International Academy of Ceramics - Geneva

I was inducted into the International Academy of Ceramics this year, and had the privilege to attend, and present at Melting Pot, the IAC’s 50th Congress and 70th birthday (thank you to the Canada Council for the Arts). Over 300 delegates from over 50 countries, and uncountable ceramic arts of the most amazing kinds. Scroll through some highlights…

Venice 2022 - the Milk of Dreams!

This was my first Venice Biennale – although I had studied this biennale as the genesis of what has become an explosion of art biennales worldwide, Venice was the first to invite contemporary artists to represent their countries of origin by pavilion in 1896. I spent my first day at the Arsenale – a large covered warehouse, the old shipyards that date back to 1320.  Words cannot describe the joy in my heart as I came upon room after room of the sculpture, fine craft, paintings, mixed-media, new media and a special aural/visual experience of augmented reality sound with laser beams.

Arsenale

The Medieval ship yards

 I chatted with a number of the “sitters” about the works, I took my time. In the first rooms, I began a conversation with an American woman about the work by 15th century artists around the fetus in the womb that was indescribably detailed, and poetic in its fragility.  I moved on – and by the end of the rooms, we met again at the outdoor café. We decided to see the rest of the exhibitions together. Mica is a docent in San Antonio, and it was a lovely bonus to be able to voice my impressions and challenge each other with our opinions, ideas, and reactions.

 14K steps later, I hopped on a vaporetto and found my way “home” to my charming and generously large apartment near the Campo della Madelenna, about a 15-minute walk from the train station, 45 minutes from the main Biennale sites – but a stones throw from the Anish Kapoor and many other collateral exhibitions and off-site pavilions. I bought groceries and cooked in the apartment. Day 2, I headed for the Giardini – which is essentially a large theme park of individual national pavilions. I was graced with bright azure skies and the warmth of the early autumn sun my whole trip. I “did” the pavilions first. Happened into some IAC – International Academy of Ceramics colleagues I had met in Geneva and we had a brief lunch together before heading back to our art-filled itineraries.

 The Giardini pavilion was impressive, but, for me, not as strong as the Arsenale. It’s hard to mention artists or countries that stood out, but I would have to say the wonder of Belgium’s multi-screened array of children’s games from around the world; the surreal ethereality of Uzbekhistan, the otherworldliness of China, the profound simplicity of Germany (gutted interiors) (shifted on axis), the recognizable candour of Shuveni’s drawings,… I could go on and on.

 One worthy of note was the Saami pavilion, for the first time the Nordic countries pavilion was taken over by the Indigenous Saami, and one of the artists had presented at the IAC , Maret Anne Sara, – one whose work centers around hers and her brother’s struggle to stop a federal culling of the reindeer and deforestation that features the actual hides and bones of the reindeer that were killed – the skulls of which are now hanging at the entrance of the new Art Gallery of Oslo in Norway. She presented at the IAC regarding her wearable art, that includes miniature ceramic reindeer skulls which she exhibited as part of the IAC UNESCO exhibition, We Come From the Other Side.” I hope to interview her and write about her practice. Her IAC presentation was a comparison of the Alberta buffalo genocide and deforestation in Canada that parallels the recent injustices and atrocities in Norway.

 Day 3 and 4 I wandered on foot in the city, covering over 10K steps before noon – seeing art in and around the original “ghetto” – the word comes from the Medieval word for iron, and references the Jewish quarters from that period where you can still see the town well, and the works of metalsmiths and other artisans/craftspersons in the nearby shops. I met my good friends Alix Davis and David Donald from Toronto after lunch, as they had arrived from France – and we spend a day and a half in each other’s company with an easy itinerary. We “did” the Anish Kapoor, both sites – were awed by the genius of his geometric works and disappointed by his paintings and wax sculptures in blood-stained reds. And we included a visit to Moreno, a tour of the museum and found lunch and dinner that both Alix and I could enjoy (not an easy feet with our restrictions!)

Arrivaderci!

Heading home on a direct flight from Venice, and I know in my heart the magic of Venice and the Biennale have found a recurring place in the chapters of my life that have yet to unfold.

At Home and Elsewhere: Artists in Conversation, Surrey Art Gallery

Surrey, BC – Surrey Art Gallery is pleased to announce At Home and Elsewhere, an online panel discussion featuring artists who will speak about their work in the Gallery’s current exhibition, the themes of the exhibition, and also how the dynamics of the pandemic have shaped their practice—at home and in public. Their works variously address themes of diaspora, racism, communication, desire, pop culture, and more. The panel features a diverse roster of practicing contemporary artists: Sonny Assu, Heidi McKenzie, Helma Sawatzky, and Jan Wade. The conversation will be introduced and facilitated by Surrey Art Gallery Assistant Curator, Rhys Edwards.

This informal conversation was live streamed on November 14th, 2020 5pm EST.

Where We Have Been, Surrey Art Gallery

September 19 to December 4, 2020

Artists: Michael Abraham, Jim Adams, Sonny Assu, Sylvia Grace Borda, Karin Bubaš, Sarindar Dhaliwal, Lakshmi Gill, Ravi Gill, Jeremy Herndl, Doreen Jensen, Chris MacClure, Heidi McKenzie, Ulli Maibauer, Arnold Mikelson, Shani Mootoo, Ann Nelson, Fred Owen, Bill Rennie, Don Romanchuk, Adele Samphire, Nicolas Sassoon, Helma Sawatzky, Ranjan Sen, Jan Wade, Stella Weinert, Leslie Wells, Joanna S. Wilson

Above photo’s courtesy of Ying-Yueh Chuang

“Where We Have Been explores the interconnection between place and identity in the South of Fraser region, through selections from the Surrey Art Gallery’s permanent collection. In many cases, art acts as a record of the artist’s perception of the world around them, functioning to situate them within a place. This process is important for anyone attempting to establish an idea of home, whether they identify as Indigenous, migrant, settler, or otherwise.

However, in other instances, artworks complicate the relationship between home and identity. Artworks embody traditions, rituals, and memories, which act as binders to a past which may otherwise have been transformed or displaced during the movement into the present. Elsewhere, the artist finds themself in a non-place, documenting instead their alienation, or the failure to find security within their community.

During a moment when our relationship with space is highly fraught, Where We Have Been speaks to the ways in which artists shape our communities through the portrayal of suburban and natural environments around the South of the Fraser, as well as personal narratives and cultural histories.”

— Rhys Edwards, Curator, Assistant Curator Surrey Art Gallery

Best in Show: Latcham Gallery Annual Juried Exhibition

Juror, Peter Flannery, Assistant Curator at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery confers my Best in Show Award to a full house of supporters, March 4, 2020.

And the winners are: (left to right) Gallery Curator, Alexandra Hartstone, Lo Scott (sculptor), Heidi McKenzie (sculptor), Peter Flannery (juror), Stephanie Porter (juror) …

Sharron Forrest with her ‘cutting edge’ work!

Making new connections with other exhibiting artists - Joanna Strong’s work is about her mixed-race children.

Heidi’s House of Cards

“House of Cards speaks to the precarious nature of my late father’s life as an immigrant from Trinidad who came to Canada in the early 1950’s and facing at times violent racism, while simultaneously serving as a metaphor for the fragility of his own human vessel and ongoing health struggles. It literally documents through archive the burdens of his story: imprinted with iron-oxide on porcelain ceramic substrate, this “house of cards” also references his passion for bridge, and his steadfast dedication to building a home for his family. ”

Friends from Pinetree - Sharon and Penny!

Circular Dimensions with Maya Foltyn @ Carnegie Gallery

It was an honour and a pleasure working with Maya Foltyn and her family on this dialogue between her paintings and drawings and my sculptural work - inspired from my time in Australia, in 2017, including works made at Medalta 2019 and newer works from my Parkdale kiln. Check out the complete series Spaces Within

We had an amazing crowd of over 60 people who came out and stayed and spent quality time talking to us and asking lots of questions - on the opening, Friday February 7th

“In 2017 I embarked on my “Spaces Within” series. This work reinvigorates modernism in our times, and engages issues of race and identity, seeking to transcend Eurocentricism. The hollow negative spaces represent a simultaneous sense of loss, renewal, and overall belonging.
— Heidi McKenzie”

About 30 souls came out for our Artist Walk-Through and Q & A at the Carnegie on February 23rd, 2020

Maya describing the use of bitchumen in her drawings during the Q&A

Heidi describing her experience of James Cook’s observation of “terra nullius” when he discovered Australia - negating the existence of Indigenous People’s - in the face of the evidence of abalone fish hooks found on the site.

A look into, around, and within Circular Dimensions

This monograph was written by Agnieszka Foltyn based on interviews she had with each of the artists, myself and Maya Foltyn. Circular Dimensions opens Friday, Feb.7th, 7-9pm. Artists’ Walk-through Sunday Feburary 23, 2pm.

"...The practices of Heidi McKenzie and Maya Foltyn touch and separate, intersect and cross over, flow in parallel and divide in separate directions. These are not linear trajectories but rather circular or cyclical meanderings, stimulated and affected by the machinations of society throughout time. They are dreams, thoughts, extensions of a willingness to understand or to come into contact with the unknown...."

Body Within @ CUTMR2020, Gladstone

“The room was so beautifully
set up with the different media balancing themselves out and inter-connecting. I think what distinguishes you as an artist is the solid conceptual-emotional base from which your work emerges. I watched people come into the room and immediately recognize the prescient humanity emanating from your art. They were drawn to look and contemplate and feel. That comes from a lot of feeling and cogitating before and during the time when you put your hands in the clay.”
— Rosalind Gill, Author

A driving force in my sculpture practice is my lived experience of chronic pain and chronic illness coupled with the triumph of healing and living one day at a time. For over 20 years I suffered severe fibromyalgia and I have been living the fall-out of my congenital kidney disease for over thirty years. In 2015/2016 I had unexplained lower abdominal pain, which left me bedridden for weeks. I underwent countless tests to eventually discover a partially blocked femoral artery after eighteen months of investigation. I am living pain-free today, my incurable kidney disease in remission.

Surprise! Sunday at 5:30pm I was awarded a Designlines “Love Tag” for one of the “coolest exhibitions in Design TO” from an editor at Azure Magazine.

From January 16 - 19 over 2000 people “came up to my room” to experience my solo exhibition, Body Within at the Gladstone Hotel’s Design TO event. I put together a flyer of information mapping out the room - and am including this information in bits and pieces along with photography by Gabby Franks - candids and video documentation my own.

the architectural blueprint of the room that I curated/exhibited within with a guide to the works displayed - NOTE: 2 was in the diagonally opposite corner - planning on paper isn’t always what happens during installation.

I began my sculpture practice at Sheridan College, weaving self-portraits of the paradox of the way one looks versus the way one feels with twisted bands of clay. In the spring of 2018, I was invited to Kecskemet, Hungary to participate in a one-month symposium alongside six Canadian ceramic artists and seven Hungarians on the theme of “Muscle Memory.” Many of the exhibited works are born of this experience. (*) The new works in this exhibition are the result of my gathering of images from six hospitals over the last ten years.

Disembodied

1. Disembodied* 2018, stoneware, wood fired,70cm x 40cm x 5cm. This piece emerged from the ashes of the wood firing at Kecskemet in Hungary. It integrates my healing crisis in graphic abstract representation through process: the wood-fired iron-oxide rich stains allude to the scars and muscle memory of my ongoing struggles with the corporeal. $3,750 CDN + HST

3. Life Force* 2018, Ceramics, various, gas, wood, raku, electric fired; wall-mounted, each pair of kidneys approximately 25cm x30cm x 3cm; with audio soundscape of breathing, new composition for Body Within, “I AM HERE” by The Ambient Orchestra. Each pair represents a seven-year cycle where the body fully renews itself.
$3,750 CDN + HST

4. Lurking* 2018, 60cm x 80cm x 5cm, stoneware, porcelain slip, wall-mounted, archival home movies of the artist circa 1968-1972. This multi-media work embodies my organs in relief on a “blank slate” of porcelain-washed multipart “screen”, overlaid with video imagery of myself as an innocent newborn and toddler. $4,500 + HST.

Body Imaged

7. Body Imaged 2020, 42 porcelain substrate, 4.5” x 6.5” each, inkjet decals. This new work, inspired by Come Up to My Room is a testament to the extensive testing I have undergone over the last decade, from CAT scans, MRIs, X-rays, ultrasounds, ECGs and brain scans. $4,750 + HST.

Betrayed

2. Betrayed* 2018, stoneware, glaze, wood-fired. 37cm x 21cm x 10cm. This work is part of my formal modernist sculpture series “Spaces Within.”  The hollow negative space depicts the human bladder – its rawness and aggravated state are reflected in its colour and the inflamed process of firing the work itself. $1,200 + HST

Life Force (wall); Anima Worn (plinth)

5. Anima Worn 2012, 50cm x 50cm x 50cm (variable), stoneware, gas fired. While at Sheridan College (2010-2012) I developed a technique of twisting bands of thrown clay. Until then, I had suffered silently with the invisible chronic pain of fibromyalgia for decades. This work represents my cathartic process in healing both the pain and its associative shame. $4,500 + HST

Body Interrupted

6. Body Interrupted 2016/2020, 15 “cubes” 11cm x 11cm x 11cm, installation variable, slip cast porcelain and ceramic decal. I began this work after my healing crisis, 2014-2016. When I was unable to work on the wheel, I turned to slip casting to express the physical constraints of my body. Literally “boxed-in.” I have doubled the components of this piece for this exhibition. $3,750 CDN + HST.

The Wall of Inquiry (right); Betrayed (left)

8. Wall of Inquiry 2020, 70 letter size sheets, laser printed. This work was inspired by this room at the Gladstone Hotel, and the intent of Body Within, which is to give the viewer a sense of the overwhelm associated with my quest for healing. These are snapshots of a subsection of the tests that I underwent from 2009 to 2019. It also tracks the results of Ayurvedic treatment: I am living free of my “incurable” kidney disease.

“Body Within Artist Statement:
Using the media of clay, film and sound, this multi-part installation asks the question – what is it like to embody a human vessel that is invisibly fractured? Through abstraction, I share my experience and catharsis of chronic fibromyalgia, spontaneous collapsed lung, partially blocked femoral artery, congenital kidney disease and living with a compromised immune system. Some days feel full of struggle and defeat; other times I am filled with gratitude, serenity and optimism. I have created these works: their very existence affirms that “I am here.””

I would like to thank my husband, Ali Kazimi, for his unwavering support love and nourishment over the last twenty-five years. Thanks also to Emmanuel Albano for his hand in finalizing the video, Rosalind Gill and Arlene Moscovitch for their keen editorial input. Special thanks to Anil Hardit-Singh for his vision in composing the soundscape, I AM HERE. Thanks also to Toni Olshen, Jennifer Moore and Maya Foltyn for their selfless efforts on my behalf. Thanks also to the amazing team at the Gladstone: Nicki, Jacob, Alex, and the ever-able superwoman, Lee Petrie. Thanks also to Megan Feheley for her wisdom and guidance.

Soundscape by Ambient Orchestra  www.TheAmbientOrchestra.com   
Twitter   @AmbientOrch.  Soundcloud @AmbientOrch

This project is supported by the Ontario Arts Council’s Exhibition Assistance Program.

Award at CRAFT FORMS 2019 Philadelphia

Jane Milosch presenting the Award of Merit in Ceramics at Craft Forms, Wayne Art Centre, Dec. 6, 2019

I recently returned from Philadelphia where my ‘House of Cards’ was exhibited alongside eighty other fine craft artists’ work at CRAFT FORMS 25th International Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Fine Craft at the Wayne Art Centre. The show was juried by Jane Milosch, Founder and Director of the Smithsonian Provenance Research Initiative. I captured The Award of Merit for ceramics.

Exhibition runs from December 7 to February 1, 2020.

Twenty artists were present to deliver brief remarks at the public opening on December 7th.

I had a chance to speak about my work, ‘House of Cards’ as a tribute to my father’s life as an early immigrant to Canada,

and some of the racialized experiences he endured, to build his home in a new country - the fragility and the strength.

Heidi Artist Talk Craft Forms 2019 from Heidi McKenzie on Vimeo.

‘House of Cards’ Award-winning installation representing my father’s journey and life as a new Canadian from Trinidad in 1953 to his passing, 2016.

Water selected as "Best Of" Cluj International Ceramics Biennale

My work, Water, my largest work to date, weighed in crated at 100lbs was created at Medalta in Medicine Hat, Alberta, winter 2019. Water was selected to part of an ongoing touring exhibition of “best of” the Cluj-Napoca International Ceramics Biennale. More details to follow…

Special Thanks to the Ontario Arts Council through Harbourfront Centre Crafts and SAVAC for Exhibition Assistance in making this possible.

The Australian Ceramics Triennale Tasmania

I was invited to present, exhibit and curate around the theme of “Decolonizing Clay” at The Australian Ceramics Triennale Tasmania from May 1-4, 2019. I stayed on for another week, then a couple more in Australia and hopped home via Beijing and Vancouver. This is my missive out to my email subscribers peppered with photos.

Hobart feels like Halifax.

I am sitting on a plane, the last leg of my seven-flight, five-week journey that took me to Tasmania, through Melbourne and Sydney, via Beijing, Vancouver and now heading home to Toronto. I was invited to present, moderate and curate around the theme of ceramic artists of colour making place and holding space to tell their own stories at the Australian Ceramics Triennale in Hobart, Tasmania. I was fortunate to receive Canada Council funding to bring this vision to reality, and was thrilled to work with my fellow panelists, Arun Sharma (a Sydney-based American sculptor I had met on my last trip to Australia in 2017), and Neville Assad-Salha, a veteran maker and Lebanese-Australian currently relocating to Adelaide. Our panel drew an impressive audience of over half the delegates, estimated at 350 – and what stayed with me, were the half a dozen or so young Australian artists of colour who came to me over the next few days to tell me that they had been moved to tears – tears of relief and of joy – to hear other racialized artists, similar to themselves, speak our truths, honestly, without confrontation, blame or shame, but with steadfast pride.

Neville Assad-Salha, Heidi McKenzie, Arun Sharma - the participants/exhibitors in Decolonizing Clay

I had a great time hanging with the gaggle of Canadians who made to the Triennale at MONA. Grace Nickel and I spent the day soaking up the experience of the Museum of Old and New Art, which more than lives up to its reputation. I found myself drawn to write about the largest glockenspiel in the world.

Possibly the most compelling work of art at MONA, The Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart - as the water falls, it spells random words - it’s beautiful and genius.

Hobart feels a lot like Halifax and a little like St. John’s. I signed up for a five-day whirlwind tour of Tasmania post-conference – three weeks later I found myself on Vancouver Island touring its south shore – and I realized why the cool temperate rainforests of Tasmania were so familiar – they are astoundingly similar to the wilderness of the west coast of BC! – which in no way diminished the awe-inspiring beauty of either natural wonder. Ceramics is truly an international community – a friend from Jingdezhen, Diana Williams hosted me in Melbourne and then I was onto Sydney – to be feted with Mitsuo and Chris Shoji in grand style, a dinner with Trudy Golley and Paul Leathers and plenty of time with my former studio mate, Szilvia Gyorgy, and squeezed in the symphoney at the Opera House with Giti Dutt. I had a brief 52-hour layover in Beijing, and was blessed with warm sun, yet high winds which whisked away any threat of harmful pollution. I took a day-tour of the least touristy part of The Great Wall, checked that off the bucket list, and spent the rest of my time wandering the Forbidden City and ducking in and out of contemporary art galleries in the798 Art District.

The venue was at Princess Wharf No. 1 - over 1000 pieces of ceramic art under one roof!

I arrived in Vancouver two days before my husband was to receive his honourary doctorate for outstanding contribution to community from UBC. It was a full week of festivities which brought me to tears of pride and joy. We were blessed to have his mother and his brother with us. We managed to pack in quite the social calender, check out most of the major ceramics scene in town (thank you Debra Sloan, my Vancouver ceramic guide) and visit with my mentor, Ying-Yueh Chuang.

Home is a mere few hours away – and I feel as if I haven’t really been there since the New Year. I have some work to get to this month with a solo show opening in the Gardiner Shop in early July, and I’m really looking forward to getting my hands back into the mud. Already planning a return trip to the Northern Territories for the next Australian Triennale in 2022.

Missive #3 Home from Medalta in the Historic Pottery District

My solo exhibition on Feb 25th in the beehive kiln, “it will be what it will be” -

I started the last missive just past the three-quarter mark. I was busy making lemonade from lemons and had lifted myself out of the inevitable funk of disappointment that tends to transpire when you work with new clay, new kilns, and new creative endeavours. Cracks were mended, alternative techniques tested and I was buoyed by the credo that my wise friend, Harlan House sent round at the time: “You can always do it better. And until you’ve done it a thousand times you haven’t done it.  Until you can fix it you haven’t done it at all.” (Claudia Fleming, baker). The glass half-full, turned out to be a glass overflowing with learning and somewhat to my astonishment, achievement. I managed to create my “new-modernist” forms at large scales without kiln explosions, and put on a solo exhibition in a beehive kiln. I have left the work to be professionally crated by a past resident and now am actively shopping it around as, alas, David Kaye Gallery was forced to close its doors in the New Year.

Many of the highlights of Medalta for me were the people that I connected with over my time. I already mentioned Jim Marshall, the brick muralist who lives across from the artist lodge. I had the opportunity to more time with him, and I am looking forward to writing a profile about his life and work for an upcoming issue of Ceramics Monthly. I am writing this a a week after I left Medicine Hat – and I’m already nostalgic for the dry cold, the charming repertory cinema, the surreal small-town kareoke and the comraderie of new friends who are “in the know” when it comes to transforming mud. It was an honour to work alongside veteran scuptor, Grace Nickel, and watch the year-round residents as well as Heather Lepp, who arrived with me on New Year’s, flourish over such a relatively brief time. We weathered some rocky times and we all braved the -30C+ windchills, all of us except many of the vehicles who refused to perform in the permafrost. I believe I became somewhat cavalier about the deer waltzing by my window.

Jim Marshall with “the gang” in his studio with his latest mural in progress.

Noriko Masuda our fearless studio leader - crutches and all.

I left Medalta knowing that I will return. I am full of ideas that need to come to fruition in the particular alchemy of the place. I am on a train returning from Montreal, having taught half a dozen potters some of the tricks of the trade with coloured clay, and done a whirlwind tour of the contemporary art scene. I look forward to getting grounded, reconnecting with friends and hunkering down for the upcoming season of grant deadlines, planning and scheming – and getting my hands dirty back in the studio.

Until next time, Medalta - I loved your frozen warmth!

Clay in Motion Extended until December 13th

Clay in Motion, Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Waterloo

November 8 until Sunday December 13th