Winter 2025 Exhibitions at MSVU Art Gallery

Dawn MacNutt, Kindred Spirits, 1984, seagrass woven in copper wire warp loom, sculpted, welded metal armature. Photo by Peter Barss

Dawn MacNutt: Timeless Forms

January 18 – April 12, 2025
Opening Reception: January 18 at 1:00pm
Curated by Melanie Colosimo & Emily Falvey
Organized by MSVU Art Gallery & Owens Art Gallery
Lower Gallery

MSVU Art Gallery, in collaboration with the Owens Art Gallery, is pleased to present a comprehensive retrospective exhibition celebrating Nova Scotia artist Dawn MacNutt. Co-curated by Melanie Colosimo and Emily Falvey, this exhibition showcases MacNutt’s unique approach to weaving, which she transforms into large-scale figurative sculptures that explore themes of human fragility. Throughout her career, Dawn MacNutt has examined the fragility of human life through a lens of care and support, creating poignant pieces that mingle joy and courage with loss and mourning. Spanning four decades of work, this exhibition traces the evolution of her unique practice through a selection of key sculptural works centring on the human condition. Moving from delicate miniatures crafted in silver and copper wire to impressive human forms woven from locally sourced willow, this gathering of works charts the development of a complex and nuanced oeuvre that explores the depths of the human condition. The exhibition is complemented by a catalogue featuring essays by the artist herself.

About the Artist

Dawn MacNutt obtained a bachelor of arts (art and psychology) in 1957 from Mount Allison University, New Brunswick. In 1970, she obtained a master’s degree in social work from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts in 2008. In 2005, she was honoured with a Doctorate of Humane Letters by Mount Saint Vincent University.

As well as her exhibition and commission work, she is a longstanding member of the International Sculpture Centre; CARFAC; Craft Nova Scotia: Visual Arts Nova Scotia; and Creative Pictou County. She served as a national director on the Canadian Craft Council from 1983 – 1987 and her work is held in numerous collections including the MSVU Art Gallery, Halifax; the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax; the Owens Art Gallery, Sackville; the Museum of Arts and Design, New York; Rideau Hall, Ottawa; and the Canadian Museum of History, Ottawa.

Edith MacDonald-Brown, Untitled (Bowl of Red and Yellow Flowers), 30.48 x 50.8 cm, 1898. Oil on canvas. Collection of the Brown-Howe Family, Africville, Nova Scotia.

From Africville: The Paintings of Edith MacDonald-Brown (1886 – 1954)

February 15 – April 26, 2025
Opening Reception: February 15 at 1:00pm
Curated by David Woods
Organized by Black Artists Network of Nova Scotia and MSVU Art Gallery
Upper Gallery

This exhibition celebrates the artistic legacy of African Nova Scotian painter Edith MacDonald-Brown. Curated by David Woods, the exhibition features nine of thirteen known oil paintings that highlight MacDonald-Brown’s mature talent at such a young age.

For many years, Woods has dedicated significant efforts to uncovering MacDonald-Brown’s oeuvre and has collaborated with her descendants and MSVU Art Gallery to ensure the preservation of her art. The conservation efforts, completed in the Fall of 2024, have restored these works for future generations.

This exhibition honours MacDonald-Brown’s talent and contributes to the broader narrative of African Nova Scotian artistry. Explore her remarkable work and the rich cultural heritage she represents in Canadian art history.

About MSVU Art Gallery

Opened in 1971, MSVU Art Gallery is dedicated to contemporary art with an emphasis on women as cultural subjects and producers. Exhibitions explore various forms and highlight the achievements of artists in all career phases. MSVU Art Gallery promotes critical access to its exhibitions through publications, lectures, and educational programs, recognizing socially engaged practices as models of aesthetic distinction and political imagination. Consistent with the principle that exhibition spaces are civic spaces, the Gallery is committed to normalizing accessible presentation practices throughout its public programs. Admission is always free.

MSVU Art Gallery respectfully acknowledges that the Gallery and Mount Saint Vincent University are situated on Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral, unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq.

MSVU Art Gallery
166 Bedford Hwy
Halifax, NS B3M 2J6

www.msvuart.ca
art.gallery@msvu.ca
902-457-6160

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Accessibility:
MSVU is partially accessible. For more information, visit the Plan Your Visit page on our website.

Support from the following organizations is gratefully acknowledged:
We gratefully acknowledge support from the Canada Council for the Arts, Halifax Regional Municipality and Arts Nova Scotia.

Image Descriptions:

1. The artist stands on top of a sand dune on a bright sunny day below her cascading down the dune are 6 of her woven human forms.

2. A still life painting of a bouquet of flowers in a blue ceramic vase. The flowers are primarily red and yellow, and the leaves are green. The background is a muted brown. The artist has used thick, impasto brushstrokes, giving the painting a textured and slightly rough appearance. The flowers are loosely arranged, and some of them appear to be wilting.

3. Logo for MSVU Art Gallery