Janice Wright Cheney
Embroidery on printed fabric, Found frames
Portrait of a Lady Fern, 2018 - SOLD to CollectionArtNB for their 2022/23 acquisition. Embroidery, 24" x 18"
Polypores and Lichen on Drawers, 2017 - $400
Lessons in Nature, 2015
The presence of fungi on columns and drawers symbolizes forces of nature, and processes of regeneration and reclamation. The ‘rewilding' of architectural and domestic objects suggests the passage of time and the potential for life. In an era of ruin and despair, the fungi’s reclamation is ultimately hopeful.
Silkworm Moth, Gypsy Moth, Clothes Moth - Silk Embroidery on Toile, 11" x 31" x 3" - $4200
Coywolves - 2010
Research confirms that coyotes in New Brunswick have bred with wolves, which explains why they are considerably larger than their Western cousins. Some biologists suggest that we are witnessing the evolution of a new species, a successful hybrid of coyote and wolf, thus “coywolf”. What interests me is the concept that the wolf, supposedly long vanished from our region, has actually returned in the disguise of a coyote.
Using taxidermy forms, luxurious velvets and brocades, furs and jewels, I have created a version of this wolf-coyote, an animal that is an expert in matters of disguise, a consummate trickster.
Janice Wright Cheney’s textile-based sculptures and installations consider the fragility of our present state, examine the loss of wilderness, and imagine the ecological life in the future.
Wright-Cheney’s work is featured in the collections of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, the New Brunswick Museum, the Glenbow Museum, and Telus Canada at Telus Garden, Vancouver.
In 2012, her sculpture of a grizzly bear swathed in roses (Widow) appeared in Oh Canada. Her solo exhibition, Cellar, was presented at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery (2012), the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (2014), and at Southern Alberta Art Gallery in Lethbridge (2015). Her Spectre work was installed at the Anchorage Museum in Alaska in 2018, and most recently she participated in Bonavista Biennale (2021).
She is a recipient of the Strathbutler Award for Excellence in the Arts as well as the New Brunswick Lieutenant Governor's Award for High Achievement in Visual Arts. Also, she has been elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
Wright-Cheney graduated from Mount Allison University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and completed an M.Ed. in Critical Studies at UNB.
She lives and works on the unceded, ancestral Wolastoqey territory in Fredericton NB, where she teaches at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design.
“I live near a park that contains a living remnant of an old-growth forest. I walk with my dog in this park almost every day and I study the forest throughout the seasons.”
- Janice Wright-Cheney