Myfanwy Macleod

Myfanwy MacLeod (born 1961) is a Canadian artist who lives, and works, in Vancouver, British Columbia.

She has exhibited work in Canada, the United States of America, and Europe.

The Tiny Kingdom is a full-size scale of an outhouse, inspired by the one used in the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang(1968).

Since the 1990s, MacLeod has become known for creating art that extends across, and links together, high culture with mass entertainment.

In recent work, MacLeod directs focus towards how popular culture has portrayed masculinity through the lens of modernist art history.

Artistic mediums that MacLeod works in are sculpture, drawing, painting, and photography, performance video, and sound installation.

MacLeod attended Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1990.

In 1994, MacLeod completed an independent study at École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France.

MacLeod received an award from La Fondation André Piolat (1995), and a VIVA award from the Doris and Jack Shadbolt Foundation (1999).

She has work in public, and private collections, including at the National Art Gallery of Canada, and the Vancouver Art Gallery.

MacLeod grew up between Oakville, Ontario, and London, Ontario.

Upon completing high school, she traveled throughout Europe.

Coming back to Canada, MacLeod attended Concordia University, in Montreal, Quebec, where she studied film before changing her major to visual arts.

MacLeod uses humor, satire, allusions to pop culture, and often references various folklore traditions in her work.

She takes interest in how an image or object can be transformed to change its meaning.

MacLeod completed her Master of Fine Arts at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1995.

MacLeod has taught in Vancouver, at the University of British Columbia in 1995, Emily Carr University of Art and Design from 2001 to 2006, as well as teaching as an assistant professor at the University of Western Ontario, in London, Ontario, from 2007 to 2008.

MacLeod was part of Bounce, an exhibition showcasing three Vancouver-based emerging artists, held at the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto, Ontario.

Curated by Philip Monk, Bounce included works by Myfanwy MacLeod, Brian Jungen, and Damian Moppett.

Bounce was an exhibition primarily based on sculpture, and included sketches and drawings.

Works by MacLeod include four silkscreen prints titled How To Make a Man Fall in Love With You (2000), a wood sculpture called One Week (2000), twelve ink drawings on vellum paper based on film stills (2000), and The Greeter (2000), a video projection where MacLeod poses as a greeter that can be found in big box department stores.

The Tiny Kingdom (2000) is a wood and mixed media based sculpture, measuring fourteen feet high, four feet long, and four feet wide.

Works by MacLeod included in Bounce were: The Tiny Kingdom (2001), Wood For The People, (2002), and A Shady Place (2002).

Placed with one another, these works reference to the ‘hillbilly’ portrayed through pop culture.

It was first shown in 2001 at the Or Gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Tiny Kingdom is “intended to function as a place of reflection and solitude”, and “foregrounds the anxious relations between art and society, country and city, colony and imperialist nation”.

MacLeod alludes to the idea of Marcel Dumchamp's 'Ready Made,' and combines it with references to pop culture, and folklore.

The Tiny Kingdom is now in the permanent collection at the National Art Gallery of Canada.

Hammertown was a touring exhibition curated by Reid Shier and co-presented by the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland (2002), Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver (2002), and the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Manitoba (2004).

MacLeod's work was presented alongside Geoffrey Farmer, Brian Jungen, Euan Macdonald, Luane Martineau, Damian Moppett, Shannon Oksanen, and Kevin Schmidt.

MacLeod's use of enormous scale, weight, and minimalism is conveyed through the inclusion of Our Mutual Friend (2002), a wooden carved sculpture that measures nineteen inches long, and has a circumference of ten inches.

Our Mutual Friend refers to a Charles Dicken's novel, and is a visual example of MacLeod's interest with satire, and disembodied parts.

In the spring of 2005, MacLeod was part of the three-month-long Glenfiddich Distilleries artist-in-residence program.

During the residency, MacLeod documented her experience through photography, sculpture, and drawing.

She recorded specific aspects of the area surrounding the distilleries, and notably- the deterioration of buildings on the land that Glenfiddich Distilleries inhabits.

MacLeod was the first Canadian artist to be invited to this residency, and was one of seven international artists attending the residency.

The collection of work created through the Glenfiddich Distilleries artist in residence program was shown at the Contemporary Art Gallery in 2006, in an exhibition titled Where I Have Lived and What I Have Lived For.

MacLeod's exhibition, A Brief Overview of Personology, was created for the Charles H. Scott Gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia, and was curated by Cate Rimmer A Brief Overview of Personology contained several works by MacLeod that were under the themes surrounding the use of self-help books, consumerism, and comedy, creating a dynamic setting of satire.

MacLeod pulls inspiration from Tracy Cabot's How To Make a Man Fall in Love With You, a self-help book and appropriates illustrations from the book, putting them into the realm of fine art for public viewing.

MacLeod has also written works, including published essays, and an artist book titled “Whole Lotta Love” (2012).