Leaders in the Field
The History and Legacy of Art at Mount Allison
Leaders in the Field: The History and Legacy of Art at Mount Allison showcases the vitality and significant contributions of Mount Allison University’s Fine Arts department to Canadian visual art and culture. Founded in the mid-19th century, it was the first fine arts department in Canada and has been home for many of Canada’s most important artists, either as students or faculty members. The legacy has been remarkable.
The extensive list of artists includes such luminaries as Herménégilde Chiasson, Alex Colville, Michael de Adder, Evergon, Tom Forrestall, Lawren P. Harris, Susan Low-Beer, Danica Lundy, Christopher Pratt, Mary Pratt, and Janice Wright Cheney, among many others.
This handsome volume includes essays by curators and art historians Ray Cronin, Mireille Eagan, and Jane Tisdale on the history of Fine and Applied Arts at Mount Allison. Also included are over 350 reproductions of work by a broad sweep of artists who studied or taught in Mount A’s Fine Arts Department over its 170-year history.
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John Leroux, ONB, PhD, is an art historian, teacher, former architect, and the Director of the Marion McCain Institute for Atlantic Canadian Art at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. He has authored, edited, or contributed to more than 20 books, including A Vision in Wood and Stone: The Architecture of Mount Allison University with Thaddeus Holownia, and Wabanaki Modern: The Artistic Legacy of the 1960s “Micmac Indian Craftsmen” with Emma Hassencahl-Perley. He has received the CMA Award for Outstanding Achievement (Research) and the APMA Best Atlantic-Published Book Award, and was a team member of Canada’s entry at the 2012 Venice Biennale in Architecture.
Thaddeus Holownia, ONB, MSRC, ARC, is a visual artist, letterpress printer, and publisher. He is professor emeritus in the Pierre Lassonde School of Fine Arts at Mount Allison University, where he taught for over forty years. Holownia’s photographs are held in numerous public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the International Centre of Photography in New York, and the Yale University Arts of the Book Collection. Holownia has written or contributed to more than 25 publications. He received the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2025.
