With work encompassing a range of media, I work to develop and harness the skills to follow idea threads and cross contaminate connections. I am interested in systems of knowledge and often incorporate them into my art practice. A lifelong passion for literature, philosophy, history, spirituality and science also provides fodder for the work.

A particular recurring concern has been the importance of maintaining an organic and tactile presence in my art making, despite incorporating (and subverting) digital technology and mindset. Yet underlying these conceptual and intellectual templates, there are richly autobiographical elements, usually intuitively present, as making art is inextricably linked with my life and personal history.

My work has been exhibited in Canada, the USA, Europe and Australia, including New York's Museum of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Canada. Some also resides in numerous private and public collections including the Glenbow Museum, the National Gallery of Canada and TBC Bank collection in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Colleen Kerr’s work has been written about in:

• "Performance Art in Canada, 1970-1990", ed. Clive Robertson & Alain-Martin Robert

• "Caught in the Act an Anthology of Performance Art by Women", essay by Nelson Henricks, ed. Tanya Mars & Joanna Householder

• "Alberta Art and Artists, an Overview" by Mary-Beth Laviolette & Patricia Ainslie

• Numerous articles and reviews in national and international media.

Recent Exhibitions

Textile Narratives, embroidery, CityScape Community Art Space, North Vancouver, Canada, 2018

Eye of the Needle, embroidery, Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Canada, 2017 - 2018

OUTPUT-INPUT, Members’ Retrospective Exhibition, video art, emmedia, Calgary, Canada, 2017

National Parlliamentary Library of Georgia, painting, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2016

City of Mtskheta, painting, Mtskheta, Georgia, 2016

National Museum of Georgia, painting, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2015

City of Mtskheta,  painting, Mtskheta, Georgia, 2015

Selected Group Exhibitions

Integrate Arts Festival, painting, IAF Headquarters, Victoria, Canada, 2014

Made in Calgary: The Nineties, video, Glenbow Museum/Calgary Contemporary Art Gallery, Calgary, Canada, 2014

Pride Exhibition, embroidery, Medrona Gallery, Victoria, Canada, 2012

Role, embroidered mixed media, Stride Gallery, Calgary, Canada, 2011

Local Works, painting, Biggar Art Gallery & Museum, Biggar, Canada, 1999

A Duchampian Look at the Glenbow’s Art Collection, assemblage, Glenbow Museum, Calgary, 1997

Technology as Art II, Tableaux Vivants video installation, The New Gallery, Calgary, Canada, 1997

ckmd preformed, multimedia collaboration with Mark Dicey, Truck Artist run Centre, Calgary, Canada, 1994

New Canadian Video, “Chrysalis” video, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA, 1994

11e Festival International du Film 8 et Video, video, Brussels, Belgium, 1992

Recent Acquisitions, “A Pack of Lies” video, The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada, 1989

Women Looking: Creating Feminine Spaces, video, Toronto, Canada, 1987

Solo Exhibitions

Tableaux Vivants: Vancouver, video installation, Video In, Vancouver, Canada, 1998

Book of Shadows, video premiere, Stride Gallery, Calgary, Canada, 1994

Selini, assemblage, Muttart Public Art Gallery, Calgary, Canada, 1991

The Journey, installation/performance, The New Gallery, Calgary, Canada, 1989

The Mythanthropist, drawing, Truck Artist Run Centre, Calgary, Canada, 1987

Selected Performance Art

Stockholm Slave,  solo endurance performance, Calgary/Victoria/Vancouver Canada, 1999-2011

Explaining Cosmology to a Live Chicken & Explaining Genetics to a Dead Salmon, solo, Maenad Theatre’s Femfest, Calgary, Canada, 1997

ckmd: Preformed, ckmd on the air, ckmd on the move, and more, with Mark Dicey, Truck Artist run Centre, CJSW FM, The Night Gallery, ACAD, Bridgeland Community Centre, Calgary, 1994-1995

Spitting Nickels, solo, Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Canada, 1994

Mz. Frankenstein, with Tanya Mars & Sandra Vida, The New Gallery, Calgary, Canada, 1992

Feedback and Forth/Life is Strange! More to Follow,  Collaborative/solo performance residency, curated/contributor, M. Vanci Stirnemann. Helmhaus Public Gallery; Radio LoRa, Zurich, Switzerland, Kultursagi Art Centre, Winterthur, Switzerland, Galerie Theuretzbacher, Vienna, Kunstvereinhorn, Horn, Austria, 1991

The Journey, solo, The New Gallery, Calgary, Canada, 1989

Niagara, solo, The Nickel Arts Museum, Calgary, Canada, 1988

 Professional Consultation & Teaching

Committee Member, on various programming, planning and volunteer committees at The New Gallery, emmedia, Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers, Truck Artist Run Centre, Calgary, Canada, 1985 - 1999.

Mentor, Women’s Art Mentoring Program, The New Gallery and Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Canada, 1997

Juror, Canada Council Video Production, 1991 & 1992

Curator, “The Influences of Maya Deren”, Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers, Calgary, Canada, 1996

Curator, “Night Vision”, with Grant Poier, Olympic Plaza, Calgary, Canada, 1994

Coordinator/Instructor,  Basic Video/TV Production Training Program, for volunteers of Rogers/Shaw  Cable 10, Calgary, Canada, 1993 - 1995

Board Member, emmedia, Calgary, Canada, 1987 & 1992

Curator, The Window Project, The New Gallery, Calgary, Canada, 1990

Instructor, Performance Art/Video Art workshops, emmedia, Calgary, Video Verite, Saskatoon, Video Pool, Winnipeg, 1987 - 1992

Selected Bibliography

A Perfect Match: TBC Bank and International Festival for Painters, Lomadze, Maka, Georgia Today, June 2, 2016.

Alberta Arts and Artists: An Overview, Ainslie, Patricia and LaViolette, Mary-Beth, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Canada, 2007.

Gray Matter, Henricks, Nelson. For Caught in the Act, a collection of essays about Canadian Women artists, Mars, T. and Householder, J. ed., YYZ books, Toronto, Canada, 2004.

ckmd preformed, Viner, Jeff, catalogue, Truck Gallery, Calgary, Canada, 1995

L’Unite dans le deconstruction, Carriere, Daniel, Le Devoir, May 30, 1992

FeedBack and Forth/Life is Strange!More to Follow:, Stirnemann, M.V., and Schick, C., ed., collaborative artist book/catalogue, Zurich Switzerland, 1992

Performance Art in Canada 1970-1990, ed. Richard, Alain-Michel and Robertson, Clive, Québec: Les Éditions Intervention and Coach House Press, 1991

Garneau, D. and Cousins C.K., Interview re: The Journey, CJSW Radio, Calgary, Canada, February 10, 1989

Nickel Arts Display Shows Growth of Local Artists, Tousley, N., Calgary Herald, re:Elemental Instincts Exhibition. Review, October 30. 1988

Georg, A., One Man’s Junk is Another Man’s Treasure,  re: Colleen Kerr’s found art assemblages,  The Homestretch, CBC AM radio, Calgary, Canada, September, 1988.

Awards & Honours

 Canada Council Video Production Grant, 1989

Canada Council Video Production Grant, 1988

Collections

The Alberta College of Art and Design

The Alberta Art Foundation

The Glenbow Museum

The National Gallery of Canada

The City of Mtskheta, Georgia

TBC Bank, Tbilisi, Georgia

Diverse private collections worldwide