A multi-disciplinary designer and maker of Métis heritage, Denise Préfontaine creates artworks featuring the beauty of colour, light, and nature.

Each work begins from a place of enchantment;
a beautiful material, an intriguing concept, or a compelling location. Inquiry and exploration ensue, until the pieces fall into some form of playful or poetic expression.

Denise excels at creating for a specific site or context, drawing on her background in architectural design to create artworks which capture the unique features inherent in a place or a situation.

Graduating with honours from the Faculty of Architecture, University of Manitoba (BID), Denise went on to work as a designer-maker, art educator, and curator before combining these experiences in her work as a public artist.

After years of outwardly-focused production and community development work, she’s returned home to her first love - a making practice led by an intimate connection with materials and process. It’s a quiet practice, beginning in contemplation and in communion with materials. Light plays an important role in the work, and in some pieces is an essential element. While light is non-material, Denise sometimes uses it to craft ‘shadow objects’ - coloured reflections which extend beyond the physical object.

Public commissions include work for Canada’s National Capital Commission, the Winnipeg Arts Council, Revenue Canada, and for Canada House and the High Commissioner’s Official Residence in London, England.

Denise now leads a studio-based practice from her home in Winnipeg, Canada.