Janice Wright Cheney (born 1961) is a Canadian visual artist based in

Fredericton Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River (Bay of Fundy), Saint John River, ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

Career

Born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec, Wright Cheney studied visual arts at

Mount Allison University Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839. Mount Allison was the first university in the British Empire to award a baccal ...

(1983) and Critical Studies in Education at the

University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English language, English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universiti ...

(2003). She teaches at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. Her

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

art considers "themes pertaining to natural history and domestic labour". For example, one of her exhibits, ''Cellar'' at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton and the

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) is a public provincial museums of Canada, provincial art museum based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The art museum's primary building complex is located in downtown Halifax and takes up ...

in Halifax, featured "hundreds of rats created from recycled vintage fur coats". ''Trespass'', featured at the

New Brunswick Museum The New Brunswick Museum, located in Saint John, New Brunswick, is Canada's oldest continuing museum. The New Brunswick Museum was incorporated as the "Provincial Museum" in 1929 and received its current name in 1930, but its history goes back muc ...

, comprised individual animals and insects such as coyotes, fleas, and a

giant squid The giant squid (''Architeuthis dux'') is a species of deep-ocean dwelling squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, ...

, all incorporated into other exhibits throughout the museum. ''Disorderly Creatures'' at Rodman Hall Art Centre in

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the most populous city in Canada's Niagara Region, the eighth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2021, St. Catharines has an area of and 136,803 residents. It lies in Southern Ontario, south of Toronto ac ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

"transfigured insects from signs of shabby housekeeping into objects of beauty and power" by embroidering insects onto linens. Wright Cheney was one of the artists included in the 2012 "Oh, Canada" exhibit of contemporary Canadian art at the

Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) is a museum in a converted Arnold Print Works factory building complex located in North Adams, Massachusetts. It is one of the largest centers for contemporary visual art and performing ...

: her contribution was a "giant, rose-encrusted grizzly bear". Wright Cheney won the Strathbutler Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2004 and was elected to the

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Victoria of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria on 16 ...

in 2010. She received the 2013 Lieutenant-Governor's Award for High Achievement in Visual Arts. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the New Brunswick Museum, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, and the Canadian government's

Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Global Affairs Canada (GAC; ; AMC)''Global Affairs Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (). is the department of the Government of Canada that ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright Cheney, Janice Living people Mount Allison University alumni University of New Brunswick alumni Artists from Montreal Anglophone Quebec people Canadian textile artists 1961 births Artists from New Brunswick People from Fredericton Canadian art educators Canadian women educators Canadian women textile artists Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts