Maria Ezcurra (MFA, PhD), is an artist, educator, researcher and mother born in Argentina, raised in Mexico, and currently living in Montreal, Canada. She has participated in numerous exhibits worldwide, including the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City, and the Nuit Blanche in Toronto. A recipient of many prestigious awards, including the Fulbright-Garcia Robles Scholarship and the FRQSC award, Maria is also a member of the National System of Art Creators in Mexico. She obtained a PhD at Concordia University with the first research-creation doctoral project presented in the Department of Art Education. Maria has worked as a teacher in a number of universities in Mexico and Canada over the past 15 years. She was one the first Artist-in-Residence at McGill’s Faculty of Education, where she is currently working as Art Facilitator at the McGill Art Hive Initiative and in the P. Lantz Artist-in-Residency Program. Her research interests include collaborative art practices, dress and textiles, gender-based violence, memory, identity and immigration.
Altar for the Day of the Dead (Ofrenda de Día de Muertos)
To honour the lives of the children who did not return
from Canada’s Indian residential schools
November 2nd, 2017, 2-4 pm
Entrance lobby of the Faculty of Education, 3700 McTavish Street – 1st Floor, McGill University
Tree of Life: A drawing on canvas made by outlining the silhouettes of every person who comes to the Art Hive (Education building – 1st Floor, 3700 McTavish). We have created a community out of a series of individualities.
This altar (ofrenda) intends to commemorate the lives of hundreds of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls in Canada. Our hope is to promote awareness on this issue, creating a space for dialogue and bringing the community of McGill together. Read more…
Art Hive: Starting in September 2015, the Faculty of Education began hosting McGill’s first Art Hive (http://arthives.org) facilitated by AiR Maria Ezcurra on Wednesdays, from 10 am to 4 pm. Art materials and creative guidance were available to everyone who joined in to make art. It quickly became a space for getting together and create community through the arts. It was visited by 5 to 10 people per day, achieving a total of 250 visits in 9 months, including students, faculty, staff, and some external visitors.
Objectively Subjective: This participatory project represents the research and teaching practices of various DISE Faculty members. Related to visual and material culture, the series of images considers how objects influence our personal understanding of the world and shape our academic identities.
Creative Collaborations with DISE’s Faculty members and classes: Artist in Residence Maria Ezcurra worked with several professors of undergraduate and graduate classes to incorporate various art activities into their courses.
A Space for Art: On Wednesday, November 4th we hosted a 5 à 7 event in the AiR working space to present:
The AiR initiative
The official launch of the Art Hive
Children’s books made by B.Ed. students to be housed in the AiR working space
Students’ music (composed for one of the books and played live)
The Objectively Subjective project
P. Lantz Fellows were invited to transform some common areas in the Education building, based on what they thought/felt the spaces needed.
Boards and Vitrines: to exhibit students’ artwork in the building.
Workshops: Professors, staff and students were invited to lead some workshops at the Art Hive.
Loose Parts: Workshop for the kindergarten classroom
Working with Sheryl Smith-Gilman’s students, we created an emblematic garden at one of the building’s entrance walls. We used recycled and natural materials to develop together material and visual representations of (personal) understandings and knowledge.
Changes in the Education building
Faculty of Education, McGill University
2015 – 2016
Project for the Mentorship Program for the Mentees from the Kahnawake Survival School
In collaboration with the Social Equity and Diversity Education (SEDE), McGill.
For more information about Maria’s other artwork, see Meet Maria Ezcurra, Artist in Residence or visit her website: http://www.mariaezcurra.com/.
P. Lantz Initiative for Excellence in Education & the Arts 