Hello!

Thank you for your interest in my work, and for visiting my website.

I am a scholar, artist, and teacher. I specialize in painting portraits. I work in a figurative although not entirely literal way. I am interested in space, colour, vitality and decay.

I am Professor of Visual Arts Pedagogy at Brock University, St. Catharines, Canada. I did my undergraduate degree at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town. I have an MA in art education from the University of Victoria, British Columbia, and a Ph.D. from the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at the University of British Columbia. My academic curriculum vitae can be viewed under “Scholarship”. I have returned to scholarship and to my arts practice after fifteen + years as a university administrator.

I teach graduate courses at Brock University, and I supervise masters and doctoral students.

Currently, I am a member of the Posthumanism Research Institute at Brock, and I serve as a Steering Committee member of the international Arts Education Research Institute. In 2020 I won the USSEA/InSEA International Ziegfeld Award for service to and impact on art education globally. In 2014 I received Honorary Life Membership in the Canadian Society for Education through Art (CSEA). In 2005 I won the Canadian Society for Education through Art Affiliate Award for Ontario. I served the International Society of Education through Art (INSEA) from 2010-2017 as a World Councillor. From 2015-2019 I served as Chief Examiner of Visual Arts for the International Baccalaureate Organization.

Earlier, when I lived in Thunder Bay and worked at Lakehead University (1992-2010), I was very active in community arts and heritage education projects. For example, as a member of Arts and Heritage Thunder Bay, and working with my dear friend and former Mayor, Dusty Miller, who was very supportive of the arts, I submitted a Trillium Foundation proposal in partnership with all local school boards and arts organizations, including Magnus Theatre, the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra and the Thunder Bay Regional Art Gallery. Trillium Award funding of $101,000 was utilized to create the Community Arts and Heritage Education Project (at www.cahep.ca) and CAHEP continues to operate successfully today. CAHEP has been funded by Ontario’s Ministry of Culture, Ontario, and the Ontario Arts Council.

If you wish to contact me about my scholarship, or, if you wish to inquire into commissions including portraits or still life paintings of precious objects reflecting your material culture, please email me fiona.blaikie@brocku.ca

Sincerely,

Fiona Blaikie