Arts BiographySince 1965, Bob MacKenzie has been a working professional artist in the multi-media areas of writing, photography, montage and collage, and live and recorded performance.Some of Bob's Achievements Widely published Canadian poet (more than 200 poems published); seven published books: Reflection (1966), Audio-Visuals (1973), The Little Song (1975), Ghost Shadow: Unfinished Sins (1999), To Whom it May Concern (2006), the collective work (with eight other artists) A Beautiful Day to Be Dead (2008), and Innocent (I wasn't there) (2008), as well as publication in numerous anthologies. Many poems reproduced by artists in other media (visual and tactile); only Canadian poet to have an art gallery devote an entire visual arts exhibition to his work; possibly only poet to have versions of his poetry owned by the Canada Council's National Art Bank. Has done readings and performances across Alberta and Ontario; band leader and performer (Poem de Terre) with more than fifty songs written and performed by the group. In Calgary, Windsor, Kingston and other Canadian cities, Bob has presented or hosted poetry reading series featuring performances by many local, national, and international artists. Two cassette tapes ("Pyramid" and "Windfall") released in 1994 and 1995, mixed-media music CD (Assume Nothing, including the novel Ghost Shadow) released 1999, double compact disc (Live at Newlands Pavilion, Part 1 and Part 2) released 2002, music CD (War & Love) released 2006. Photographer/photo-montagist with works shown in a number of gallery exhibitions. Has received awards for both prose fiction and script-writing and an Ontario Arts Council grant for literature (poetry). His novel (“A Gathering of Shadows”) has been accepted for publication by Eris Press. In both 1996 and 1997, Bob organized, managed, and performed in a summer series of free live music concerts at historic Newlands Pavilion in Kingston’s Macdonald Park, a total of 13 hours of music each summer. In 2001, Bob again organized, managed, and performed in this music series, now expanded to 26 hours of free live music featuring not just bands from Kingston but groups from as far away as Hamilton, Toronto, and North Carolina. Bob had full responsibility for all aspects of this series, including fundraising, marketing, hiring and payroll, and so on. |