Michael McEwing

Michael McEwing is an artist and art educator currently working in Carleton County, NB, Canada. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Mount Allison University and also holds Bachelor of Education (Secondary Arts – Fine Arts), Bachelor of Arts (Multimedia) and Master of Education degrees from the University of New Brunswick.

McEwing creates in a variety of art mediums, including oil and acrylic painting, printmaking and mixed media. He has exhibited in various solo and group shows across the province. His most recent project Conservation on Canvas consists of a large series of oil paintings depicting Nature Trust of New Brunswick preserves. This exhibition toured the province in 2017-18.

McEwing strives to promote the arts in his community and within the field of education. He has worked as a Visual Art teacher and Fine Arts Lead in Anglophone West School District and conducts art and art education-related workshops throughout the province. In 2008, he co-founded the River Valley Arts Alliance (RiVA), whose flagship event is the annual Dooryard Arts Festival in Woodstock.

Artist Statement

Nature, natural science, geography, cartography, and a childlike sense of wonder are recurring themes and elements in my work. The natural world always inspires and nourishes my intrinsic curiosity. Through hiking, climbing, canoeing, kayaking, or orienteering, I am most in my element when discovering and navigating new natural environments.

Painting landscapes is the most effective way for me to communicate experiences in nature, using colour and brushstrokes as my vocabulary. In painting these scenes, I hope to transport the viewer to these discoveries and instill in them a similar sense of awe and reverence for what I've encountered there.

My hope will always be for the work to continually grow and expand as do my thoughts and ideas over time.

On his 2020 exhibition, Wild and Domestic, with Anna Syperek:

Many of the latest paintings are the result of a 2019 artist-in-residency with BiotaNB—a biological inventory project run by the New Brunswick Museum that involves collecting data and samples from New Brunswick protected natural areas over a 20-year span. BiotaNB 2019 involved exploring natural areas around Kennedy Lakes in North-Central NB. Some of the works are also the result of exploring Shae Lake Nature Preserve near Plaster Rock. Each year, BiotaNB offers artists the opportunity to work alongside the scientists in the project to express their findings in artistic form.

- Michael McEwing, 2020