Jillian McDonald is a Canadian artist living in Brooklyn and Troy, NY. She received an MFA in Combined Media from Hunter College at City University of New York and is a professor at Pace University.
Exhibitions and screenings were held at Undercurrent, Air Circulation, and FiveMyles in Brooklyn; The Art Gallery of Regina in Saskatchewan;Régart, La Bande Vidéo, and AxeNéo7 in Québec; aCinema in Milwaukee; Philip Steele Gallery in Denver; and The Esker Foundation in Calgary.She has mounted performances for 50 to 1000 performers in natural and urban settings in Tempe at The Arizona State University Art Museum, in Sweden in collaboration with Lilith Performance Studio, and in Toronto at La Nuit Blanche. A CBC IDEAS documentary profiles her videos, which were also reviewed inThe New York TimesandCanadian Art. Critical discussion appears inThe Transatlantic Zombieby Sarah Lauro and Deconstructing Brad Pitt, edited by Christopher Schaberg. Awards include grants from The New York Foundation for the Arts and The Canada Council for the Arts, and participation in numerous international residencies such as Wave Farm in Acra, NY, The Arctic Circle Expedition in Svalbard, Norway, The Headlands Center for the Arts in California, the Glenfiddich Canadian Art Prize in Dufftown, Scotland, and The Banff Center for the Arts in Alberta, Canada. In 2024, she will be a New Works resident at Harvestworks in New York.
CV *Full CV available upon request. Education MFA, Hunter College, New York, Combined Media BFA, University of Manitoba School of Art, Canada, Drawing Selected Solo Exhibitions + Performance Rush, ODD Gallery, Dawson City, Yukon, Canada, 2019 The Rock and the True Believers, Philip J. Steele Gallery, Denver, CO, 2019 Home Sweet (Psycho) Home, Big&Small/Casual, Brooklyn, NY, 2019 Something Wicked This Way Comes, Platform Gallery, Winnipeg, Canada, 2018 Jillian McDonald, AxeNéo7, Québec, Canada, 2017 Valley of the Deer, Centre Clark, Montréal, Quebec, 2015 Valley of the Deer, Atkinson Gallery, Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, CA, 2015 Valley of the Deer, Squeaky Wheel, Buffalo, NY, 2015 Valley of the Deer, University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Waterloo, Canada, 2015 The Thaw, Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Brandon, Canada, 2015 Valley of the Deer, Air Circulation Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2014 Valley of the Deer, La Bande Vidéeo Gallery, Québec City, Canada, 2014 Something Wicked This Way Comes, New Media Artspace at Baruch College, 2014 Valley of the Deer, Esker Foundation Gallery, curated by Naomi Potter, Calgary, Canada, 2013 Valley of the Deer, Kenderdine Gallery, curated by Kent Archer, Saskatoon, Canada, 2013 RedRum, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY, 2012 Zombies! Korn Gallery, Drew University, Madison, NJ, 2010 RedRum, Gallery One One One, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, 2010 Alone Together in the Dark, Arizona State University Museum, Tempe, AZ, 2009 performance. Undead in the Night, Lilith Performance Studio, Malmö, Sweden, 2009 Monstrosities, Rosenthal Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 2009 Shivers, Bronx River Arts Center, New York, NY, 2009 Fanatic, 1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA, 2008 Horror Stories, ThreeWalls, Chicago, IL, 2008 performance. Zombies in Condoland, Nuit Blanche Toronto, Toronto, Canada, 2008 Jillian McDonald, La Sala Naranja, Valencia, Spain, 2008 Waking the Dead, Moti Hasson Gallery, New York, NY, 2007 Me and Billy Bob, San Francisco Art Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 2007 Zombie Loop, ArtMoving Projects, Brooklyn, NY, 2007 Zombie Lands, Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN, 2007 Me and Billy Bob, Jack the Pelican Presents, Brooklyn, NY, 2006 Horror Makeup, ArtMoving Projects (project space), Brooklyn, NY, 2006 To Vincent With Love, YYZ Gallery, Toronto, Canada, 2005 Screen Kiss, Neutral Ground Gallery, Regina, Canada, 2005 The Starlight Lounge, Edge Media, St John's, Canada, 2004 The Starlight Lounge, Video Pool, Winnipeg, Canada, 2004 To Vincent with Love, vertexList Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2004 Selected Group Exhibitions + Screenings Hauntings, 3-person show, FiveMyles, Brooklyn, NY, 2020 Salon, 3-person show, C-Flickering, Setauket, NY, 2019 The Art of Meditation, Islip Art Museum, Islip, NY, 2018 Love and Longing, Root Division, San Francisco, CA, 2017 Up All Night, LUMP Projects, Raleigh, NC, 2017 Alienation, ID:I Galleri, Stockholm, Sweden, 2017 L'Amour Fou, New Media Gallery at Anvil Centre, New Westminster, Canada, 2015 From Remake to Restage, Matucana 100, Santiago, Chile, 2016 Oblique Strategies, Peter Fingesten Gallery, New York, NY, 2014 Frame and Frequency, Plecto Gallery, Medellín, Colombia, 2014 On the Precipice, 8 venues in the UK through ISIS Arts, 2013 Modern Monster, Queens Nails Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2013 No Dull Affairs, Onsite at OCADU, Toronto, Canada, 2013 Electric Speed, Surrey Art Gallery, BC, Canada, 2012 My Sweet, Sweet, Dalton Gallery, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA, 2011 Terminal Jest, Delaware Community College Gallery, Media, PA, 2011 Cine de barrio/Home Cinema, Maracaibo, Venezuela, 2010 Plastic Summer, 601 Artspace, New York, NY, 2010 International Biennial of Contemporary Art, Mérida, Venezuela, 2010 Soft & Hard, Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA, 2010 Big Screen Project, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, NY, 2010 Passwords, Centro Cultural Montehermoso, Vitoria, Spain, 2009 Last Day of Magic, ScalaMata Gallery, Venice, Italy, 2009 Shapeshifter, Issue Project Room, New York, NY, 2009 Young Romance, Cambridge Galleries, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, 2009 Recycling, Sampling, Jamming, Akademie der Kunste, Berlin, Germany, 2009 The F-Word, The Western Front, Vancouver, Canada, 2008 My Own Private Reality, Growing Up Online..., Edith Russ Site for Media Art, Oldenburg, Germany, 2007 Facades, Krannert Museum, IL, 2007 Video Killed Painting, Yoshiko Matsumoto Gallery, The Netherlands, 2007 Animal Series, MMoCA, curated by Jane Simon, Madison, WI, 2006 Celebrity, Sixty Seven Gallery, New York, NY, 2006 Internationale Biennial of Québec City, Québec, Canada, 2005 New Data, Harvestworks, New York, NY, 2005 Sundance Film Festival, Park City, UT, 2005 Awards + Residencies Grant, Canada Council for the Arts, Explore and Create, Canada, 2020 Residency, Arts Center, LMCC, Governors Island, NY, 2019 Residency, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 2018 Residency, Arctic Circle Residency, Svalbard, Norway, 2017 Residency, Process Space, LMCC, Governors Island, NY, 2016 Residency, Klondike Institute of Arts & Culture, Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada, 2016 Grant, King Family Bursary, Georgian Bay Land Trust, Canada, 2015 Residency, Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Brandon, Canada, 2015 Residency, Signal Culture, Owego, NY, 2014 Grant, New York State Council on the Arts, Media Arts Distribution, New York, NY, 2013 Commission, Turbulence.org, 2012 Residency, Glenfiddich, Dufftown, Scotland, 2012 Grant, Canada Council for the Arts, Film and Video Production, Canada Residency, Lilith Performance Studio, Sweden Residency, Arizona State University Art Museum, AZ Grant, New York Foundation for the Arts, Video and Film, New York, NY, 2008 Residency, The Headlands Center for the Arts, CA, 2008 Residency, La Chambre Blanche, Québec City, Canada, 2008 Residency, World Views Studio Program, LMCCl, New York, NY, 2006-2007 Residency, The Western Front, Vancouver, Canada, 2006 Grant, Canada Council for the Arts, New Media Production, Canada, 2005 Residency, Harvestworks, New York, NY, 2003 Press Hauntings at FiveMyles, by Elizabeth Johnson, Deliciousline.org, Apr 22, 2020 A View from the Easel, by Elisa Wouk Almino, Hyperallergic, Apr 24, 2020 Ode to a Friend Living in the Embrace of Paradox by Letch Kinloch, exhibition essay, 2018 Human Nature, by Rose Ekins, Canadian Art, December 6, 2017 The Transatlantic Zombie, by Sarah Juliet Lauro, Rutgers University Press, 2015 Brad Pitt as Art Muse by Sarah Lauro, Deconstructing Brad Pitt, ed. Christopher Schaberg, Bloomsbury Press, 2014 Valley of the Deer - CBC, IDEAS feature length radio documentary by Paul Kennedy, Jan 25, 2013 Jillian McDonald on Highland Noir by David Balzer, Canadian Art, 2013 July 15 2012 Jillian Mcdonald by Cedar Park Singers, Vague Terrain magazine, 2012 Horror Film Artist Jillian Mcdonald Talks Being Named Glenfiddich Artist-in-Residence, by Rachel Phan, The National Post, Canada, June 25, 2012 Better Off Dead, by Sarah Juliet Lauro, Fordham Press, 2011 The Horror, The Horror: Jillian Mcdonald by Robert Enright, Border Crossings, Canada, December, 2010 Zombier, Skräckministeriet, by Ulrik Petersson, SVT TV, Sweden, Oct 1, 2009 Brooklyn DIY, documentary film by Marcin Ramocki, 2009 Jillian McDonald, by Virginia Spivey, Art Papers, May/June, pp 72-73, 2008 Nuit Blanche: The Great White Trope, by Gabrielle Moser, Canadian Art, Oct 2008 Dead Sexy, by Molly Simms, Bust Magazine, Oct/Nov 2008 Nuit of the Living Dead by Marlene Arpe, The Toronto Star, Oct 4, 2008 Virtuelle Liebe, Kulturzeit, by Stephan Mueller, Channel ZDF/3Sat, Germany, Feb 14, 2007 Watch the Doors and Mind the Zombies, by Carol Kino, The New York Times, July 30, 2006 Stalking by Bran Nicol, Reaktion Books, pp 71 - 72, 2006é The Silly,the Erotic and the Adorable by Benjamin Genocchio, The New York Times, Nov 12, 2006 Jillian Mcdonald's Celebrity Relations, by Sylve Fortin, Art Papers, Sept/Oct, 2005 The Big Picture, by RM Vaughan, The National Post, Aug 13, 2005 She's Soaking in the Art of Obsession by Peter Goddard, The Toronto Star, Mar 5, 2005 Me and Billy Bob by Johnny Dee, The Guardian, Aug 21, 2004 A Last Look at Web Destinations, by Pamela LiCalzi O'Connell, The New York Times, Aug 12, 2004 Market Share, by Karen Rosenberg, The Village Voice, Aug 22, 2004 Me and Billy Bob, by Pamela LiCalzi O'Connell, The New York Times, July 3, 2003 Artist Talks + Panels lecture, Art and Process Speaker Series, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, New York, NY, 2020 panel, Arctic Art, ASLE Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment, University of California, Davis, 2019 panel, Art North, UAAC University Art Association of Canada, Québec City, Canada, 2019 lecture, Stonybrook University, Stonybrook, NY, 2019 lecture, Platform Centre for Digital and Photographic Arts, Winnipeg, Canada, 2018 lecture, New Jersey City University, NJ, 2017 lecture, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, 2017 lecture, Klondike Institute of Art and Culture, Dawson City, Canada, 2016 lecture, SUNY, Old Westbury, NY, 2016 lecture, University of Waterloo, Montréal, Canada, 2015 lecture, Concordia University, Montréal, Canada, 2015 lecture, Clark Plaza Gallery, Montréal, Canada, 2015 lecture, Atkinson Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA, 2015 lecture, Baruch College, New York, NY, 2014 lecture, Alone Together in the Dark Nordic Summer Institute, Sauðárkrókur, Iceland, 2014 lecture, Esker Foundation, Calgary, Canada, 2013 lecture, Kenderdine Gallery, Saskatoon, Canada, 2013 lecture, Ontario College of Art and Design University, Toronto, Canada, 2013 lecture, Oxbow, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Saugatuck, MI, 2011 lecture, Alberta College of Art and Design, Calgary, Canada, 2010 lecture, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, 2010 lecture, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY, 2010 lecture, The School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, 2010 panel, Aesthetics, Universidad de los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela, 2010 lecture, Drew University, NJ, 2010 keynote lecture, What has Changed?, Performance Creation Canada, Toronto, Canada, 2009 lecture, Lilith Performance Studio, Malmö, Sweden, 2009 lecture, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 2009 lecture, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 2008 lecture, University of Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 2006 lecture, Headlands Center for the Arts, Marin County, CA, 2008 panel, Video Art, Artists Talk On Art, New York, NY, 2008 lecture, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Canada, 2008 panel, Obsolescence and the Culture of Human Invention, NSCAD, Halifax, Canada, 2008 lecture, Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, PA, 2008 lecture, Neuberger Museum at Purchase College, Rye, NY, 2007 lecture, The Upgrade! New York at Eyebeam, New York, NY, 2007 lecture, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD, 2007 lecture, The University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 2007 lecture, The National Centre for Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia, 2007 lecture, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 2006 lecture, Hunter College, New York, NY, 2006 lecture, Austin Peay University, Clarksville, TN, 2006 lecture, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Canada 2006 panel, Audiences and Economies, Performance Perimeters, Regina, Canada, 2005 lecture, Video Pool, Winnipeg, Canada, 2004 lecture, Edge Media, St. John's, Canada, 2004 lecture, Sheridan College, Oakville, Canada, 2004 lecture, University of North Carolina at Asheville, NC, 2003