D. Helen Mackie – Biography
D. HELEN MACKIE, RCA
1926 –
Helen, with a background in biological sciences, has had a life-long fascination with prairie culture and the natural world: the plants, animals, birds, people, the life cycles in nature – a veritable life’s tapestry. Although she denies any poetic approach, Helen visualizes (makes visible) nature’s rhythms and reveals spiritual and symbolic points of reference for our own realities. She takes what is common and everyday and makes for us, through the medium of the woodblock print, etching, and charcoal drawing, imaginary worlds of surprise, interconnectivity, whimsy, and joy.
A master printmaker, Helen’s strong images, in conjunction with her use of color (often with a stencil technique), contain high levels of energy and denote her compassionate nature and keen sense of humor. “While not interested in pure abstraction, she does abstract and simplify all her subjects.”(1) Referencing various visual techniques from the history of art, such as the registers from illuminated medieval manuscripts and books of hours, Helen’s subjects shift the traditional scenes from the lives of the Virgin, Christ, and any number of saints, to include the activities of sheep, crows, cows, and buffalo, as well as cowboys, children, horses, flowers, and gardeners.
Dora Helen Mackie was born in Tavistock, Ontario in 1926. In 1943, she received a B.Sc. Honours at Queen’s University in Biology and Chemistry and in 1949 she received a M.Sc. in Physiology and Biochemistry from the University of Toronto. After deciding to expand her understanding of the world via art making, Mackie received a BFA from the University of Calgary in Printmaking and Drawing (1973), where she studied with John Esler and Noboru Sawai.
She states that the art of printmaking “opened my eyes to a new world of images and new opportunities to create.” For Helen the block of wood and the etcher’s plate kept her “contact with idea, hand, and image very close.” Helen has studied at the Banff School of Fine Art, the Alberta College of Art, and the Emma Lake Painting Workshop.
She is well known for her woodblock prints and etchings, although she also works with charcoal and watercolor. Helen has had many solo exhibitions: her work was featured during the summer of 2011 at the Lebel Mansion in Pincher Creek courtesy of the Wilcox and Sax gallery; in a travelling exhibition through the Alberta Foundation for the Arts (Dora Helen Mackie, A Print Retrospective, 2008-9); she exhibited at the Muttart Art Gallery, Calgary; Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff; and the Kanagawa International Association, Kanagawa, Japan, amongst many others. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions as well, including the Taejon Expo International Exhibition of Graphic Arts, Taejon, Korea (1993), the Alberta Society of Artists 65th Anniversary Exhibition (1996), the 5th International Biennal Print Exhibit: 1991 ROC, Taipei, Taiwan (1991), 1st Kochi International Triennial Exhibition of Prints, Kochi-shi, Japan (1990), and International Exhibition Small Forms of Graphic Art, Lodz, Poland (1985-1989).
Mackie’s work is found in the collections of the City of Calgary Civic Collection, Glenbow Museum, H.R.H. Queen Elizabeth II Permanent Collection (Windsor Castle Library, England), Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Canada Council Art Bank (Ottawa), University of Calgary, Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, as well as others. Her work is in private collections around the world.
Reference: Bente Roed Cochrane, Printmaking in Alberta 1945-1985 (Edmonton: The University of Alberta Press, 1989), 102.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Every individual has unique life experience, ideas and emotions which become part of their personal pattern. In my life I can see different sources for my interests in the relationships of man with the natural world. Especially in the energy and life that flows from the earth, our source, into the life of the plants, animals, birds, insects, fish, etc.
As a child, I lived in the country and that has given me vivid memories. The world of one’s childhood is the bones of one’s life. Encountering stories, myths, fables, and spiritual beliefs brought a larger understanding of my own life and the lives of others in times present and past. The study of life sciences focused my interest and increased my knowledge of living forms. Each plant, animal, or cell is unique onto itself but each depends on complex transfers of energy from other sources for its growth and movement.
In the world of art different experiences are woven into one’s work. I have enjoyed working with watercolour in ‘plein air’ tradition since being given paints as a child. It is simple and direct and the experience greatly enhances one’s observation and appreciation of the wonderful world of out-of-doors. When studying Fine Arts at the University of Calgary, I found that a course in printmaking opened my eyes to a new world of images and to new opportunities to create. I have found that the traditional methods of drawing on a plate or cutting into a wood block are most to my liking. In these the contact with idea, hand, and image are very close.
One begins each work big or small, with a new observation or thought. To define it becomes a unique challenge. Each work is a process that defines the worker.
EDUCATION:
1981 – Banff School of Fine Arts
1980 – Emma Lake Painting Workshop
1973 – University of Calgary, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Printmaking and Drawing
Attended the Alberta College of Art – Extension Program
1949 – University of Toronto, Masters Degree in Physiology and Biochemistry
1947 – Queen’s University, Bachelor of Arts (with Honors), Biology and Chemistry
SELECTED JURIED OR SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2009, Of Wood and Water, solo exhibition, Willock and Sax Gallery, Banff
2002, Brave New Prints, Alberta Printmakers, Calgary and McMullen Gallery, Edmonton
2001, Biennale International D’Estampe Contemporaine de Trois-Rivières, Quebec
2000,
Of Wood and Water, a thirty year survey of work by Helen Mackie, Image 54
Kaleidoscope, travelled to Calgary Amsterdam, Ostrava, Czech. Rep.
Evidence of Things Unseen, Tyndale College, 1st Prize, Toronto, ON
Bridging a New Century, ASA 70th Anniv. Traveling Exhibition, Red Deer, AB
Biennale International D’Estampes Miniatures de Montreal, Montreal, PQ
1st Biennial International Mini Print Exhibition, Granville Island, Vancouver, BC
Japanese and Canadian Woodblock, Nickle Arts Museum, Calgary, AB
1999-2001, Mini Print International de Cadaques, Barcelona, Spain
1999, University of Calgary Millennium Print Portfolio, Image 54, Calgary, AB
1996, International Review of Book-Plate of Pawel Stellar Name, Katowice, Poland
ASA 65th Anniversary Exhibition, Leighton Centre, AB
1995, Alberta Printmakers, Medicine Hat Art Gallery, Best of Show
1994, Printmaking in Alberta, Triangle Gallery, Calgary
1993, Taejon Expo International Exhibition of Graphic Arts, Taejon, Korea
The First International Print Biennial, Maastricht, The Netherlands
Solo Exhibition, Giordano Gallery, Edmonton
1992-6, Kensington Fine Art Galleries, Calgary
1992, Northwest Print Council, Salem, Oregon
CSP Watercolour, Traveling Exhibition, Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton
1991, 5th International Biennial Print Exhibition, 1991 ROC, Taipei, Taiwan
51st Annual Exhibition of North-West Watercolors, Kirkland, Washington
1st Kochi International Triennial Exhibition of Prints, Kochi-shi, Japan
Visual Communication 89, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto
Wintershow 88, Olympic Arts Festival, Calgary, AB
1989, Western Canadian Woodblock Prints, Muttart Gallery, Calgary
1987-8, Exposicao International de Gravura, Brazil
1987, John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto, ON
Galerie Rochon, Toronto, ON
Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff
1986-7, Del Bello Gallery International Exhibition of Miniature Art, Toronto
1985,
CSP Watercolour Diamond Jubilee, Royal Collections, Windsor Castle, UK
Galerie Rochon, solo exhibition, Toronto, ON
1985, 88, 89, Small Forms of Art International Exhibition, Lodz, Poland
1984-90, International Independents Exhibition of Prints, Kanagawa, Japan
1984, Solo Exhibition, Kanagawa International Assoc., Kanagawa, Japan
Sharing Visions, Alberta Society of Artists Traveling Exhibition, Japan
1977, The Cleveland U.K. International Drawing Biennial, Middlesborough, England
COLLECTIONS:
Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Alberta Governmental Affairs, Tokyo, Japan
Alberta House, London, England
Amoco Canada Petroleum Co. Ltd., Calgary
City of Calgary Civic Art Collection, Calgary
Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa, ON
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Calgary
C.B.C., Calgary
Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour – Diploma Collection
Esso Resources, Calgary
Glenbow Museum, Calgary
Grant MacEwan College, Edmonton
Gulf Canada Resources, Calgary
H.R.H. Queen Elizabeth II, Permanent Collection, Windsor Castle Library, England
Hydrocarbon Research Inc., Lawrenceville, NY
Montreal Trust Company, Calgary
Nickle Art Museum – donation: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/art-collection-saved-from-calgary-flood-donated-to-university-gallery-1.2649534
Pan-Canadian Petroleum, Calgary
Royal Bank of Canada, Calgary
Shell Oil Company, Calgary
Toronto Dominion Bank, Calgary
University of Calgary, Calgary
Wyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff