Helen Mackie's Life With Nature
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D. Helen Mackie, “Leaves of a Year,” 1991
intaglio and stencil, A/P series of 12 calendar pages, collection of Nickle Galleries, Calgary, gift of D. Helen Mackie, photo by David Brown, LCR Photo Services
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D. Helen Mackie, “August: Brown Eyed Susans,” in “Leaves of a Year,” 1991
intaglio and stencil, A/P series of 12 calendar pages, collection of Nickle Galleries, Calgary, gift of D. Helen Mackie, photo by David Brown, LCR Photo Services
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D. Helen Mackie, “December: Spruce” in “Leaves of a Year,” 1991
intaglio and stencil, A/P series of 12 calendar pages, collection of Nickle Galleries, Calgary, gift of D. Helen Mackie, photo by David Brown, LCR Photo Services
Helen Mackie has always been interested in biology and nature – a fascination that she translated into myriad prints throughout her 40-year career as an artist. Her solo show, Pressed, at the Nickle Galleries at the University of Calgary until July 28, features carefully observed images of the ordinary things around her: Blossoms and berries, chickadees and hummingbirds, deer and horses, all culled from what curator Christine Sowiak calls “a life really well lived.”
Mackie came to the opening last month to view the show of 196 prints curated from a gift earlier this year of one print from every edition she has ever created – some 350 in all. Sowiak recalls Mackie, now frail and in her early 90s, saying over and over: “It’s all just the little things.” But amassed over 40 years, Mackie's little things add up to a rich collection of etchings and woodblock prints that Sowiak found deeply moving: “I’m surprised at the very personal emotional reaction I have to this whole project.”
Printmaking came later in life for Mackie, who was born in Tavistock, Ont., and earned a Master’s degree in physiology and biochemistry from the University of Toronto in 1949. She moved to Alberta with her husband, Jim, a lawyer, where they raised a family. Sowiak says Mackie embraced the Alberta lifestyle, spending time in nature, on skis and riding horses.
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D. Helen Mackie, “Leading Home,” 2002
woodblock and stencil, 1/28, 9” x 6” collection of Nickle Galleries, Calgary, gift of D. Helen Mackie, photo by David Brown, LCR Photo Services
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D. Helen Mackie, “Chickadees,” 1988
two-colour linocut, 1/20, 9” x 6” collection of Nickle Galleries, Calgary, gift of D. Helen Mackie, photo by David Brown, LCR Photo Services
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D. Helen Mackie, “By Woods I,” 2003
woodblock and stencil, 2/16, 8” x 5.5” collection of Nickle Galleries, Calgary, gift of D. Helen Mackie, photo by David Brown, LCR Photo Services
She gravitated to printmaking while studying with John Esler and Noboru Sawai at the University of Calgary, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in fine arts in 1973. “I have found that the traditional methods of drawing on a plate or cutting into a wood block are most to my liking,” Mackie says in her artist statement. “In these, the contact with idea, hand and image are very close. One begins each work, big or small, with a new observation or thought. To define it becomes a unique challenge. Each work is a process that defines the worker.”
The prints, like Mackie’s earlier donation to the Nickle of about 140 drawings by various Canadian artists, including Jack Shadbolt and Norval Morrisseau, were rescued from the 2013 Calgary flood. When water from the Elbow River started rising around Mackie’s home, family members came over to carry artwork up from the basement.
Sowiak notes the honesty of Mackie’s work, its intelligence and wit, but also the technical expertise she brought to the task. “There’s not one bad line in any of them,” she says.
Mackie has had numerous shows in Alberta and has participated in Canadian and international print exhibitions. She is represented by the Willock and Sax Gallery in Banff, which is planning a show of her prints and watercolours from Sept. 23 to Oct. 7.
Nickle Galleries
410 University Court NW, Taylor Family Digital Library, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4
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