Nancy Shaw

Nancy Shaw (1962–2007) was an award-winning poet, scholar, art critic and curator. Author of Affordable Tedium (1991) and Scoptocratic (1992), Shaw frequently collaborated with poet Catriona Strang, with whom she co-authored two books of poetry, Busted (2001) and Cold Trip (2006), and a collaborative work published in Big Allis and Raddle Moon. Shaw received a PhD in Communications from McGill University in 2000 and held a post-doctoral fellowship at New York University. Her doctoral dissertation, “Modern Art, Media Pedagogy, Cultural Citizenship: The Museum of Modern Art’s Television Project, 1952–1955,” was judged as a superior work. Just prior to her death in 2007, she was engaged in new research on Marshall McLuhan and the visual arts. During the 1980s in Vancouver, Shaw was at the centre of interdisciplinary collaborations, contributing as a writer, artist, curator and critic. This vibrant period spawned artist- and writer-driven initiatives in Vancouver such as the Or Gallery, the Kootenay School of Writing and Artspeak Gallery, to which she contributed in formative ways. During her career, Shaw taught at McGill University, Rutgers, Simon Fraser University and Capilano College.