REGINA – Some big names in the provincial arts community were honoured on Oct. 24 during the Saskatchewan Arts Awards in Saskatoon. A strong showing of Regina artists and organizations found themselves in the spotlight, and each recipient received a unique wavelength-inspired award created by Saskatoon artist Marie Lannoo plus a cash prize.
Marsha Kennedy received the Artistic Excellence Award, which considered criteria including having made a significant impact on the arts in this province through their work, and being recognized across the country. Kennedy certainly checks those boxes, as she’s maintained an active exhibition record since the late 1970s with work featured across Canada in public art galleries. She continues to mentor Saskatchewan-based artists, post retirement from the University of Regina in 2016 after more than 20 years of teaching. Kennedy has always been recognized in the arts community for her contributions to feminist and environmental art.
“I brought together the idea of the vascular system of humans being very much like the root system,” she said. “Visually, there’s comparisons there. Or the inner ear and it’s spiral form - I related that to the grown of a fern, or the shell of a snail. I was always bringing those relationships together.”
“A lot of the underlying theme in my work is the relationship to nature.”
While quite humble about receiving the SK Arts Award, Kennedy was honoured to even be nominated, let alone making the short list.
“It’s very nice to have that support. It came at a good time for me,” she said. “It is nice to get an award when you’re still very involved.”
Kennedy was born and raised in southern Saskatchewan, but migrated to Toronto during her formative years as a professional artist. While out east, she received her MFA in print media from York University in 1981. Kennedy was an edition printer with Press Werk Editions and was also an art teacher at York University, Fanshawe College, Guelph University and the Art Gallery of Ontario. She was active in the Toronto school system’s visiting artist program, and was heavily involved with community groups.
"My life experience and my art practice are interwoven with a deep respect for nature and other species,” noted Kennedy on her website. “The complicated relationship between humanity and nature sustains my studio work through challenging inquiries into the metaphysical, emotional and societal forces that lie at the root of this relationship.”
A special exhibition featuring work spanning Kennedy’s career concluded this spring, running from Oct. 2020 to May 2022. Titled Embodied Ecologies, the exhibition was a chance for Kennedy to revisit some old friends.
“It’s really interesting to see all of the work together,” she said. “It brought my life’s work, many elements of it together under the same roof. It was very interesting to see that all at once. I got to see work that belongs to other people or other institutions, and I got to see that again for the first time in a long, long time.”
For those interested in viewing some of Kennedy’s work, she is represented by Slate Fine Art Gallery in Regina.
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