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Theresa Macknight

B.F.A. and B.Ed.
Visual Artist and Educator
Primary media: Encaustic and oil painting.
Contact information:
theresa.macknight@nbed.nb.ca
506-622-4412
Website: www.theresamacknight.com

Theresa Macknight, a native of Saint John N.B, studied Fine Art at Mount Allison University and Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in the 1980’s. She then completed her B.Ed at the University of New Brunswick and began her teaching career in Miramichi NB where she balances her work as an artist and high school Art teacher. Theresa is the founder and president of the Miramichi Art Core and she also works on the organization committee of NB Visual Art Educator’s Association, and publishes the monthly newsletter.

During her Fine Arts studies, Theresa concentrated on photography and drawing, but took a summer painting course at NSCAD which encouraged students to manufacture their own painting materials using oils, eggs and waxes. It was during these explorations that she first learned of the existence of the ancient medium of encaustic. She continued her experiments in the medium in her first rented studios in Saint John and Fredericton but, because of solvents used in her old recipe, gave it up in favor of other media when she moved her studio into her current home. About five years ago, she decided to dig out her beeswax, which she had saved, and develop an all-natural recipe which she has been using ever since.

“My work is always very personal. In the 90’s it used to be quite political, with feminist and environmental themes predominating, but I found I was painting like a writer. I was dissatisfied. Recently I have been allowing myself to paint what I am viscerally attracted to and let a language grow in a different way. I enjoy painting many different subjects but people who know my work, know that I am obsessed with birds and have been for some time. Just when I think I have put them to rest, they come back to my mind.

Colour is also one of my favorite things to think about. My attraction to colour combinations and interactions has intensified with time. Encaustic is a good fit for me because of the beautiful transparent- to- opaque colours which can be created from raw pigment and, because it cools so quickly on the surface, it denies me the control that drawing allows. It gives me something to push against.”