Gallery, Corner Brook, NL
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(em)brace, Artist Talk, Eastern Edge Gallery, St. John’s, NL
- 2019 —
(em)brace: Between Textiles and Drawings, Domestic Encodings through Craft Objects, Universities Art Association of Canada, Quebec City, QC
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Nooner, Artist Talk, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Corner Brook, NL
- 2018 —
Home, Invited Talk, Parmenius Society, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Corner Brook, NL
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I know what you did last summer, Pecha Kucha, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Corner Brook, NL
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Artist Talk for Drawing III, Department of Art, Algoma University, Sault Ste. Marie, ON
- 2017 —
Speaker: Faculty Q&A,
Independent Projects in Studio Art VART 4951, Grenfell Campus Memorial University of Newfoundland, Corner Brook, NL.
Awards and recognitions
Awards
- 2020 —
Arts in Education Award, Finalist, ArtsNL, St. John’s, NL
- 2019 —
Professional Development, for travel and costs associated with presenting at UAAC, Lecturers’ Union of Memorial University of Newfoundland, NL.