01 / The Artist
Allan Harding
MacKay
Artist, curator and arts administrator. A practice spanning portraiture, landscape, public art, war art and satire since 1970.
His positions in visual art organizations have included CEO and senior management roles in administrative, curatorial, project management and consultation work throughout Canada from 1970 to the present.
He has exhibited widely, nationally and internationally, and has served as a visiting artist, resident artist and lecturer at Canadian universities, art colleges, public galleries and national conferences.
02 / The Portfolio
Works in focus
03 / Explore the Archive
Satire . Current Dispatches and archives
Alter view . Artist videos
Public Art and Project Documentation
Projects with artists, writers and theatre
Somalia 1993 . Afghanistan 2002
Catalogues , Essays , Invitations and reviews
Exhibitions , Awards and collections
Film and documentation
Somalia Yellow . One Yellow Rabbit
04 / Art in Public space
Public Commissions
The Veterans Memorial, chosen from a nationwide competition and unveiled September 17, 2006; is a 30 metre long granite wall, machine and hand engraved with 45 scenes from Canada’s war history from Confederation to the present day.
The Activa Sportsplex art concept is based on literal and abstract representations of the various athletic activities that are hosted by the venue. (Hockey, skating, lacrosse, track activities, boxing)
The Speaker’s Corner: This public art concept touches on the relocation of memory of the site presently identified as Speakers Corner. Through incorporating literal and abstract images based on source pictures of the current site, an interactive experience is provided for the viewer. The sculpture is a combination of abstracted colored porcelain tiles (anamorphosis) reflected and transformed by a cylindrical stainless steel mirror into a recognizable image of the site before the modernization process.
The Pape Subway art concept is based on images of existing interior architectural features of the subway and exterior neighbourhood images. The images are graphically transformed and applied in various materials i.e.: fused digital images with tempered and mirror glass, ceramic tile and etched granite and glass.
The interior art includes an extended series of 2 ‘x 4 ‘fused digital images on mirror glass, etched glass and ceramic tile. The exterior of the building will feature a 2’x 20’ etched granite frieze.
05 / A life in art
Allan Harding MacKay
Exhibitions, projects and appointments drawn from Allan Harding MacKay’s curriculum vitae.
AHM potrait by Alex Meyboom
06 / In context
From studio to Public Collections
MacKay’s work is held by the Canada Council Art Bank, National Gallery of Canada, Canadian War Museum, Confederation Centre Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Art Gallery of Alberta, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Glenbow Museum and Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland, among others.
Born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in 1944, he studied Fine Art and Art Education at the Nova Scotia College of Art. He lives and works in Halifax.