About Christopher Mackay

Updated 2021-12-19.

Christopher Mackay

Christopher Mackay · December, 2021

After getting my bachelor of arts (Psychology, English, & Physics), I took a year of Fine Arts.

I learned a lot from Thaddeus Holownia, Tom Henderson, Dan Steeves, Rebecca Burke, Virgil Hammock, John Asimakos, and David Silverberg at Mount Allison University.

That foundation year provided an introduction to drawing, photography, printmaking, sculpture, art history, and theory. It was a year where making art was my job. The best learning happened — as it so often does— around the edges of the curriculum: the wry, winking, comments from Henderson; the understanding of the power of images from Holownia; context from Burke and Hammock.

I’ve always loved to draw (but I forgot)

Working as a digital content producer and graphic designer scratched my creative itch just enough; making art seemed less important. Despite being early to digital imaging — from HyperCard, an Apple QuickTake 100 (640 × 480 px photos!), and Photoshop (before it had layers) — my artwork resisted making the leap from paper to pixels.

Fast forward 20 years, past the heady, initial digital wave, to late 2014. I hadn’t picked up a pencil, pen, or brush in what seemed like forever when I came across a book called SKETCH! that showed me a way back into drawing.

But what does it mean?

I rarely have any theme or goal or message in mind. I give in to my whims, which I’ve learned not to question. It can be a shape, a colour, a memory, or an idea — it doesn’t matter to me.

For me, thinking is the opposite of doing and over-thinking is a trap. I’ll figure out what a piece means (if anything) after I’ve done it. Maybe it will only have meaning as part of a body of work. Maybe it won’t mean anything.

I’m happy to leave deciding what things mean to someone smarter.

Design and art

My work as a web designer for artists and the broader art community has been rewarding. I have designed, built, and hosted websites for

Follow along