CV

Dawn Matheson

52 Division St., Guelph, ON., CAN., N1h 1r2, mathesondawn@gmail.com / thiswasnow.com / howtodrawatree.ca

Lead Artist, Producer

  • 2021-2024: Lead Artist for site-specific Sound Walks, Canada Council/OAC funded project, “How to Draw A Tree,” co-creating with trees and students with mental illness, Community Partner: University of Guelph Arboretum and The Wellness Centre. howtodrawatree.ca
  • 2021-Current: Multimedia Producer and Story Consultant, KDE Hub/National Mental Health Promotion for Children and Youth: University of Waterloo www.kdehub.ca
  • 2022-2023: Sound Artist for “Touching Sound,” a sensory-led nature walk and workshop that was available for individuals with sight loss, and was in collaboration with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and social practice artist, Dawn Matheson. 
  • 2022-Current: Podcast Editor, “Healthy Habits, Happy Homes,” for University of Guelph, Family Relations and Nutrition Department.
  • 2022- Artist-in-Incubation for Femme Fest, Waterloo 2022: Presenting “Make-Do Inclusive Studio Tours” 
  • 2021, 2022- Sound/Narration Artist “The Returned” for Portal Dance Company OAC live performance and video 
  • 2021-2022 Multimedia Storyteller: Guelph Museums and Centre{3} Hamilton: Mind The Gap: Intergenerational Connectivity between Seniors and Youth” … connecting lower-income seniors with youth living in poverty for an interdisciplinary project.
  • 2020-2022 Advising Podcast Producer and Editor for  “Shinecast– a podcast sharing student’s stories of mental health” at University of Guelph’s Wellness Centre. 
  • 2021- “Inose/Field Trip” Indigenous Audio Walk sound artist, GIER (University of Guelph Re-Imagining Climates) Harbourfront Festival 
  • Sept 2021 LUMENS light- City of Waterloo, “Dreaming At Land’s End,” video installation in Downtown Waterloo Barn
  • 2019- Artistic Director “Transformed: Literary Objects of Change,” Live Performance by Adult Literacy Learners, FOR THE LOVE OF WORDS: Guelph Youth Music Centre, Guelph
  • 2018- Video Artist in Residence “Dreaming At Land’s End/Rever Au Bout Du Monde” at The International Institute of Improvisation Summit at GASPE, Quebec. Produced 6 experimental video and sound projects composed of participating improvisers dreams and live musical soundscapes.
  • 2018- “[i carry your heart with me (i carry it in],” Featured Artist: Video installation, CAFKA: Kitchener City Hall and Princess Cinemas
  • 2018 ‘If These Walls Could Speak’ outdoor video projection, Guelph Museums Group Show: After Dark
  • 2017 “A Sense of Wonder films,” Video Artist for 3 films screened at Toronto International Deaf Film and Art Festival at HOT DOCS cinemas, Group Show
  • 2017 “A Sense of Wonder,” Solo Exhibit: Art Gallery of Guelph, collaborating with Deaf and youth with hearing loss for a province-wide project exploring innovative approaches to diverse and inclusive community engagement
  • 2017-2018 Ontario Arts Council Artist in Education for media arts projects in two high school classes at E.C. Drury School for the Deaf
  • 2017- Director for “Transported: Objects of Meaning and the Immigrant Experience” : 6 films for Guelph Film Festival installed with accompanying artifacts at Guelph Museums
  • 2017- Video Producer “STORIES of IMPACT” video presentation for Improvisation, Community and Social Practice and Research office, University of Guelph
  • 2017- Podcast Producer for “2-way” radio program bridging seniors and children, CFRU, Wellington Hall Academy and Riverside Glen, Guelph
  • 2016- Video Producer “Music Moves” children video profiles for Orff Music Education
  • 2016 “All Together Now” video screening, Featured Artist for Milton Arts Centre  Culture Days, collaborating with students from EC Drury School for the Deaf
  • 2016 “This is Me in China” video screening for Suzuki Institute America, Guelph and Boston screenings, Solo Screenings
  • 2015 Summer CBC Radio launch program  “Who Is Allen?” documentary radio feature on CBC Radio “Doc Project”
  • 2015 “Ghost: IMICO,” experimental video on former foundry workers, Screened at Guelph Film Festival group show
  • 2014 “This is IICSI”: Launch Video for University of Guelph’s International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation, University of Guelph School of Theatre
  • 2011 “Community Slumber Party” and 1mile2 Interventions “So Much Depends Upon” film screening collaboration and intervention: Via Train Station, Guelph
  • 2011 “Stare”: live performance and video installation. Guelph Nuit Blanche and Jazz Festival” featured human hosts in silent staring sessions, Store Front, Guelph.
  • 2011-2013 “Six with Jane”: Guelph’s first Improvisator in Residence–  6 films screening with Jane Bunnett and marginalized community groups . Screened at Van Gogh’s Ear, Guelph and Peter Clark Hall, UG
  • 2010 “Singing in the Shower”; Toronto Nuit Blanche audio installation /Gladstone Hotel balcony; selected for ‘Best Of’ Nuit Blanche by the National Post
  • 2009 “Coming Clean”: Audio installation of confessions broadcast in a men’s bathhouse for group show, Eye Level Gallery, Halifax
  • 2009 “Project: Snowman” community intervention; director of a team of guerilla snowmen builders creating snowmen anonymously and covertly by night, performance and installation piece, Guelph
  • 2007 “Confession Alley”: Edifying Edifices Commissioned audio installation work for Ed Video Media Arts Centre; selections broadcast on CBC Radio
  • 2006-2007- Stratford Festival Video Artist in Residence: “WIP: Work in Progress”—a behind-the-scenes series profiling Stratford artists.
  • 2006 “Tongues In Trees”; feature artist: Collaborative project working with 8 adult literacy learners to perform Shakespeare monologues akin to their life experience, Art Gallery of Guelph, Group Show
  • 2006 “Banking Day” Video – Hamilton Artist’s Inc. Group show and Ed Video Media Arts group show
  • 2003-2005- Guelph International Film Festival Director and Programmer: community documentary film festival
  • 2002/2003 “If These Walls Could Speak”  Group Show featuring Guelph Artists at Art Gallery of Guelph and at Guelph Jazz Festival, Outdoor video projection
  • 2002- City of Guelph’s 175th Video Retrospective Producer and Editor
  • 2000- Editor for Guelph History Book: “Guelph: Perspectives on a Century of Change” here
  • 2000- Videographer and Production Team: “GSHIP: Guelph Social History Project”
  • 1999 “All Over the Map”- a Guelph/Rockwood community video performance project, The Bookshelf Cinema 

Arts Consultant/Arts Research

  • 2022- InterArts Matrix “HyperLocal” Program Mentor for 12 artists engaging with local community. 
  • 2022 Multimedia Storytelling consultant for national mental health outreach program (KDE, University of Waterloo)
  • 2019 Deaf Arts Collaborating Consultant to Ed Video’s Canada Council grant producing inhouse Deaf instructional videos.
  • 2018 Curator for Action Read Diversity Arts, 6 workshops featuring artists working in diversity. Funded by The Community Foundation
  • 2017 paid Artist Mentor for Guelph Arts Council to new graduate of the University of Guelph Fine Arts program
  • 2017- 2018 Lead Researcher, “OPEN ACCESS ED VIDEO MEDIA ARTS CENTRE.” OAC Researching and developing an organizational plan for Deaf artists.
  • 2015- 2016 Digital Storytelling- Grade 7 Instructor: Wellington Academy, Guelph
  • 2012-2014 University of Guelph Research Project Manager and Digital Storytelling Producer, Project ReVision: dedicated to exploring ways that marginalized and misrepresented communities can use the arts to advance social inclusion and justice by challenging stereotypes.
  • 2013 Curator, digital storytelling programme “Project ReVision” at Silence, Guelph.
  • 2013 Curator: International Day of the Girl. Curated diverse programme and presented panel of artists featuring “Project ReVision” digital storytelling at the University of Guelph (Peter Clark Hall)
  • 2013: Accessibility Conference Video Curator for “Project ReVision, UG
  • 2007, 2008 Guelph Film Festival Guest Online Video Curator “Remediation of Literature in Internet Video”; “Social Justice and Citizen Journalism in Internet Video” Bookshelf Cinema, Guelph
  • 2000 Managing Editor: Guelph: Perspective on a Century of Change, Collaborative Community Book Project

Artist Talks

  • 2022 InterArts Matrix— “How to collaborate with community,” for Kitchener artist collaboration project. 
  • 2022 How to Draw A Forest- Canada Council project, Arboretum University of Guelph  
  • 2022 Artist Incubation, Femme Fest, KW
  • 2021 How to Draw A Tree- Canada Council project, Arboretum, University of Guelph 
  • 2020 “Falling In Love, The Art of Social Practice,” InterArts Matrix Feature Lecture, Kitchener. 
  • 2020  Emcee for Downtown Board of Management Saturday showcases (8 events)
  • 2018 “Dawn Matheson: Social Practice Art,” featured speaker for Thinking Spaces, International Institute for Improvisation and Social Practice: University of Guelph
  • 2018 Action Read Diversity Arts presenter. Funded by The Community Foundation
  • 2017 “Belonging: the work of Artist Dawn Matheson” Featured Speaker on Arts and Social Practice at Amplify! Kitchener Waterloo Culture and Arts Summit 
  • 2017 “A Sense of Wonder,” SummerWorks Arts Festival Presenter: One of Five Artists selected to showcase new projects
  • 2017 “The audio interview as Heart of the Story: An Intro to Podcasting” Ed Video workshop instructor.
  • 2012-2014 Resilience Festival video presenter “Storytelling and Cultural Narratives” (2014)
  • 2010 “Participatory Community Arts,” moderator: Ed Video Media Arts panel

Grants and Awards

  • 2023 SoundWalk September International Runner Up for “Semi-Colon” soundwalk
  • 2022 Canada Council Production Grant: How To Draw a Forest – sound walks at the Arboretum with Students living with mental illness
  • 2022 South Asian Visual Arts Centre Ishtar’s Network of Feral Gardens grant recipient
  • 2022 OAC Presenter Grant partnered with video artist Richele Forsey for a visual adaptation of soundwalk How To Draw A Tree
  • 2022 OAC Video artist production grant
  • 2021 Musagetes Community Fund for How To Draw A Tree Soundwalk
  • 2020 Canada Council for the Arts, Explore and Create for How To Draw a Tree collaboration and research, Arboretum University of Guelph
  • 2019 Ed Video Media Arts Honourary Lifetime Member
  • 2018 Musagetes Fund for Video Artist in Residence in Gaspe
  • 2017-2018 Ontario Arts Council Artist in Education grant
  • 2016 Art Gallery of Guelph Commission for A Sense of Wonder
  • 2016 Ontario Theatre Reserve Fund through Mammalian Diving Reflex
  • 2015 CBC Radio Doc Project Mentorship Awardee
  • 2014 Guelph Woman of Distinction Nominee, Arts and Culture
  • 2011 Musagetes 1mile2 Featured Artist Grant
  • 2009 Ontario Arts Council Media Arts Grant

Arts Jury

  • 2020 OAC Artists in Communities and Schools Projects program
  • 2018 OAC National and International Residency Projects program
  • 2012-2018 Western Magazine Awards Feature Jury