Michael Massie
From My Mind


February 7 – March 1, 2025


THE CONVERSATION, 2024, Oil paint & coloured pencil on canvas, 36 x 36 in.

Michael Massie (1962–) is an acclaimed multidisciplinary artist best known for his intricately crafted silver teapots and sculptural works. His creations often blend sharp wit with personal reflections, drawing inspiration from his Inuit, Métis, and Scottish heritage. His latest body of work marks a continuation of his refined practice. Shifting his focus from three-dimensional forms to the two-dimensional realm, Massie rekindles his connection to drawing as the beginnings of his artistic practice. This new exploration offers a rare glimpse into the artist’s hand and process, featuring self-portraits, teacup ring stains imprinted on sketch paper, and abstracted visual depictions of memories and intimate stories on canvas. This is the first time Massie has depicted himself in his narrative works, masterfully capturing the feeling of feverishly creating in his workshop into the early morning.

Massie’s background in sculpture is a recurring influence in his paintings, drawings, and print works. Several of his two-dimensional creations serve a dual purpose: functioning both as conceptual blueprints for potential sculptures and as standalone works of fine art. No matter the medium, Massie continues to contemplate sculpture—imagining what could emerge if he had the perfect piece of stone plucked straight from his imagination. The square body of a canvas is in stark contrast to his sculptural approach, which draws on choosing irregular, nonuniform shaped stones. His painting The Conversation (2024) depicts an Inuit legend in a dimensional form that could have been realized as a sculpture. By grounding it in black, Massie aims to evoke the backdrop of a photograph, often found in the documentation of his sculptures. Photography resurfaces in his piece The Oncoming White-Out (2024), envisioned as a frame from an old slide film. It captures a distinct childhood memory of many seasons spent at his grandparents with his family in Labrador. Slide film remains Massie’s preferred method of documenting his work. Though considered an older technique, he values it as the best way to preserve and revisit the past.

In November 2024, Michael Massie and Patricia Feheley visited the St. Michael’s Print Shop in St. John’s, Newfoundland, to embark on the creation of Massie’s first print work, At Home With Kenojuak (2024). This edition was crafted using collagraphy, an experimental printmaking technique known for its ability to produce unique variations in texture, colour blending, and intricate details on each print. The meticulous process involved 12 different ink sets to achieve the vibrant and richly layered palette. The outcome is a limited edition of 12 original collagraph prints by Massie, celebrating Mokami, an iconic mountain in Labrador, and honouring the profound influence of Kenojuak Ashevak on his work. Through tireless experimentation, Massie pays homage to his past, drawing inspiration from his days as a fine art student and the sentimental memories of his family and home.  It is the seamless blend of intellect and emotion, of head and heart, that gives life to Massie’s exceptional works.

Massie’s work has been exhibited across Europe and Canada and is part of many prominent permanent collections including the Royal Ontario Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada, the Smithsonian, the Heard Museum, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. In 2011, Massie was elected as a member of the Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, and a member of the Order of Canada in 2017. In 2024, Massie was awarded with an honorary doctorate in design at OCADU.

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