Issue 18: Ode to Studios | FREE Preview | Celebrating South NB Artists
Theresa MacKnight | Three Legs | 2021
Night Watching
Feature Article by Theresa MacKnight
From Issue 18: Ode to Studios/South, available for pre-order here.
Sometimes you must move away and then come back to realize that you never really left. This is how I feel about Charlotte County. Nine years ago, my family and I moved to southern New Brunswick and settled in St. Andrews, a place where I have deep family roots.
I have always felt connected to this place and was taught by my parents to be comfortable in the woods and respectful of animals. As a girl I spent a great deal of time with my maternal grandmother who knew how to cook on a wood stove, told stories of the old ways of getting by, and one day taught me how to shoot a small rifle. I never became a hunter, but I felt it was a strange and loving sort of initiation to an old way of life.
Theresa MacKnight | Palettehead | 2021
I went to art school in the 1980s, a political time when the legitimacy of painting was under question. I did my best to keep my practice authentic, finding my way to plein air painting during my years as a teacher. It was a sort of survival mechanism, an escape from stress and months of having to stay indoors. Working plein air kept me connected to natural places and forced me to be disciplined. It taught me a great deal, but I never saw it as my only painting language. I was looking for more.
After retiring from teaching in 2020 at the height of COVID, I allowed myself the time to shift my practice to explore and experiment with ideas that had been kicking around for several years.
Theresa MacKnight | In The Place Where You Live | 2021
I purchased a trail camera and started to experiment with capturing, then painting, images of deer that pass regularly through our back yard. In the studio, I started to explore ways to create narratives and invented landscapes. Fascinated and hungry for more imagery, I started to scout areas on the edges of town and place the camera where I knew the deer would pass. Long story short, this led to use of the trail camera to capture images of myself moving in the same spaces as I would see the local deer, first accidentally, then later in a more intentional, almost performative way. Spending time outdoors, at dark, in winter, had an unexpected effect on my work. The colors changed, the light became invented, and I began to allow my imagination in. This changed everything.
Theresa MacKnight | Close Enough But Not Too Far | 2021
Issue 18:
Ode to Studios/South
Our 18th issue of CreatedHere celebrates the artists of southern New Brunswick. It includes passionate creators from Fundy, Saint John, St. Andrews, and more, with a focus on their delightful studios. If you loved this article be sure to check out the whole issue, shipping mid-December 2021.