Don Proch

Last updated

Don Proch
Born
Donald Proch

1942 (1942)
Hamilton, Ontario
EducationBachelor of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Manitoba (1966)
Known formultimedia artist

Don Proch DCL (born 1942) is a multimedia artist known for complex installations, masks, and silkscreen prints. His work is centered in his imaginings of the Canadian Praries combined with references to the Asessippi Valley, his life there and with global concerns of climate change.

Contents

Career

Proch was born in Hamilton, Ontario and raised on a farm in the Asessippi Valley. He took art at the University of Manitoba where Ivan Eyre who taught him basic drawing was of particular importance to him [1] and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Education from the university in 1966. He taught art in high school from 1967 to 1970, then in 1970 won a purchase award from the Winnipeg Art Gallery for Asessippi Tread (1970, Winnipeg Art Gallery), which he called a silverpoint drawing but is three-dimensional and composed of graphite, fibreglass, wood and steel.

He first showed at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in the Twelfth Winnipeg Biennial in 1970. In 1972 the Gallery held a solo exhibition of his work entitled The Legend of Asessippi: Space Drawings by the Ophtalmia Co. of Inglis, Manitoba (1972). [2] To complete this project, he enlisted what he called the Ophtalmia Company of Inglis, a team of artists, friends and relatives for help. They became known as the Ophthamalia Company of Inglis (his hometown). The original group included his father Dymetro (shop foreman), William H. Lobchuk (printer and director of The Grand Western Canadian Screen Shop), Thomas Melnick (sander/finisher), Steve Chachula (welder), Bertie Duncan (bird sculptor). Others joined including Doug Proch, artist Kelly Clark, Glen Tinley, Ernest Mayer, Gord Bonnell and Patrice. [3]

His work was included in 1973 in Canada Trajectories at the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris [4] and in the same year in Manitoba Mainstream at the National Gallery of Canada. [5] Numerous shows were held at the Winnipeg Art Gallery after the 1972 show, beginning with several group shows, then in the winter of 1975 the Gallery exhibited his prints, sculptures and masks in a show titled Asessippi Clouds. [5] In 1976 his work was chosen for exhibition at Place Bonaventure in Montreal for the all-Canadian Olympic show. In 1977 he completed a mural for the Winnipeg Convention Centre of a prairie scene, half-fashioned in chromed steel. [3] His work then went on a travelling show organized by the Winnipeg Art Gallery, titled Don Proch (1977). [6] His work was also included in major shows at the National Gallery of Canada such as Pluralities: 1980 = Pluralités: 1980 (1980) [7] and internationally in group shows in Brussels (1998) [8] and elsewhere. In 2009 his work was included in Flight Dreams, an exhibition organized by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. [9]

In 2019, Proch's silkscreen prints were included in Superscreen: The Making of an Artist-Run Counterculture and the Grand Western Canadian Screen Shop, organized by the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina in partnership with the School of Art Gallery at the University of Manitoba. [10] In 2021, Mayberry Fine Art in Winnipeg had a show of Proch`s work titled Asessippi Chrome, the first time Proch presented a solo exhibit locally since the 1990s. [11]

His fonds is in the library of the University of Regina. [12]

Work

Through his work which includes silkscreen prints made at the Grand Canadian Western Screen Shop, Proch has imagined a characteristic image of the prairies but added a perception of the environment and climate change. [11] His installation-sculpture and masks [1] often have a moulded fibreglass structure on which he worked with silverpoint, graphic and colored pencil, and to which he added found objects from his environment. He also has created art homages to Canadian people, events and places, [1] such as Jackson Beardy who, for five years (1979-1984) had the studio above his. [13]

For the first 20 years of his career he worked in black and white, then he began incorporating more colour, using coloured pencils to create landscapes. His 2021 Asessippi Chrome exhibition captured each stage of that development. [11]

Collections

His work is in public collections across Canada, including the National Gallery of Canada, [14] the Art Gallery of Ontario, [9] and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. [15] He has been represented by Mayberry Fine Art in Winnipeg since 2002. [9]

Honours

In 2019, St John's College at the University of Manitoba bestowed on him an Honorary Doctorate (DCL). [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcel Dzama</span>

Marcel Dzama is a contemporary artist from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada who currently lives and works in New York City. His work has been exhibited internationally, in particular his ink and watercolor drawings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Fafard</span> Canadian sculptor (1942–2019)

Joseph Fafard was a Canadian sculptor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald</span>

Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald D.F.A., also known as L. L. FitzGerald was a Canadian artist and art educator. He was the only member of the Group of Seven based in western Canada. He worked almost exclusively in Manitoba, where he captured the essence of the prairie in his art. Although he accepted the Group of Seven’s invitation to become a member in 1932, FitzGerald was less concerned than the rest of the group with the promotion of a unified Canadian identity. Instead he explored his surroundings, delving deeply into the forces he felt animated and united nature in order to make “the picture a living thing.”

Eleanor Bond is a Canadian multimedia artist and art educator who is best known for reworking the Canadian landscape tradition using a new ecological awareness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivan Eyre</span> Canadian artist (1935–2022)

Ivan Kenneth Eyre was a Canadian artist best known for his prairie landscapes and compositionally abstract, figurative paintings. In addition, Eyre was a Professor Emeritus of painting and drawing at the University of Manitoba where he taught for 33 years, from 1959 until his retirement in 1992. He has been described as a "visual philosopher" and "a true outsider and visionary".

KC Adams is a Cree, Ojibway, and British artist and educator based in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reta Cowley</span> Canadian painter

Reta Cowley was a Canadian painter. She is known for her watercolors of the prairie country around Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, which capture the unique qualities of space and light.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illingworth Kerr</span>

Illingworth "Buck" Kerr was a Canadian painter, illustrator and writer. He is best known for his landscape paintings of the Saskatchewan and Alberta prairies and foothills.

Eli Bornstein is an American-born Canadian artist and teacher who has spent most of his life in Saskatchewan, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gathie Falk</span> Canadian artist

Gathie Falk is a Canadian painter, sculptor, installation and performance artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Since the 1960s, she has created works that consider the simple beauty of everyday items and daily rituals.

Lita Fontaine is an interdisciplinary artist based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Often, her work explores the role of women in past and present Indigenous societies. She describes herself as tri-cultural: Dakota, Anishinaabe and Metis.

Ruth Cuthand D.F.A. is a Canadian artist of Plains Cree and Scots ancestry. She is considered an influential feminist artist of the Canadian prairies, and is lauded for her interpretation of racism and colonialism. Her work challenges mainstream perspectives on colonialism and the relationships between settlers and Indigenous people in a practice marked by political invective, humour, and a deliberate crudeness of style.

Diane Whitehouse is a Canadian painter, professor and art activist.

Diana Thorneycroft is a Canadian artist based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, whose work has exhibited nationally and internationally. She works primarily in photography, drawing, and sculpture/installation and makes photographs of staged dioramas to explore sexuality and national identity, and even, national icons such as the Group of Seven. Her work blurs the lines between gendered bodies by employing phalluses. She is also an educator: she worked as a sessional instructor at the University of Manitoba's School of Art for 25 years.

Leesa Streifler is a Canadian multi-disciplinary artist and art professor who lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her works have been exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions, nationally and internationally, and appear in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Canada and the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Surrey</span> Canadian painter (1910–1990)

Philip Surrey LL. D. (1910-1990) was a Canadian artist known for his figurative scenes of Montreal. A founding member of the Contemporary Arts Society, and Montreal Men's Press Club, Surrey was part of Montreal's cultural elite during the late 1930s and 1940s. In recognition of his artistic accomplishment he was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, awarded a Canadian Centennial Medal in 1967 and was appointed to the Order of Canada in 1982. His work is in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Ottawa Art Gallery, and museums across Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Bovey</span> Canadian politician

Patricia E. Bovey is a Canadian art historian from Manitoba. Bovey was the director of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (1980–1999) and the Winnipeg Art Gallery (1999–2004); art consultant (2004–2016); founder and director/curator, Buhler Gallery, St Boniface Hospital (2007–2016); past chair of the board of governors of the University of Manitoba and a former member of the board of trustees for the National Gallery of Canada. She also sat on the board of the Canada Council for the Arts. She was appointed director emerita, Winnipeg Art Gallery (2014).

Esther Warkov is a Canadian artist. Warkov is known for her large, segmented Surrealist paintings and detailed drawings that invoke a fantasy world in their imagery.

Gar Smith is a Canadian artist. His work is in the collections of National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Guelph, and the Canada Council Art Bank, among other collections.

William H. Lobchuk, known as Bill Lobchuk was one of the first people in Canada to found a printshop which made printmaking facilities available to contemporary artists. In 1968 he opened the Screen Shop at 50 Princess Street in Winnipeg with partner Len Anthony, which led to the founding of The Grand Western Canadian Screen Shop in 1973. It was the first print shop of its kind in Western Canada and a focus of printmaking production and distribution for artists, both in the Prairies and Canada-wide.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Karlinsky, Amy. "(Review of) Don Proch: Masking and Mapping". bordercrossingsmag.com. Border Crossings magazine, 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  2. ↑ Philip Fry, The Legend of Asessippi: Space Drawings by the Ophtalmia Co. of Inglis, Manitoba. Winnipeg, Man.: The Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1972
  3. 1 2 A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 (online only), by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada
  4. ↑ Rosalie Woloski, "A Paris showing for two Winnipeg artists", Winnipeg Tribune, Man., May 19, 1973
  5. 1 2 Bovey 2019, p. 126.
  6. ↑ William Kirby, Don Proch. Winnipeg, Man.: The Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1977
  7. ↑ Philip Fry, and Willard Holmes, and Jessica Bradley, and Chantal Pontbriand, and Allan MacKay, Pluralities : 1980 = Pluralités : 1980. Ottawa, Ont.: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada / National Gallery of Canada, 1980
  8. ↑ Réfractions: Trajets de l'art contemporain au Canada. Montréal, Qc: Éditions Artextes; Bruxelles, Belgique: s.n., 1998
  9. 1 2 3 Bovey 2019, p. 127.
  10. ↑ "Superscreen". www.umanitoba.ca. U Manitoba. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  11. 1 2 3 Wasney, Eva. "Field of vision". www.winnipegfreepress.com. Winnipeg Free Press, Dec. 2021. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  12. ↑ "Archival collections". www.uregina.ca. U Regina. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  13. ↑ Joan Murray, The Best of Canadian Art (Edmonton: Hurtig), p. 140 (1987)
  14. ↑ "Collection". www.gallery.ca. National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  15. ↑ "Collection". www.wag.ca. Winnipeg Art Gallery. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  16. ↑ "Artists". mayberryfineart.com. Mayberry Fine Art. Retrieved 3 January 2023.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.