Marlene Creates facts for kids

Marlene Creates is a Canadian artist born in 1952 in Montreal, Quebec. She now lives and works in Portugal Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador. Marlene Creates is known for her unique art that explores how people connect with the land around them.

She often takes photographs of small signs and marks that humans leave in nature. Her art helps us think about our place in the world and how we affect the environment. Her work has been shown in more than 300 art shows all over the world.

Marlene Creates has received many important awards for her art. In 2001, she became a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. In 2013, she won the BMW Prize at the CONTACT Photography Festival. This award was for her exhibition called Marlene Creates: selected works from 30 years, 1982-2012. This show encouraged people to think about how we belong to the land. In 2019, she received the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts, which is a very high honor for artists in Canada. In 2021, she was given the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador, the highest award in that province. In 2024, she received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Memorial University.

Becoming an Artist

Marlene Creates studied art education at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. She attended from 1970 to 1974. During her studies, she traveled to Venice, Italy, in 1973 to learn about art and buildings. In 1975, she was chosen to represent Canada in an Architecture Study Program in France.

Her Artistic Journey

Marlene Creates has shown her art in many places. One of her early exhibits featured thirteen photographs of landscapes. These pictures showed places in Canada, England, Wales, and Ireland. She explained that even small changes we make to nature can be noticed. She said that nature is always changing and rearranging itself. As part of this exhibit, she also taught workshops to help people create their own landscape art.

More recently, Marlene Creates has focused her work on six acres of woods that she owns in Portugal Cove, Newfoundland. Here, she created the Boreal Forest Poetry Garden. This special garden hosts art events, poetry readings, and projects where artists work together. It also connects art with science.

A large art show of Marlene Creates' work, called Marlene Creates: Places Paths and Pauses, traveled across Canada from 2017 to 2019. This show was put together by Susan Gibson Garvey and Andrea Kunard. It was displayed at several art galleries, including the Beaverbrook Art Gallery and the Dalhousie University Art Gallery. A book was also published with pictures and information about the art in the exhibition.

Awards and Honors

Marlene Creates has received many awards for her artistic achievements:

• Queen's University Bursary for study in Venice, Italy (1973)
• Ontario Arts Council Grants
• Canada Council Grants
• Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts (2019)
• Order of Newfoundland and Labrador (2021)
• Honorary Doctor of Letters (D. Litt.), Memorial University (2024)