NORTH ADAMS — Denise Markonish grew up in Brockton and still lives in Massachusetts. She is a curator at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams. She is, in other words, a local.

But Markonish has a treacherous heart. For she has fallen in love with — oh, surely it can’t be! — Canada. And after four years traipsing across that vast country, visiting more than 400 artist studios in search of the best in contemporary art, she finds herself in the unusual position of being an American-born ambassador for Canadian art.