Dawn MacNutt

Dawn MacNutt attended Mount Allison University and graduated in 1957 (BA). While doing her undergraduate degree in psychology she studied art as well. This need to make art stayed with her as she pursued her profession in social work and raised her family.  She found her balance from a demanding profession in the art of weaving.  Eventually weaving turned into an exploration of life sized human sculptures. Dawn had found her voice.

She was inducted into the RCA (Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts) in 2008 and was honored in 2014 with Doctorate of Laws by Mount Allison University and in 2005 with Doctorate of Humane Letters by Mount St. Vincent University. As well as her exhibition and commission work, she is a member of the International Sculpture Center, Nova Scotia Designer Craftsmen (Master Artisan), and Visual Arts Nova Scotia. She has served as a national director on Canadian Craft Council.  Dawn has led workshops and seminars in Canada and the U.S.A, and has served on local and national juries. Her career has been the subject of many published articles and reviews, and a filmed documentary.

Dawn MacNutt’s sculptural woven figures have been featured in solo and group exhibitions all over the world. A selected list would include: The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and Mount St. Vincent Art Gallery in Halifax, Longhouse, East Hampton, New York, Prime Gallery in Chicago, American Craft Museum in New York, Lausanne and Zurich Switzerland, Canadian Sculpture Gallery in Toronto, and Koblenz Germany as well as Worlds Fair in Japan, Pacific Rim and Australia. 

Her sculptural works are found in such collections as the Canadiana Fund in Ottawa, American Craft Museum and the Jack Lenor Larsen Collection in New York, Government of Canada in Ottawa, The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Art Bank. Dawn was the subject of a CBC documentary which aired in 1997. She has been invited a guest instructor to many schools and conferences in both Canada and the United States.