What makes a painting authentic? Can painting stand for something apart from the fetish it has become? For thirty-five years, Ferguson has tackled such questions by substituting mechanical processes and found objects for the hand-made, personalized mark of the artist.

Kelly Mark 144 White Jars 1993
Mason jars filled with white materials
Collection, Mount Saint Vincent University
Purchase, 1995

Abamou 1979 silk appliqué with beads

Alisa Snyder
(b. 1963, Providence, RI; lives in Ketch Harbour, NS)

Far in Summer 1995-96
oil on canvas
101.6 x 106.7 cm
Purchased with support from the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program and the Newfoundland Capital Corporation, 1997
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1997.2

Alisa Snyder
(b. 1963, Providence, RI; lives in Ketch Harbour, NS)

Gladioli and Black-Eyed Susan1991
oil on canvas
76 x 61cm
Purchased, 1991
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1991.6

Carol Fraser, Ambivalence 1970-71
oil on linen

Andrea Ward. Hairstories (detail) 1989-94. Hair, printed text and mixed media, plexiglass, mahogany frames, plexiglass shelves (8 panels from suite of 41).

Anna Torma
(b. 1952 Tarnaros, Hungary; lives in Baie Verte, NB)
Red Flowers III 2006
hand embroidery, inkjet print on fabric
165 x 130 cm
Purchased with financial support from the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program, 2007
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2007.1

This piece is one of eight in a series of quilted paintings by renowned artist Gathie Falk. Falk used Instamatic photographs of friends in her Kistilano garden for the Beautiful British Columbia Thermal Blanket series.

Bernice Purdy
Untitled (Bus Stop) 1985
oil on canvas
61 x 45.5 cm
Gift of Valerie Thompson, 2008
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2008.1

Svava Thordis Juliusson
Blanket Sacrifice 2003
various materials: wool, discarded clothing, wood

Bruce Johnson. Oka. Photo collage on board.

Camille Turner
(b. 1960 Kingston, Jamaica; lives in Toronto, ON)
Miss Canadiana (Red, White and Beautiful) 2002-2005
cut-out digital photograph on board
48.1 x 31.7 cm
Gift of the artist, 2005
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2005.1

Charles Doucette
Industry 1997
painted cast concrete and steel
18.5 x 2 x 58.5 cm
Purchased with support of the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program, 1997.
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1997.1

Charlotte Wilson-Hammond
(b. 1941 Montreal, QC; lives in Clam Harbour, NS)
Dune, Clam Harbour #3 1981
oil on canvas
93 x 124 cm
Gift of the artist, 2002
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2002.18

Charlotte Wilson-Hammond
(b. 1941 Montreal, QC; lives in Clam Harbour, NS)
Self-Portrait with Mirror (Tiresias) 1979
one of four panels, conte and watercolour on paper, Masonite, Plexiglas
Image: 38.7 x 24.6 cm; frame 70.7 x 56.2 cm
Purchased, 1982
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1982.4.2

American Beauty Made for Me 2000
ink, graphite, make-up on paper
57 x 76 cm
Purchased, 2001
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2001.4

Kelly Mark, Connect the Dots 1992-1994
acoustic ceiling tile with pencil on plywood
Collection, Mount Saint Vincent University
Gift of the artist, 1996

Dan O’Neill Analogue Diver 2004. Stone lithograph—autographic ink/toner transfer on black Arches 7/8.

Dan O’Neill
Father! What’re Ya Doin’? 2007
stone lithograph – autographic ink/crayon/toner transfer, on BFK Rives White 4/8
Sheet: 105.8 x 75.3 cm; Image: 91.5 x 60.8 cm
Gift of the artist, 2007
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2007.14

Dan O’Neill. Germ Powder Pulse 2004. Lithograph, 70 x 200.7 cm.

Dan O’Neill JPEG NOTE: Bchby.01.copy.jpeg 2003. Lithograph 2/8.

Dan O'Neill JPEGNOTES: BYHD.01.COPY.JPEG 2003-2004. Lithograph—aluminum photoplates and toner transfers on stone, on Pescia 2/8 (bleed triptych) 70 x 152 cm.

David Askevold
Don’t Eat Crow 1994
colour video with 2-channel audio
28:30 minutes
Gift, anonymous, 1995
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1995.5

Souvenir 1993-94
excerpt from the Nova Scotia Project ‘Once Upon a Time in the East’ and ‘The Road Journal’
colour photographs and chalk on board
101.5 x 81 cm
Purchased, 1998
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1998.3

Doris Wall Larson
(b. 1939 Aberdeen, SK; lives in Saskatoon, SK)
Kenneth Leslie, Poet 1975
etching
40.5 x 56 cm
Gift of the artist, 1975
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1975.1.2

Doris Wall Larson
(b. 1939 Aberdeen, SK; lives in Saskatoon, SK)
Mother and Child VI 1976
colour woodcut
96 x 65 cm
Gift of the artist, 1976
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1976.6

Doris Wall Larson
(b. 1939 Aberdeen, SK; lives in Saskatoon, SK)
Russell Langille, Champion 1975
colour woodcut 1/30
85 x 62 cm
Purchased, 1975
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1975.1.1

Frances Dorsey. Dragon's Teeth 1994. Pieced fabric, dyes, resists, photo-silkscreen. 2.7m x 3.96m x 8cm. MSVU collection. Purchase, 1999.

Dyke Action Machine! (DAM!)
(Live in New York)

Garry Neill Kennedy
Crayola Blizzard Blue Newly Retired 2004
wax crayon on paper
28.2 x 21.6 cm
Purchased as a part of Paperwork 30, 2004
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2004.7.11

Gary Markle
Triptych Drawing 1995
carbon paper rubbing on rag paper
Gift of the artist, 2007
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2007.16

Gary Markle
Untitled (Proscenium Arch with Hand and Plate) 1994
woodblock with charcoal drawing on rag paper
25 x 26.2 cm
Gift of the artist, 1996
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
SC 1996.3

Gary Markle
Untitled (Proscenium Arch with Juggler’s Disks) 1994
woodblock with charcoal drawing on rag paper
28.7 x 25.7 cm
Gift of the artist, 1996
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
SC 1996.2

George Steeves
(b. 1943 Moncton, NB; lives in Halifax, NS)
E-Minor #21 H-01-03-18-33-72-07 2006
Selenium-toned black and white photograph
51 x 41 cm
Purchased with support from the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program, 2006
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2006.2.1

George Steeves
(b. 1943 Moncton, NB; lives in Halifax, NS)
Entropy #10 H-86-07-01-0318-07 2006
Selenium-toned black and white photograph
51 x 41 cm
Purchased with support from the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program, 2006
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2006.2.3

Kelly Mark studied at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design before moving to Toronto, where she currently lives and works. She has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally.

While grounded in the late modern history of artist’s videos, Henderson’s work also reflects more recent awarenesses of video’s prevalent context: broadcast television, entertainment cinema, and home video.

Susanne MacKay’s paintings are empathetic and self-exploratory, probing into the lives of particular women, and in turn, into her own identity.

Jamie Baxter
Origins 1994
oil on canvas
122 x 104 cm
Gift of George Carlton Sollows, 1996
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1996.8

Tartan/Borracho 1998
oil on canvas
167 x 152 cm
Gift of Charles Fowler, 2004
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2004.3

Jamie Baxter
Tartan/Ciclico 1998
oil on Canvas
167 x 152 cm
Gift of Charles Fowler, 2004
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2004.1

Jamie Baxter
Tartan/Eternidad 1998
oil on canvas
167 x 152 cm
Gift of Charles Fowler, 2004
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2004.2

Jim Shirley
(b. 1944 South Bronx, NY; lives in Rankin Inlet, NU)
Cape Breton Apocalypse 1981
monotype
Sheet: 51 x 64 cm, Image: 40 x 50.7 cm
Purchased with matching funds from the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program, 2000.
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2000.1

Jim Shirley
(b. 1944 South Bronx, NY; lives in Rankin Inlet, NU)
Clyde Street Portraits 1976
pinhole photographs (4), photographed by Peggy Hogan
Circular, 18.7 cm diameter
Purchased with matching funds from the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program, 2000.
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2000.2

Jim Shirley. Nigger on Salmon River Road 1973. Monotype. plate: 24 x 30 cm. MSVU collection. Purchase, 1977.

Jim Shirley
(b. 1944 South Bronx, NY; lives in Rankin Inlet, NU)

Self-Portrait II 1976
monotype
Sheet: 76.4 x 57.4 cm, Image: 43 x 35.7 cm
Purchased with matching funds from the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program, 2000.
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2000.3

Julia Schmitt Healy
(b. 1947 Elmhurst, IL; lives in Staten Island, NY)
Halifax Diary, Diary Series (1973-75) 1975
hand coloured and cut serigraph 5/35
77 x 57 cm
Purchased, 1976
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1975.1

Karen Thiessen
(b. Leamington, Ontario; lives in Hamilton, Ontario)
Red: Red Star 2001
cotton and rayon fabrics; embroidery floss, cotton polyester sewing thread
66.5 x 62 cm
Purchased, 2001
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2001.2

Kim Morgan
Corpulence 2009
test tubes, glass slides, E. coli and HEK total lipid bi-layer scans using AFM (Atomic Force Microscope) imaging technology, mounted with light bulbs on found chandelier
167 x 66 x 66 cm
From the project “Mutable Fat(e),” an art/science collaboration with Dr. Tanya Dahms.
Supported by a Saskatchewan Arts Board Grant
Purchased with support from the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program, 2010
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2010.8

Leonard Paul
Carving 1978
lithograph AP
64.7 x 49.5 cm
Purchased, 1978
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1978.1

Leonard Paul
Malsum, the Brother of Kluskap 2005
ink and pencil on illustration board
Image: 22.9 x 30.5 cm; frame 59.1 x 74.3 cm
Gift of Peggy MacKinnon, 2007
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2007.10

Leonard Paul
The Shape Shifter, Kluskap Playing 2005
ink and pencil on illustration board
Image: 30.5 x 22.9 cm; frame 74.3 x 59.1 cm
Gift of Peggy MacKinnon, 2007
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2007.11

Scott Conarroe is well known for his social landscape photographs, which evoke romantic pictorial traditions while participating in contemporary photography’s critical discourse.

Lucie Chan
Something to Carry I (group of four drawings)

Something to Carry II (group of four drawings)

Lucie Chan
Untitled (part of Paperwork30 boxed set) 2004
ink on paper
28.8 x 21.5 cm
Purchased, 2004
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2004.7.1

Lynn Donoghue
William Kimber with Mme. Moitessier 1980
oil on canvas
213.3 x 152.4 cm
Purchased, 1984
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1984.1

Kelly Mark. Mended Stool 1995. Four-legged maple stool, pronged mending plates; 76.2 x 30.4 x 30.4 cm. MSVU Collection.

Kelly Mark studied at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design before moving to Toronto, where she currently lives and works. She has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally.

Nancy Edell
Art Nun Portrait I 1993
hooked wool, oil over acrylic on plywood panels with cut-out relief and painted decorative mouldings
Left and right panels each: 32 x 32 cm; centre panel: 32.5 x 32.5 cm
Purchased with partial financial support from the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program, 2000
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2000.8

Nancy Edell
Assyrian Visitation 1987
mixed media on paper
(Diptych) Overall: 62.8 x 81.8 cm; Each panel: 57 x 76.5 cm
Purchased, 1989
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1989.3.a 1989.3.b

Nancy Edell
Spiracle II 1998
hooked rag, linen, velvet
175 x 124 cm
Gift of the artist, 2001
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2001.3

Peter Dykhuis, Nov.2809:55z 1999
encaustic, enamel on 5 panels

Peter Walker
(b. 1945 London, England; lives in Bayswater, NS)
Untitled (canoe) 1990-93
flame-cut steel base, cedar canoe, white pine spar
274.3 x 487.7 x 121.9 cm
Gift of the artist, 1998
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1998.8

Peter Walker
(b. 1945 London, England; lives in Bayswater, NS)
Untitled (tri pod head) 1990-93
flame-cut welded steel base, white pine
426.7 x 137.2 x 45.7 cm
Gift of the artist, 1998
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1998.7

Elspeth Pratt, Petits-Chevaux 1992
plywood, corrugated cardboard, strapping

These “portraits” are made with pooling black ink washes. Due to the uncontrolled nature of this medium, the images are sometimes identifiable, and sometimes abstracted.

Untitled was first presented in 2000 at the MSVU Art Gallery in the exhibition Prospect 8: Rebecca Roberts Paintings, while the artist was an undergraduate student at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Roberts’ composite painting, based on colour photographs, comprises thirty-six panels of equal height and variable width butted together to form a continuous, eight-metre wide “strip.” The subject is a naked young woman.

Reed Weir
(b. 1956, Parry Sound, ON; Lives in Robinsons, NF)
Drawings in the Sand 2007
coil-built stoneware with slip, under-glaze and on-glaze enamels, wood base with pyrographic design
(Installed) 56 x 38 x 24 cm
Gift of the artist, 2008
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2008.4

Kelly Mark studied at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design before moving to Toronto, where she currently lives and works. She has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally.

Rhonda Weppler & Trevor Mahovsky
Shopping Cart 11 2007
aluminum foil
84 x 108 x 8 cm
Gift of the artists, 2007
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection

Ron Shuebrook completed these large, black and white paintings in 1976, while he was living in Canning, Nova Scotia, and teaching art history at Acadia University. Although his work builds on the formalist principles of American Late Modernism, Shuebrook is often inspired by specific places and events.

They look like typical snapshots, silly and carefree. Two friends mug for the camera. They smile. So why have these Polaroids been enlarged and mounted with photo corners as if in a room-sized family album? Why are the eyes masked off with tape, and what is the meaning of those heartfelt inscriptions scrawled right across the emulsion?

They look like typical snapshots, silly and carefree. Two friends mug for the camera. They smile. So why have these Polaroids been enlarged and mounted with photo corners as if in a room-sized family album? Why are the eyes masked off with tape, and what is the meaning of those heartfelt inscriptions scrawled right across the emulsion?

Sarain Stump
(b. 1945 Italy; d. 1974 New Mexico)
Untitled (Buffalo) 1974
felt tipped pen on paper
45.6 x 36.5 cm
Purchased, 1974
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1974.20.2

Kelly Mark. Sniff 1999 (video still). MSVU Collection.

Kelly Mark
Split Axes 1995
24 found wooden axe handles, wood glu, wood filler, varnish, mounted on metal clips

Steve Higgins
Maquette for Beyond the Terminating Vista (Rebuild) 2013
basswood and glue, composition board base and side panels, sheet acrylic cover
31.2 x 40.6 x 99.38 cm
Gift of the artist, 2014
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2014.02

Susan McEachern
Stories We Could Tell 1990-91
black and white photographs with text (from Creation of Desire)
105.4 x 78.7 cm
Purchased, 1991
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1991.1.1-1991.1.2

Susan Wood
(b. 1953 Saint John, NB; lives in Halifax, NS)
Dress No. 16 1991
paint, watercolour, dry pigment, charcoal an chine collé on paper
210 x 123 cm
Gift of the artist, 1994
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1994.5

Suzanne Swannie
(b. 1942, Copenhagen, Denmark; lives in Halifax, NS)
Brud I(Red Paper Study) 2003
pastel over watercolour paper collage
153 x 120 cm
Gift of the artist, and purchase, 2010
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2010.2

Suzanne Swannie
(b. 1942, Copenhagen, Denmark; lives in Halifax, NS)
Brud II (Green Paper Study) 2003
pastel over watercolour paper collage
153 x 120 cm
Gift of the artist, and purchase, 2010
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2010.3

Imaginary Landscapes Nos. 1-4 1980
Lurex, linen, silk, gold, 4.5 x 9.5 cm
Collection, Mount Saint Vincent University
Purchase, 1980

Carol Fraser, The Solipsist 1974
oil on linen

Tom Forrestall
Self Portrait, Sketch for The 68th 1973
pencil and watercolour on paper
35.5 x 49 cm
Purchased, 1973
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1974.1.7

Tom Forrestall
Self Portrait, Sketch for The 68th 1973
watercolour on paper
35.5 x 49 cm
Purchased, 1974
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1974.1.8

Tom Forrestall
The 68th 1973
egg tempera on masonite
30.8 x 30.8 cm
Purchased, 1974
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1974.1.4

Tom Forrestall
The 68th King’s County Regiment 1973
watercolour on paper
37 x 45.5 cm
Purchased, 1974
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1974.1.5

Tom Forrestall
The Victorian 1973
pencil on paper
35.5 x 49 cm
Purchased, 1974
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1974.1.6

Composed entirely of disparaging phrases, Marie Koehler’s lithograph rehearses women’s inexhaustible anxiety concerning their bodies. Yet there is pleasure, too.

Marilyn McAvoy, Tug of War 1991
oil on canvas

Judith Mann, Untitled 1980
ink and conté on paper

Carol Fraser, Various drawings 1962-82 (pictured: South of France c. 1970, 1974.2.4)