Exhibition & Events

Left: Thaddeus Holownia, "Guinea Fowl" (detail). Right: Karen Stentaford, "near Grindavik, emptied space" (detail).

of a feather
(in memory of Gay Hansen)
Thaddeus Holownia • Karen Stentaford
Feb. 6 – Mar. 29, 2025
Curated by Emily Falvey

This exhibition considers how close relationships with the natural world strengthen our bonds with each other. It is organized in memory of Gay Hansen (1954-2021), a gifted teacher, mentor, and ornithologist who taught at Mount Allison University for thirty-nine years. of a feather takes its title from a portfolio of photographs Thaddeus Holownia created after the death of Hansen, his life partner. These tender portraits of bird study skins—part of a collection she assembled—join a series of projects highlighting the couple’s creative partnership. They are presented alongside Karen Stentaford’s haunting landscape photographs, which she creates in patient collaboration with the environment, an approach that reflects Hansen’s influence on her work. 

This exhibition and all related programming and events are generously sponsored by the Frank McKenna Centre for Leadership and the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government.

Artist talks, featuring 
Thaddeus Holownia • Karen Stentaford
Mar. 17, 5 pm

Please consider yourselves warmly invited to artist talks, given by both Thaddeus Holownia and Karen Stentaford. Both will talk about their respective artistic practices, as well as works in the exhibition. Refreshments will be served.

Biographies

Thaddeus Holownia is a teacher, visual artist, letterpress printer, and publisher. Born in 1949 in Bury St. Edmunds, England, he emigrated to Canada in 1954. In 2018, he retired from a forty-one-year career as a Professor of Art at Mount Allison University, where he also served as Head of the Fine Arts Department. In 1998 and 2006, he was awarded the Paul Paré Medal of Excellence, the university’s award in recognition of excellence in teaching, scholarship, service, and creative achievement. He is a Fulbright Fellow and an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts.  He was named to the Order of New Brunswick in 2015. On March 5, 2025, the Canada Council for the Arts named Holownia the recipient of the Governor General's Award for Visual and Media Arts - Artistic Achievement Award. Holownia’s artwork has been the subject of numerous exhibitions, including Shutter (Nelson Museum Archives & Gallery, Nelson, BC); The Nature of Nature (Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, NS); 24 Tree Studies for Henry David Thoreau (Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, NY); and of a feather (Corkin Gallery, Toronto, ON).

Karen Stentaford is an artist and educator living in Sackville, New Brunswick, within Mi’kma’ki. She specializes in large-format photography and the wet plate collodion process. Working in a variety of photographic-based media, her work explores place, belonging, and memory influenced by the Newfoundland landscape of her childhood. Stentaford received a MA in Photography from the Edinburgh College of Art, a BFA from Mount Allison University, and a BEd, Visual Arts Specialist, from NSCAD University and Mount Saint Vincent University. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Pierre Lassonde School of Fine Arts, Mount Allison University.

Emily Falvey is a neurodivergent art critic, curator, and art historian from Nova Scotia. In 2009, the Canada Council for the Arts awarded her the Joan Yvonne Lowndes Award for excellence in critical and curatorial writing, and she received curatorial writing awards from the Ontario Association of Art Galleries in 2006 and 2012. She holds a PhD in Art History from the Université du Québec à Montréal, an MA in Art History from Concordia University, and a BA (honours) in Art History from Mount Allison University. A laureate of the Bourse Michel de la Chenelière (2017), her doctoral research received funding through the Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She is the current Director/Curator of the Owens Art Gallery, Mount Allison University, and formerly the Curator of Contemporary Art at the Ottawa Art Gallery (2004-2008) and the Managing Editor of RACAR (2017-2018).

HOURS
Feb. 6 - March 29, 2025

Wed. 2:30 – 6:30 pm
Thrs. 2:30 – 6:30 pm
Fri.  12:00 – 4:00 pm
Sat. 12:00 – 4:00 pm

Extended hours

Mon. Mar. 17, 4:30 - 7:00 pm

The StFX Art Gallery acknowledges the generous support of its funders, St. Francis Xavier University and the Department of Canadian Heritage.