Kristie MacDonald lives and works in Toronto, Canada. Her art practice engages notions of the archive and the collection, as well as their roles in the evolving meanings and contextual histories of images and artifacts. MacDonald is a recipient of awards from the Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, and the Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts. Her work has recently been exhibited at Modern Fuel (Kingston ON), the Society of Northern Alberta Print-Artists (Edmonton AB), the MacLaren Art Centre (Barrie ON), BABEL Visningsrom for Kunst (Trondheim NO), Reed Collage (Portland OR), The International Print Center (New York NY), Open Studio Contemporary Printmaking Centre (Toronto ON), and Gallery 44 (Toronto ON). She has been invited to work as an artist in residence at the Finnish Artists' Studio Foundation (Helsinki, FI), Skaftfell Center for Visual Art (Seyðisfjörður, IS), and Lademoen Kunstnerverksteder (Trondheim, NO). MacDonald is an Assistant Professor in Studio Art at the University of Guelph.
CV
Education
2022 Doctor of Philosophy, Visual Arts, York University
2016 Master of Fine Arts, , Visual Arts, York University
2011 Master of Information Studies, Spec. Archival Studies, University of Toronto
2008 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Spec. Hons. Visual Arts, York University
Solo Exhibitions
Documents from Antarctica, Modern Fuel, Kingston ON, 2022
Doppelgängers, Society of Northern Alberta Print-Artists, Edmonton AB, 2019
Press Photo Antarctica, Open Studio Members Gallery, Toronto ON, 2017
Doppelgängers, Special Projects Gallery, Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts, York University, Toronto ON, 2016
Machine for Correcting the Past, Artspace, Peterborough ON, 2015
Home and Away, Open Studio Gallery, Toronto ON, 2011
Two Person Exhibitions
Search Engine Serendipity (collaboration with Ella Tetrault), Owens Art Gallery (Digital Owens), Sackville NB, 2018-2019
Illusions and Reproductions: Iden Balzerson & Kristie MacDonald, BABEL Visningsrom for Kunst, Trondheim Norway, 2015
What Was Will Be (with Christina Battle), Gallery 44, Toronto ON, 2014
Selected Group Exhibitions
Again and More, Again (with Myfawny Macleod and Mitch Robertson), MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie ON, curated by Emily McKibbon, December 3, 2016 to March 5, 2017
Canadian Belonging(s) (with Basil AlZeri, Sonny Assu, Pansee Atta, Cindy Blažević, Vanessa Dion Fletcher, Cheryl L’Hirondelle, Kristie MacDonald, Meryl McMaster, Abdi Osman), Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga ON, curated by Ellyn Walker, 2016
Hivemind: Print + Performnce (with Patrick Bulas and Jordan Schwab, Audrey Hurd, and Ming Hon), Martha Street Studio, Winnipeg MB, curated by Kristin Nelson, 2016
Slow Poke (with Alice Mi Jeong Kim, Jennifer Tellier, Haley Uyeda, Andrew Testa, Elaine Chan-Dow, Anna Snyder, David Perrett, and Derek Colombe), Artscape Youngplace, 2016
I think you're wonderful and so does everyone else, (with Nadia Belerique, Mark Clintberg, & Mungo Thomson), G Gallery, Toronto ON, curated by Jon Davies and Kristin Weckworth, 2015
Might Now (with Dan Attoe, Patricia Esquivias, Lindsay Lawson & Margaret Weber), Reed Collage, Portland OR, USA, curated by Jade Novarino and Lucy Weisner for Reed Arts Week, 2015
Art Spin July 2014, Doppelgangers, with the Portable Gallery Project, Toronto ON, 2014
Art Spin Fifth Annual Exhibition, 108 Vine Ave, Toronto ON, curated by Layne Hinton and Rui Pimenta, 2014
International Print Center Presents: New Prints 2014, Christie’s Auction House, Rockefeller Showrooms, New York NY, USA, 2014
New Prints: Winter, International Print Center, New York NY, USA, 2014
Provisions (with Maggie Groat & Tiziana La Melia), XPACE Cultural Centre, Toronto ON, curated by Ellyn Walker, 2013
Revisiting Ephemera, Artlab Gallery, University of Western Ontario, London ON, curated by Emma Anderson, 2011
Projects Class 2010, University of Toronto Art Centre, curated by Ginger Scott and Joanna Sheridan, Toronto ON, 2010
Special Projects / Site Specific Work
ScanPro 2000, Commissioned by Superframe for Portrait and Landscape project space, Toronto ON, 2016 – 2017
Misguided Fieldwork, Public interventions at the Seyðisfjörður Information Centre (with Factory Workers Unite), Seyðisfjörður Iceland, 2017
Residencies
International Artist in Residence, Finnish Artists' Studio Foundation, Tapiola Guest Studios, Helsinki Finland (July 1 - 31, 2017)
Artist in Residence, Skaftfell Center for Visual Art, Seyðisfjörður Iceland (June 1 - 30, 2017)
International Artist in Residence, Lademoen Kunstnerverksteder (LKV), Trondheim Norway (June 1 - July 31, 2015)
Lademoen Kunstnerverksteder Artist in Residence, Sula Island Lighthouse, Sula Norway (July 21- July 25, 2015)
Visiting Artist, Reed Collage, Reed Arts Week 2015, Portland Oregon (March 1 – 5, 2015)
Emerging Artist Residency, University of Windsor, Windsor ON (May 1 – June 6, 2010)
Grants and Awards
John Hartman Award, awarded by the MacLaren Art Centre, 2017
Travel Grants to Professionals in the Visual Arts, Canada Council for the Arts, 2015
Exhibition Assistance, Ontario Arts Council, 2014
Emerging Artist Production Grant, Ontario Arts Council, 2013
Emerging Artist Production Grant, Toronto Arts Council, 2013
Emerging Artist Production Grant, Toronto Arts Council, 2011
Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts 10th Anniversary Award, 2008
Bibliography
Zoë Heyn-Jones. “What Was Will Be: Secular Magic, Sculpting Cinema,” In Sculpting Cinema. Melanie Wilmink, Solomon Nagler and Tom Taylor Eds., Pleasuredome, 2018
Inger Marie Møller. “Illusions and Reproductions: iden Balzerson & Kristie MacDonald,” BABEL Visningsrom for Kunst, Trondheim Norway, 2015
Øyvind Rongevær Kvarme, Illusjonar og Reproduksjonar, Interview (with Idun Balzerson), Artscene Trondheim, 2015
Lucy Weisner and Jade Novarino, “Kristie MacDonald: Intersections of Art and Archival Practice,” a published interview in the catalogue Might Now published on the occasion of Reed Collage Arts Week, 2016
Daniella Sanader, What Was Will Be, BlackFlash Magazine, 2014
Fran Schechter, Nature's Fury, NOW Magazine, 2014
Madi Chambers, What Was Will Be, Carbon Paper, 2014
Shellie Zhang, Christina Battle & Kristie MacDonald: What Was Will Be, Artoronto.ca, 2014
Leah Sandles, Photo-Art Show Takes on Topsy-Turvy Weather, Canadian Art, 2014
Madeleine Viljoen, New Prints Winter 2014, International Print Centre New York, 2014
Caoimhe Morgan-Feir, What Was Will Be, Gallery 44, Toronto ON, 2014
Ellyn Walker, Provisions, Xpace Cultural Centre Toronto ON, 2013
Ahlia Moussa and Simon Bentley eds, Revisiting Ephemera, McIntosh Gallery, London ON, 2012
Jen Hutton, Kristie MacDonald: Home and Away, Open Studio, Toronto ON, 2011
Amy Stewart, York Artists Sweep the Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts Awards, Y-File, York University Online, 2008
Amy Stewart, Sculptors use digital techniques in York experimental lab, Y-File, York University Online, 2008
Dan Girard, Students Learn While They Earn, Toronto Star, Toronto ON, 2008
Teaching Experience
Assistant Professor, School of Fine Arts and Music
Collage of Arts
University of Guelph
2019 – Pres.
Lecturer, Department of Visual Studies
Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design
University of Toronto
2013 – 2019
Board of Directors
Open Studio Printmaking Center, Toronto ON, 2015 – 2018
Co-Chair of the Programming Committee 2017 - 2018
Publications
“The Open Studio Print Archive: Towards a History of Archiving within Canada's Artist-Run Centres,” in Printopolis. Open Studio, Toronto ON, forthcoming 2016
“Fiona Tan: Inventory at the Philadelphia Museum of Art,” Exhibition Review in Journal of Curatorial Studies issue 3:3, Bristol UK, 2014
“Cuts / Offcuts: Annyen Lam and Hazel Eckert,” Exhibition Essay, Open Studio Annual Scholarship Exhibition, Open Studio Gallery, Toronto ON, 2014
“Artists Magazines: An Alternative Space for Art,” Book Review in the Journal of Curatorial Studies issue 2:2, Bristol UK, 2013
“He named her Amber: Iris Haussler,” Book Review in Journal of Curatorial Studies issue 2:3, Bristol UK, 2013
Curatorial Projects
“The Inhabitants of Space,” (Miles Collyer, Derek Coulombe, Erika DeFreitas and Alexis Dirks), Open Studio Gallery, Toronto ON, a Featured Exhibition in the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival 2017
Selected Public Talks and Lectures
Artist Talk, Modern Fuel, July 2022
Artist Talk, Society of Northern Alberta Printmakers, July 2019
Artist Talk, delivered at Skaftfell Center for Visual Art, Seyðisfjörður Iceland, June 7, 2017
Artist Talk, delivered at Sula Island Co-op, Sula Norway, July 24, 2015
Artist Talk, delivered at Lademoen Kunstnerverksteder, Trondheim Norway, June 18, 2015
Artist Talk, delivered at Reed Collage Arts Week, Reed Collage, Portland OR, March 4, 2015
Artist Talk (Adam David Brown, Kristie MacDonald, Ed Pien, and Michael Vickers), Art Spin Fifth Annual Exhibition, 108 Vine Avenue, Toronto ON, June 29, 2014
What Was Will Be: Panel Discussion with Christina Battle, Alexis Dirks, and Kristie MacDonald (moderated by Caoimhe Morgan-Feir), Gallery 44, Toronto ON, January 11, 2014
“Towards a History of Artist-Run Archives in Canada: Traditional and Non-Traditional Forms,” delivered at Grunt Gallery, Vancouver BC, June 19, 2013
Sunday Scene (Exhibition Tour and Talk), delivered during the exhibition “Beat Nation,” at the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto ON, February 10, 2013
Visiting Artist Speaker Series, University of Windsor, Windsor ON, May 31, 2010
Selected Conference Presentations & Panel Discussions
“Search Engine Serendipity: Browsing for Images as Intimate labour” (with Ella Tetrault), delivered at Digital Art History - Methods, Practices, Epistemologies conference, University of Zagreb, Croatia, November 12-14, 2018
“Search Engine Serendipity: Browsing for Images as Intimate labour (with Ella Tetrault),” delivered at the Handmade Assembly, Sackville NB, October 17-20, 2018
“Pole Station Antarctica” to be delivered at the Universities Art Association of Canada (UAAC), Waterloo ON, October 25-28
“Setting Things Next to One Another,” delivered at the Universities Art Association of Canada (UAAC), Montreal QC, October 28-30, 2016
“Capacities for Keeping: Gallery Archives Across Ontario,” delivered at the Universities Art Association of Canada, Halifax NS, November 5-7, 2015
Panel Discussion: New Initiatives in Art Archives, delivered at “Visualizing the Future: New Perspectives in Art Librarianship” a Webinar hosted by the Art Libraries Society of North America, January 17, 2015
“Towards a History of Artist-Run Archives in Canada: Traditional and Non-Traditional Forms,” delivered at the Association of Canadian Archivists Annual Conference, Winnipeg MB, June 11-15, 2013
“Vtape: Preserving Video Art and its Histories Within an Artist-Run Centre,” delivered at the Association of Canadian Archivists Annual Conference, Whitehorse YT, June 7-9, 2012
“Video Art: A Preservation Clinic,” delivered at Source: Independent Media Arts Alliance National Summit, Banff AB, June 15-18, 2012
“Managing Media Art: Materiality, Immateriality and Defining the Digital Object,” delivered at Boundaries, Frontiers & Gatekeepers: The University of Toronto iSchool Student Conference, March 4-6, 2011