| ARTIST BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Melanie Aikenhead is a visual artist from Calgary, Alberta. In 2003, she received a BFA with Distinction in studio art from the University of Calgary. She has been an active member of the Untitled Art Society and served as its president in 2012. Her paintings are exhibited around southern Alberta, and her animation work, in particular through her contribution to the group collaboration C’est La Vie: The Chris J. Melnychuk Story, has been screened at animation and film festivals in both Canada and Japan.
Aikenhead has a strong focus on urban environments where she seeks out the evidence of aging and change in neighbourhoods in transition. Her cityscapes often depict how industry, people and built environments relate to one another and gradually change over time. She describes her practice as a study of place and time and an examination of resistance and resignation. Aikenhead finds her subject matter in her own Calgary neighbourhood, urban environments undergoing planned or gradual renewal, and in her travel to cities in other parts of the world.
Compiled 2014 |