Biography

Linda Covit lives and works in Montreal, Canada. After graduating with a B.Sc. from McGill University she became involved with Powerhouse Gallery, Montreal while developing her sculptural practice. Numerous trips to Japan photographing temples, gardens and contemporary architecture have been influential. Solo exhibitions include Plein sud, Centre d’exposition en art actuel à Longueuil; Expression, Centre d’exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe; le Musée de la Ville de Lachine; Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec; Toronto’s Koffler Gallery and Genereux Grunwald Gallery; the Canadian Embassy, Tokyo, Japan. She participated in group exhibitions in Japan’s Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2003, the 53rd Museo internazionale delle ceramiche in Faenze, Italy, and Wave Hill N.Y.

Among her many public artworks are a gift from the Quebec government to Shandong Province, China; an installation on Montreal’s Mount Royal Park commemorating the 1969 Lennon-Ono bed-in, (Les Arts et la Ville Prix Aménagement 2012; CSLA Regional Merit Award 2012), an art wall with mist at Toronto’s Four Seasons Hotel and Residences (Toronto Urban Design Awards : Award of Merit 2015;  CSLA Regional Merit Award 2014); four garden rooms in the Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center, Orange, Texas (ASLA Honor Award, 2012). Her monumental sculpture for the MUHC was the CodaAwards 2017 winner in the healthcare category.

Her artworks have been reviewed in magazines, newspapers, publications and online sites (Le Devoir, Espace, NY Arts, Vie des Arts, Parachute, etc.). Give Peace a Chance was selected for ArchitypeReview’s 2015 annual issue, published in ELA Environment and Landscape Architecture of Korea,  Dlle no. 4 Architectural Landscape, (Seoul, Korea), Paisea, (Valencia, Spain) Atlas of World Architecture (Switzerland) and Urban Spaces, (Barcelona); Havre in LW Landscape World (Seoul, Korea), Landscape Lighting (China)

Covit has received numerous grants from the Canada Council, the Japan-Canada Fund, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Cirque du Soleil and New York’s Pollock-Krasner Foundation.

Her works figure in the collections of the Musée d‘art contemporain Montréal, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the Collection Maurice A. Forget, the Cirque du Soleil, the Musée de Lachine, the Koffler Gallery, and the University of Concordia.

A monograph of her work was published spring 2014 by Plein sud.

Art practice

Creating large-scale installations for the public space is central to my art practice. My approach follows investigations into the overlapping areas of art, landscape art and architecture. My concepts are elaborated through research closely linked to specific projects. I enjoy the process of collaborating with professionals from complementary fields and have found this to expand the creative process through an exchange of ideas and approaches from differing backgrounds.

My interest is in the development of site responsive work that lies in the challenge of rendering a site with new meaning or heightening what is already there; in creating a gesture that transforms a public space into a personal experience; in creating a work that instils a sense of place. Scale, acknowledgement of the viewer, a harmonious relationship of the built with the natural are some of my concerns.