James MacSwain
James MacSwain was born in Amherst, Nova Scotia. He received a B.A. in English from Mount Allison University and studied theatrical arts at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. After traveling and living in Europe, he settled in Halifax where he began a career in theatre and arts administration. Since 1980, he has been working in film and video, receiving Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council and Nova Scotia Arts Council grants as a media artist. As a visual artist he works in photo and collage-based images that he has exhibited in Halifax and nationally. He is an honorary member of Live Art Dance Productions and the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative. He has been a former board member of the Nova Scotia Arts Council, the Independent Film and Video Alliance, the Linda Joy Media Arts Society and the Canadian Conference of the Arts. Presently he sits on the Exhibitions Committee of Visual Arts Nova Scotia. He has just retired from his employment as the Director of Programming for the Centre For Art Tapes.
Artist Code: 138
Videography
A James MacSwain Retrospective (DVD Compilation)
2010, colour, English
1996, 10:00 minutes, Colour,B&W, English
1991, 12:00 minutes, Colour,B&W, English
1990, 28:49 minutes, colour, English
1989, 04:00 minutes, colour, English
Critical Writing
by and . Matter/Flesh/Spirit/Ground: An overview of the video work of Wendy Geller, 2003. Halifax: the Centre for Art Tapes in partnership with Dalhousie Art Gallery, 2003.
by . Arts Atlantic, Fall 2002, v. 19, no. 73 / 4.
Crossroads, 1999. Halifax: The Centre for Art Tapes, 1999.
by . Queer Looking/ Queer Acting, 1997. Mount St. Vincent: Mount St. Vincent University Press, 1997.
by . Cinematheque Film Programme Guide, Fall 1994. Toronto: Cinematheque Ontario, 1994.
by . The Independent Eye, Winter 1991, v. 12, no. 2.