Marks & Recreation: Works from the MSVU Permanent Collection

Selected from the MSVU Permanent Collection, the works in this exhibition consider our relationship with nature and how repetitive acts of human interaction can transform the purpose and history of a place or an object, shaping its significance and meaning over time. Featuring works by Renate Deppe, Gathie Falk, Carol Fraser, and Kelly Mark.

Featured image: Beautiful British Columbia Thermal Blanket – Huyen 1980, Gathie Falk. Oil on canvas quilted and stuffed with fibreglass insulation. Collection, MSVU Art Gallery.

Opening Reception

Friday, June 21 at 6:00-8:00pm

Celebrate the opening of Marks and Recreation: Works from the MSVU Permanent Collection on Friday, June 21st at 6:00 pm. All are welcome! MSVU Art Gallery is dedicated to making our events accessible to all. Information about access, location, and interpretive services can be found in the About section of our website. Please feel free to reach out to art.gallery@msvu.ca with any access requests, service needs, or inquiries.

About the exhibition:

As we wander through public parks and rural landscapes, we are reminded of our ever-changing relationship with the natural world. Repetitive acts of human interaction can transform the purpose and history of a place or object, shaping its significance and meaning over time.

Through these selected works from the MSVU Permanent Art Collection, we invite you to contemplate the ways in which humans have shaped – and been shaped by – nature. From the carefully manicured paths of public parks to the untamed beauty of rural landscapes, each location tells a story of human influence and interaction. Through photographs of the Halifax Public Gardens, depictions of public and private spaces and mass-produced objects, we explore how repetitive acts have left their mark on the environment and how the environment, in turn, has left its mark on us.