Dawna Gallagher Art

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Self-taught and then art school-educated, Dawna Gallagher has been creating humorous and touching sketches, cartoons, and paintings for decades. She started out creating topical sketches and purpose-drawn pencil portraits outside the Halifax Public Gardens in the 1970's and went on to sell her whimsical, idiosyncratic creations to Canadian periodicals like Canadian Forum and Saturday Night through the next two decades. In addition, she has created illustrations for newspapers and book publishers too numerous to mention.

Along the way Dawna picked up a degree at the Nova Scotia School of Art & Design -- where she later taught -- and spent time curating work at the Nova Scotia Art Gallery.

Currently Dawna teaches (a select few), works on commissions (a select few), and posts her inspired doodles and intriguing characters -- who seem bewildered by life on earth -- to a growing number of friends and admirers on social media.

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Please enjoy Dawna's creations on the CARTOONS and ARTWORK pages. To inquire about purchasing an original, please leave a message in the box to the right OR use the contact coordinates provided above.

portrait of the artist

Dawna spent her childhood and youth in Ontario, starting out in Stoney Creek (outside Hamilton) and moving on to Ottawa and Toronto.

In her late twenties she migrated to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she discovered a community of like-minded artists and agitators. Dawna jumped head-first into the Maritime cultural scene at a time of social and political ferment and nascent Canadian consciousness.

Two decades later, she moved back to Ottawa to find work that was a little more stable (with the federal government) and to augment her academic credentials.

Now retired, Dawna found a resurgence of artistic inspiration in the isolation wrought by the global pandemic, which spurred her to post cartoons and sketches to a Facebook page for the amusement of all who were similarly cut off from communities. The series of drawings posted on social media has gained a new audience for her.

Photo: The artist outside family home in Stoney Creek with furry friends.

the artist as performer

Dawna has always loved performing. Even in grade school, she enjoyed the challenge of making classmates laugh.

Her performance skills flowered during the 1970s and 1980s in Halifax, where she and her co-conspirators mounted skits and stage dramas commenting satirically on social or cultural issues of the day.

These pieces were collaboratively written and performed, and were staged on a shoestring budget for the enjoyment and delectation of like-minded audiences.

Photo: The artist, upper right, strikes a sultry pose with fellow provocateurs.

EDUCATION

Doctoral Studies, University of Ottawa (History), 2006–2012
Master of Arts, Carleton University (Canadian Studies), 1997
Master of Fine Arts, Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, 1991
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, 1985

PUBLICATIONS

Bringing Art to the People: A Biography of Norah McCullough (MA Thesis, Carleton University, 1996).
“Nova Scotia Collects: Lyrical Abstraction”, Exhibition Essay. Halifax: Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 1994 (Curator).

ART-RELATED WORK HISTORY

Publicist. Dalhousie University Art Gallery.
Assistant Registrar, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 1991–1993.
Registrar, Saint Mary's University Art Gallery, 1990–1991.
Project Manager, Nova Scotia Coalition on Arts and Culture. Coordinated province-wide consultations on need for a provincial arts council, 1987.

LECTURER / INSTRUCTOR

Re-reading Nature, Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, 1992
Reading Landscape, Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, 1991
Workshops in Painting, Watercolour, Illustration, NSCAD, 1987–1994.

PERFORMANCE

Art Waitresses for Peace and Fair Taxation (or Canada Sells Out), NSCAD-Dalhousie University, 1991.
Wanda, Jimmy, and the Backup Boys, Eye Level Gallery, Flamingo Club, 1987.
Rowing Your Boat, IWD Celebration, Halifax, 1986. Wanda Hallgager, Eye Level Gallery, Halifax, 1986.
The First 45 Minutes of the Wanda Hallgager Hour, Halifax, 1986.
Fake Sleep

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Agnes L'Abbe..., Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax 1991
What I Remember About Here, Anna Leonowens Gallery 1989
Death and Paradise, Eye Level Gallery, Halifax 1987
Cruel Pen, Partisan Gallery, Toronto 1986
Landscape, Anna Leonowens Gallery 1985
Dawna Gallagher, Pages, Toronto 1980

Illustrator

Burnt Toast: A food zine 2001-2007 / Image, Sandy Hill Community Newspaper 1998-99 / Canadian Housing and Renewal Magazine, Ottawa 1998 / Herizons, Winnipeg 1993 / Women's Educational Journal, York University, Toronto 1990 / Union Art Service, Toronto 1990 / University of Athabasca, Alberta 1990 / Pandora Publication, Halifax 1989 / Women's Educational Press, Toronto 1989 / Public Legal Education of 1989 / Room of One's Own, Vancouver 1989 / Communication and Electrical Workers of Canada, Toronto 1998 / Union Art Service, Toronto 1989 / N.S. Nurses Union Newsletter, Halifax 1988 / Fireweed, Toronto 1988 / Every Woman's Almanac, Women's Educational Press, Toronto 1988 / For Men, United Church of Canada, Toronto 1988 / New Maritimes, Halifax 1988 / Feminist Action, Toronto 1987 / Women and Housing, Halifax 1987 / Lears, New York 1987 / Women and Environments, Toronto 1987 / Women and Sport, Ottawa 1986 / United Nations Peace Pavillion, Expo ’86, Vancouver / Healthsharing, Toronto 1980-87 / This Magazine, Toronto 1986 / Heresies, New York 1985 / Red Herring Bookstore, Halifax 1979-85 / The Canadian Forum, Toronto 1984 / Megatoons: Cartoonists Against Nuclear War, Eden Press, Montreal 1983 / National Film Board of Canada 1989

ART BANK PURCHASES AND ARCHIVE DONATIONS

Canada Council Art Bank, 1986, 1989, 1990
Nova Scotia Art Bank, 1978
University of Ottawa Archives, 2022

Dawna Gallagher Art

CARtoons

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ARTIST

Contact

Life

portrait of the artist

Performance

the artist as performer

CV

ARTWORK

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