Screenshot taken of the 2026 Rewilding Arts Prize finalists (Image Credit: David Suzuki Foundation)

By Jett Schwaier

SMILE SUNDAYS

Medicine Hat artist Barnett is a finalist for the 2026 Rewilding Arts Prize

Mar 8, 2026 | 6:00 AM

The David Suzuki Foundation has named Medicine Hat resident, Melanie Barnett, as one of 20 finalists for the 2026 Rewilding Arts Prize that recognizes artwork that explores renewed relationships between people, land, water and the living world.

Founded in 1990, the David Suzuki Foundation is a national, bilingual non-profit organization that works to conserve and protect the natural environment and help create a sustainable Canada through evidence-based research, education and policy analysis.

Barnett is a professional ceramic artist who moved to Medicine Hat over a year ago to complete a year-long residency at Medalta in the city’s Historic Clay District.

“I’ve worked with themes of the environment and themes of ecosystems and regeneration of ecosystems and revitalization of natural landscapes,” Barnett said.

“I decided that I really enjoyed living in Medicine Hat, so I chose to stay.”

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Before moving to Medicine Hat, Barnett graduated from Brandon University and NSCAD University in Halifax with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics.

In Brandon, Barnett studied from the IshKaabatens Waasa Gaa Inaabateg Department of Visual Art.

Barnett’s work has been included in national and international publications and has been exhibited across Canada.

Barnett said the work piece submitted to the foundation, When There Were No Frogs, was created during her residency at Medalta and was inspired by childhood memories of frogs disappearing from ponds near the family’s grain farm after pesticide spraying during a Bertha armyworm infestation.

The piece reflects the loss of the bioindicator species and their eventual return years later, highlighting the relationship between agriculture and surrounding ecosystems.

Barnett said being a finalist alongside artists from across Canada is especially meaningful as someone working in a smaller community, saying it often seems that artists need to live in major cities such as Toronto or Montreal to be successful.

“It’s really honouring to know that I’ve been considered for this, but it shows myself and other rural artists that you can make it in this way, that you don’t have to subscribe to the status quo,” Barnett said

“You can live in a community like Medicine Hat and still be successful.”

Barnett is also a member of the Grasslands Naturalists group, which works to raise awareness about native prairie ecosystems in southeastern Alberta, and hopes the recognition could help open the door to future collaboration and greater attention for prairie conservation efforts.