Regina artist highlights gardens in North Central neighbourhood through residency

A local artist who was named the Neil Balkwill Artist in Residence is highlighting the stories of gardeners in Regina’s North Central neighbourhood.

Madeleine Greenway currently lives in her childhood home in North Central, after having left Regina to complete her bachelor of fine arts in Alberta. She later completed her master's degree in Fine Art from the University of Regina.

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She said she had already been making artwork about her own family’s gardens and expanded that for her project proposal to the City of Regina.

“All my work has kind of been about the people in my family who have a garden,” she said.

“Part of that is also drawing the things that I grow. For the project that I proposed to the city, I wanted to kind of extend that to some of the other folks in the neighbourhood.”

The City of Regina issued an open call for artists in May, then a panel made their selection based on project merit, community engagement and impact, and how well the proposal aligns with the city’s cultural plan.

Greenway’s project during her residency centres on portraits of growers in their spaces, as well as still life drawings and prints of the food they grow.

“Even just on my block where I live, there’s at least four other vegetable gardens that I know of,” she said.

Madeleine Greenway is exploring stories and experiences of gardeners in Regina's North Central neighbourhood for her residency at the Neil Balkwill Centre. (Photo courtesy of Madeleine Greenway)

The artist said she knows this is not usually what people think of when they think of North Central, and wants people to see a different view of the neighbourhood.

“I really wanted a chance to kind of focus on that really wonderful aspect of North Central and part of its character [of] the neighborhood that people don't end up talking about,” she said.

“I'm really hoping that for those folks who don't live in the neighborhood, and have these ideas of what it must be like to live here that it'll provide some counterbalance to that. I'm also hoping to just make people think about how we think about food and how we think about food in the core neighborhoods as well.”

Madeleine Greenway is exploring stories and experiences of gardeners in Regina's North Central neighbourhood for her residency at the Neil Balkwill Centre. (Photo courtesy of Madeleine Greenway)

Greenway will complete her residency by October of this year. She will then be able to submit her completed work to be added to the city’s Civic Art Collection.

Following the residency, Greenway will get back to work at the Mackenzie Art Gallery and The Art Gallery of Regina. She also currently has an exhibition called Propagation, which is on tour with the Organization of Saskatchewan Arts and Culture.