ABOUT THE COLLECTION

The MacKenzie is a centre for art and culture that holds a collection of art in trust for the community. The Gallery belongs to the people of Saskatchewan. We care for our collection on behalf of the community and offer exhibitions, education, and meaningful experiences that inspire and enrich lives.

The MacKenzie receives its name from Norman MacKenzie, a Regina-based lawyer who had a passion for art. MacKenzie had a vision for an encyclopedic museum in the standard colonial model of that era, acquiring historical works from Europe and cultural artifacts from across the world. When he passed away in 1936, he bequeathed his collection to the Regina campus of the University of Saskatchewan (now the University of Regina), which led to the opening of the Norman MacKenzie Art Gallery in 1953. These early collecting practices and motives continue to influence our work as we confront the harmful ideologies underpinning colonial museum practices while also building on the ideals that can still serve us today as we work towards renewed models for ethical, inspiring, and reciprocal cultural institutions.

Over the past 70 years, the MacKenzie collection has grown to one of national importance, through both purchases of work by living artists as well as donations of work from any era that helps tell the story of art and this land. Initially conceived as a teaching collection for the University of Regina, early additions to the original Norman MacKenzie bequest included leading-edge post-war Canadian and American art and select examples of 19th- and 20th-century European modernism. A consistent collecting focus for the Gallery has been Saskatchewan art, as well as the art of the Great Plains. The collection boasts a robust representation of diverse homegrown movements, including the Regina Five, Regina Clay, or the work of self-taught “folk” artists.

The MacKenzie also has a particular strength in Indigenous art, which has been a focus for the Gallery for more than 50 years—longer than nearly any gallery in Canada. Key acquisitions to the collection include Nadia Myre’s Indian Act, Mary Longman’s Ancestors Rising, Duane Linklater’s Kâkikê / Forever, Ruth Cuthand’s Trading series, Dana Claxton’s Buffalo Bone China, and many more.

In the late 2010s, after the MacKenzie devoted 50 years to expanding representation and inclusion of Indigenous artists and people, the Gallery confronted the fact that racialized artists had been greatly underrepresented in its exhibition and collecting history. As part of a public commitment to equity goals for the organization, the Gallery underwent a demographic audit of its permanent collection to obtain more accurate figures regarding the collection’s composition related to gender and ethnicity to assist the Gallery in efforts to ensure equity in its collecting practices and to address historical imbalances.

Today, the Gallery’s collection emphasis is focused on implementing aspects of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (UNDRIP) and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), as well as centering equity, diversity, and accessibility. The Gallery is working with the University of Regina and other community stakeholders to conduct a thorough review of works in the Norman MacKenzie collection. A joint committee chaired by the U of R is currently undertaking research to find out more information about the histories, provenance, and nature of cultural material under our care. We are particularly interested in histories of acquisition (for example, if the material was acquired through theft, looting, under duress, etc.), and if the material holds ceremonial, secret, or sacred meaning. Our goal is to develop as comprehensive an understanding as possible about the cultural material in the collection and to be proactive about returning belongings that do not belong in our care. Following the 2025 repatriation of five belongings to the Dzawada’enuxw First Nation, there are no Indigenous belongings remaining in our care that we have identified as candidates for repatriation.

The Gallery welcomes opportunities to support UNDRIP initiatives, which include the restitution and repatriation of Ancestors, culturally significant belongings, and art objects. We welcome the opportunity to support the return of objects should a collector or community member require support in a restitution process.

COLLECTION RESOURCES

The MacKenzie Art Gallery is currently working on the launch of a new publicly accessible collections database, which will be available on our website when complete. This project aims to provide broader access to our collection for researchers, the public, cultural caretakers, and other community stakeholders. Guided by the framework established by UNDRIP, we understand that access to intangible cultural heritage is particularly important for Indigenous peoples who are advancing language and cultural revitalization programs. In our mission to welcome all peoples with a spirit of hospitality, recognizing that diverse cultural knowledge enriches our community, we intend for the collection database to deepen the reciprocal transmission of cultural understanding related to the artworks and objects in our care.