Mike MacDonald

A n I n t r o d u c t i o n t o
C o n t e m p o r a r y N a t i v e A r t i s t s i n C a n a d a

M i k e M a c D o n a l d

b. 1941, Sydney, Nova Scotia
First Nations Affiliation: Mi'kmaq; Beothuk

Principally self-taught, activist artist Mike MacDonald uses video as a medium for healing and increasing consciousness. Active in video production since 1979, he has screened work at the Nuclear Free Pacific Conference in Honolulu, the Acid Rain Conference in Washington D.C., and at festivals in Geneva, Edinburgh, the Netherlands, Chicago, Bath, and London, England. Known for the widely-shown work Electronic Totem, (1987) the artist has also documented the testimony of elders for the Gitksan Wet'suwet'en land claim. For over a decade, MacDonald has meticulously explored the interdependence of migrating butterflies and traditional medicinal plants (the subject of his most recent exhibitions), building site-specific gardens at galleries across the continent. In 1994, he was presented with the Vancouver Institute for the Visual Arts (VIVA) award, founded by Jack and Doris Shadbolt, for outstanding contribution to the arts in British Columbia.

R E C E N T E X H I B I T I O N S

1998	Kamloops Art Gallery, Kamloops, British Columbia Sacred Circle Gallery, Seattle, Washington Mike MacDonald: Digital Garden. Mount Saint Vincent Art Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia
1997	Touched by the Tears of a Butterfly. Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario L’idee de traces. Red Head Gallery, Alma, Québec Breaking Borders. St. Norbert Arts and Cultural Centre, St. Norbert, Manitoba http://www.snacc.mb.ca/projects/butterfly_garden/biography.html
1996	Métissages. Galerie Optica, Montréal, Québec Seven Sisters. Yukon Arts Gallery, Whitehorse, Yukon Touched by the Tears of a Butterfly. Grunt Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
1995	Call of the Wild. Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff, Alberta
1994	Secret Flowers & Seven Sisters. Sacred Circle Gallery, Seattle, Washington
1993	Pe'l A'tukwey: Let Me . . . Tell a Story. Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick; Gesner Gallery, New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, New Brunswick; Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia Secret Flowers, Selected Works by Mike MacDonald. Confederation Centre Art Gallery and Museum, Charlottetown, P.E.I. Fleurs secretes. Oboro, Montréal, Québec Secret Flowers. Presentation House, North Vancouver, British Columbia
1992	New Territories: 350 / 500 Years After. Les Maisons de la Culture, Montréal, Québec INDIGENA. Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Québec Electronic Totem: Recent Works. Art Gallery of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia Seeing Red / Seeing Green. Pitt Gallery, Vancouver British Columbia Recent Works. Video In, Vancouver, British Columbia
1991	Mike MacDonald / Seven Sisters. Mercer Union, Toronto, Ontario Rat Art. A.V.E. Festival, Arnheim, The Netherlands; Seventh Fringe Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland; Northwest Film Festival, Portland, Oregon; Fourth International Video Week, Geneva, Switzerland Okanata. A Space Gallery, Toronto, Ontario Vision of Power. Leo Kamen, Toronto, Ontario
1990	Artropolis 90: Lineages and Linkages. Roundhouse, Vancouver, British Columbia Spirit in the Land. Heritage Hall, Vancouver, British Columbia Photo Collages. Grunt Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia Rat Art. Fine Art Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
1989	Beyond History. Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
1988	Electronic Totem 87. Ksan National Exhibition Centre, Hazelton, British Columbia; Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia Re-visions. Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff, Alberta
1987	Electronic Totem and Photo Collages. Two Mile Art Gallery, Hazelton, British Columbia

S E L E C T E D C O L L E C T I O N S

Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia

S E L E C T E D B I B L I O G R A P H Y

Artropolis 90: Lineages and Linkages. Vancouver, British Columbia: A.T. Eight Artropolis Society, 1990.

Carriere, Daniel. "Des oeuvres majeures sur petit ecran." Le Devoir, 23 January 1993, p. C-9.

Durand, Guy Sioui. "Creative currents: Métissage merges Native and non-Native creativity." Aboriginal Voices 1, no. 4 (Fall 1994): 42-45.

Fraser, Marie, Guy Sioui Durand, et al. Métissages. Saint-Jean-de-Jolie, Québec: Centre de Sculpture, 1996.

Giles, Vesta. "From rat traps to butterfly gardens: The video art of Mike MacDonald." ARTSatlantic 16, no. 1 (Summer 1998): 37-39.

Gray, Viviane, and Moira Dianne O'Neill. Pe'l A'tukwey: Let Me . . . Tell a Story: Recent Work by Mi'kmaq and Maliseet Artists. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 1993.

"Lac-Saint-Jean." etc Montréal 35 (September - November 1996): 10-14.

Marks, Laura U. "Animal identifications: Animal appetites." Parachute 72 (October / November / December 1993): 26-30.

McMaster, Gerald, and Lee-Ann Martin, eds. INDIGENA: Contemporary Native Perspectives. Vancouver, British Columbia: Douglas & McIntyre, 1992. INDIGENA: Perspectives autochtones contemporaines. Hull, Québec: Musée canadien des civilisations, 1992.

Metcalfe, Robin. Mike MacDonald: Digital Garden. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Mount Saint Vincent University, 1997.

"Mike MacDonald: Seven sisters." Katalog (Denmark) 5, no. 4 (June 1993): 44-5.

Pakasaar, Helga, Deborah Doxtater, Jean Fisher, and Rick Hill. Revisions. Banff, Alberta: Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre, 1992.

Tétrault, Pierre-Léon, Dana Alan Williams, Guy Sioui Durand, Alfred Young Man, et al. New Territories: 350/500 Years After: An Exhibition of Contemporary Aboriginal Art of Canada. Prefaces by Robert Houle, Tom Hill. Montréal, Québec: Ateliers Vision planétaire, 1992.

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