ART PRACTICE
Juried Solo Exhibtion
January 2025 Craig Gallery at Alderny Landing, case exhibition: more-than-human (Dartmouth, NS)
International Juried Group Exhibition
Oct 2025 Ecologies of Consent: Bodies and Boarders (The 109 Gallery, Chickamauga, Georgia, USA); work: Nothing exists alone (ceramic and mixed media sculpture)
Juried Group Exhibition
Oct 2025 – July 2026 Wandering through Trees (Chester Art Centre, ArtsPlace Gallery in Annapolis Royal, and Ross Farm Museum; work: Fruiting bodies (ceramic sculpture);
Nov 2025 – Jan 2026 Ecologies of Consent: Bodies and Borders (The 109 Gallery, Chichamauga, GA); work: Nothing exists alone (installation with ceramic and mixed media)
April 2025 Held in Fire (NSCAD University; Halifax); work: Chosen Plant (ceramic sculpture)
November 2024 Triumphs in Clay (Ice House Gallery, Tatamagouche, NS); works (2 ceramic sculptures): Fruiting Bodies and Communicator
October 2024 Nocturne: Microcosm (Halifax, NS); work: Halifax Harbor: Beneath the Surface (mixed-media projection featuring watercolour paintings)
June 2024 Art@VB: Colours (Victoria Beach, MB); works: Cherry Barb (9’’x12’’ watercolour painting), and Neon Tetra (9’’x12’’ watercolour painting)
Other Group Exhibitions
2025 Dalhousie Art Gallery: 70th Student, Staff, Faculty, and Alumni Exhibition (Halifax); works: Garbage dump of the future…hopefully. (ceramic installation) and Stanley (ceramic sculpture)
2024 Dalhousie Art Gallery: 69th Student, Staff, Faculty, and Alumni Exhibition (Halifax); works: The Two Foxes Within (installation) and Fissured (wall hanging ceramic sculpture)
2024 NSCAD University: Amalgamate (Halifax); work: Released (ceramic sculpture, 30cmx32cm)
2023 Dalhousie Art Gallery: 68th Student, Staff, Faculty, and Alumni Exhibition (Halifax); works (paintings): School of Mackerel (12’’x16’’), Cherry Barb (9’’x12’’), and Neon Tetra (9’’x12’’)
Residencies
2024 Watershed Centre for Ceramic Arts, Maine; selected to participate in the Embodied Perception summer residency
Grants
2025 – Canada Council for the Arts, Explore and Create grant
Media
CTV News Atlantic: Creativity flows at Dal Art Gallery
The Coast: Catch 57 artists and 100 works at latest Dal Art Gallery show
Dal News: Gallery show reveals artistic spirit of Dal and King’s communities
Dal News: Midnight masterpieces: Dal’s creative connections at Nocturne
Collectives
2022 – Present: Sustainable Nunatsiavut Futures Arts Collective; Role: Co-Lead (co-coordianted artist-in-residence program, mentorship series, co-curating exhibition and catalogue)
Education
2023 – Present Visual Arts Certificate In-Studio – General Practice, NSCAD University
2022 Anna Leonowens Certificate in Gallery and Studio Management, NSCAD University
2016 PhD in Natural Resource and Environmental Management, University of Manitoba
Additional Training (Courses and Workshops)
2025 La Meridiana International School of Ceramics in Tuscany, Italy: The Domestic and the Wild (building large aminal figurative sculpture evoking human emotion with armatures) with Beth Cavener
2024 Tim Isaac Studio, New Brunswick: Raku Firing
2024 Pocosin School of Fine Craft, USA: Building Birds in Fligjt with Sarah Conti; Creating Colors & Decorating with Terra Sigillatas with Rhonda Willers, and Hand-Building Bone Dry with Tyler Quintin
2023 Estudio Paloma, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico: The Figure in Clay with Cristina Córdova
2023 Art Lab, Parrsboro: Exploring Clay in the Natural World with Janet Doble
2023 Adrian Arleo Studio, USA: Animal Imagery in Clay and Wax Encaustic Surface Techniques
2022/2023 Berlin Art Institute: The Paradox of Art and Labour with Adrian Melis (2022); Floral Time: How Artists Describe Plants with Joseph Walsh (2023); Towards a World Ship: Understanding the Ecological Crisis through Arts with Dorine van Meel (2023)
2022 NSCAD Extended Studies, Halifax: Handbuilding
2020-2022 Several online courses on watercolour technique
2011 Winnipeg Film Group: Introduction to Film Making
2009 PrairieView School of Photography, Winnipeg: Essential Skills in Photography
Memberships
Member – Women Eco Artists Dialogue (WEAD)
Member – Visual Arts Nova Scotia
Member – Nova Scotia Pottery Guild
Art Features in Publications
2011 Branch Magazine: Appetite for life (acrylic and collage on canvas)
Professional Experience
2010-Present
Product illustration – over 400 online sales of products with my artwork/illustrations
2009-2015
Concept Illustrator – Centre for Community-Based Resource Management (CBRM), University of Manitoba
CURATORIAL WORK
Professional Art Exhibitions
2022-2024
Worried Earth: Eco-Anxiety and Entangled Grief
Gallery 1C03, Winnipeg (2022)
NSCAD Port Loggia Gallery (2023)
Art Gallery of Grande Prairie (2024)
Role: Nominated Principal Investigator and Assistant Curator
Features in Publications
2023 Galleries West: Worried Earth: Eco-Anxiety and Entangled Grief Exhibit at Gallery 1C03; Role: Assistant Curator
2023 Border Crossings (March issue): Review of Worried Earth: Eco-Anxiety and Entangled Grief Exhibit at Gallery 1C03, Winnipeg 2023. Role: Assistant Curator
2010 Kenora Daily Miner & News: “Artists’ project takes shape at Tunnel Island” and “Common Ground art mosaic unveiled”: Role: art project coordinator/facilitator
Arts-Writing/Editorial Work
2023 Article – John Macnab’s The Centre Holds at Studio 21, Billie Magazine
2023 Exhibition Essay – To dance among rising waters: Graeme Patterson’s Strange Birds
2010 Guest Editor – BRANCH Magazine, Issue 9 (2012): What’s your story? – National online magazine devoted to exploring the rifts and overlaps of visual and literary arts. Conducted interviews and wrote articles about artists Miriam Rudolph, Holly Ann Friesen, and Joy Parsons.
Committees
2024 – Present: Dalhousie Art Gallery Acquisitions Committee
Panels
2024 – Invited panelist for discussion on Graeme Patterson’s Strange Birds, Dalhousie Art Gallery
ARTS-BASED RESEARCH/ACADEMIC WORK
Current Position/Institutional Affiliation
2018-Present
Associate Professor – School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University; Community-Engaged CoLab (my lab), http://www.communityengagedcolab.ca/
Role/Projects
2020 – Present: Nominated Principal Investigator for the Worried Earth Project (focus on the expression and processing of ecological grief through the arts and other modalities)
2020 – Present: Principal Investigator and Co-Organizer/Member of the Sustainable Nunatsiavut Futures Arts Collective and Inuit Artist-In-Residence Program (provided residencies for 7 Nunatsiavut land claims agreement beneficiaries)
Consulting
2013 Exhibition/Artifact Researcher – Canadian Museum for Human Rights
Education
2016 PhD, University of Manitoba (Natural Resources and Environmental Management)
2010 Master’s, University of Manitoba (Natural Resource Management)
2007 BSc. (Biology Honours), The University of Winnipeg
Additional (Arts-Related) Training
2017 Association of Manitoba Museums: Museums and the Community
2016 Cornell-Atkinson Centre: Media for Nature Conservation
2013 Manitoba Archeological Society: Traditional Land Teachings and Ways of Life of Anishinaabe peoples
Arts-Based Research Exhibitions
2023-2024 Worried Earth: Youth Climate Activists’ Photos and Narratives Reflecting on Climate Change. Dalhousie Art Gallery/Butterfly Garden, Role: Lead curator
2016 A Day in the Life of a Young Person with Anxiety, Health Sciences Centre, University of Manitoba, Role: Curator.
2011 Caring for Country, St. Paul’s College Bldg., University of Manitoba
2010 Finding Common Ground through Creativity, Lake of the Woods Discovery Centre, Kenora, Ontario
Distinctions & Awards
2020 President’s Research Excellence/Legacy Award – Emerging Investigator, Dalhousie University
2019 Faculty of Management Rising Research Star, Dalhousie University
2010 Honorable Mention, International Photography Awards for “Goodbye to Trees” in the Editorial photography category
2009 Best Poster Award and People’s Choice Award at the People & Places International Conference for “Caring for Country through Participatory Art: an emerging method for exploring regional values and aspirations”
Selected Bibliography/Peer-Reviewed Research Articles
Zurba, M. (2022). Boundary work as a concept and practice in human geography: introduction to special issue. Journal of Cultural Geography. [boundary work includes arts-based research]
Sorensen Kass, J., Duinker, P., Schmidt, M. and M. Zurba. (2021). Testing a novel human-nature connection model with Halifax’s urban forest using a text-messaging engagement strategy. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 65, 127350. [conceptual/technological artistic elements]
Zurba, M., Maclean, K., Woodward, E. and Islam, D. (2019). Amplifying Indigenous community participation in place-based research through boundary work. Progress in Human Geography, 43(6), 1020-1043.
Islam, D., Zurba, M., Rogalski, A. and Berkes, F. (2017). Engaging Indigenous youth to revitalize Cree culture through participatory education. Diaspora, Indigenous and Minority Education, 11(3), 124-138. [article featuring high school art project on food security for Norway House Cree Nation]
Woodgate, R. L., Zurba, M. and Tennent, P. (2017). A day in the life of a young person with anxiety: arts-based boundary objects used to communicate the results of health research. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 18(3), Art. 17.
Woodgate, R. L., Zurba, M. and Tennent, P. (2017). Worth a thousand words? Advantages, challenges and opportunities in working with photovoice as a qualitative method with youth and their families. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 18(1), Art. 2.
Zurba, M. and Friesen, H. A. (2014). Finding Common Ground through Creativity: exploring Anishinaabe, settler and Métis connections, values and aspirations for the land. International Journal of Conflict & Reconciliation, 2(1), 1-34.
Zurba, M. and Berkes, F. (2014). Caring for country through participatory art: Creating a boundary object for communicating Indigenous knowledge and values. Local Environment, 19(8), 821-836.
Selected Grant
2020 New Frontiers in Research Fund – Exploration Grant; Role: Nominated Principal Investigator
Creating vocabularies and rituals for climate grief through multiple knowledge systems and the artistic process; $249,955
Selected Conference Proceeding
International Association for Society and Natural Resources Conference. June 20-24, 2021. Zurba, M., et al. “Creating vocabularies and rituals for climate grief through multiple knowledge systems and the artistic practice.”
Melanie Zurba 