M.J. Edwards is a multi-disciplinary artist with degrees in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts from NSCAD University, English Literature from Mount Allison University and Education from UNB Fredericton.
Born and raised in Kingston, Ontario, M.J. spent her childhood summers on Grand Manan Island, NB, where she has lived full-time since 2007 in a house designed and built by her husband, poet Wayne Clifford. Living in the woods overlooking Whale Cove, M.J. finds the daily reality of being surrounded by the natural world, with its processes of growth and decay and ever-shifting landscapes where land meets sea, strongly influences her art, while her work as a museum director and curator and her background in literature make her mindful of the passage of time and the processes of narrative construction. Her mixed media work often incorporates scraps of old documents, photographs, steel engraving transfers, pressed flowers and other flotsam and jetsam, ephemera and detritus, of daily walks, as she creates imaginary landscapes and new narratives.
Before moving east, while working in administration in the Department of Psychology Department at Queen’s University, M.J. was actively involved with the Canadian Association of Photographic Arts (CAPA), where she won many awards for her photography and judged competitions at the club and national levels. She has exhibited her work at galleries, libraries and museums in Kingston, ON, Halifax, NS, and in Saint John, Hampton, St. Andrews, Fredericton and Grand Manan, NB.
