Leo Yerxa

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Leo Yerxa is a Canadian visual artist, medallist, and writer. As an illustrator of children's picture books he won the Governor General's Award in 2006. [1] He lived in Ottawa, Ontario, then. He died on September 1, 2017. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Yerxa was born in 1947 on the Little Eagle Reserve, Couchiching First Nation, in northwestern Ontario. He studied graphic arts at Algonquin College (Ottawa), and fine arts at the University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Ontario).

Career

Yerxa began publishing poetry and participating in group art shows in the 1970s, and had his first one-man gallery show at the Thunder Bay National Exhibition Centre and Centre for Indian Art, entitled "Renegade: The Art of Leo Yerxa", [3] 1984.

Yerxa's designs were used for the Series Four 1975 (1976) Summer Olympic Coins. The coins bearing his designs included $5: Marathon Runner; $5: Women's Javelin; $10: Women's Shot Put; and $10: Men's Hurdles. His use of Algonquin art motifs in the design of these coins is considered an early example of Canadian public art expressions of indigenous values and aesthetics. [4]

Yerxa is the author or several books for children, including the critically acclaimed Ancient Thunder. [5] [6] for which he received a Governor General's Literary Award in 2006. [7] and Last Leaf, First Snowflake to Fall, [8]

Visual arts

Group exhibitions

Individual exhibitions

Public commissions

Books

Author and illustrator

Illustrator

Awards

See also

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References

  1. "Winners of the 2006 Governor General's Literary Awards". Canada Council for the Arts (canadacouncil.ca). Archived 2012-09-19. Retrieved 2015-08-01.
  2. Crawford, Blair (2017-09-15). "Obituary: Ojibway artist Leo Yerxa bridged gulf between Indigenous and European art". Ottawa Citizen Updated. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  3. Renegade: The Art of Leo Yerxa [ permanent dead link ]
  4. Wayne Jacobs, "Symbolism in the Series V 1975 Olympic Coins", Mid-Island Coin Club Numismatic Journal. Archived October 9, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  5. Ancient Thunder Reviewed on Quill and Quire
  6. "ANCIENT THUNDER". Kirkus Reviews.
  7. Book Review | Ancient Thunder by Leo Yerxa; Napi Goes to the Mountain by Elisa Amado and Antonio Ramárez; Tarde de invierno/Winter Afternoon by Elisa Amado, Jorge Lujàn, and ... Archived 2014-07-25 at the Wayback Machine
  8. "Small print: Reviews of books for kids and teens". Toronto Star.
  9. "Leo Yerxa Edition VIII - Artist labels". Archived from the original on 2014-12-21. Retrieved 2014-12-20.
  10. "Last Leaf First Snowflake to Fall" Publishers Weekly.
  11. McNaughton, Janet. "Children's Books - Home Truths". Books in Canada.
  12. "Ancient Thunder." CM Magazine,Volume XIII Number 2,September 15, 2006
  13. Children's Book Review: Ancient Thunder by Leo Yerxa, Author . Groundwood/Anansi $18.95 (32p) ISBN   978-0-88899-746-3
  14. "What They Used to Tell About" World Cat entry.
  15. "Johnny National, Super Hero"
  16. Patten, Cheryl. Author and artist receives literary award |Ontario Birch Bark, Volume 24, Issue 9, 2006. via Windspeaker - AMMSA: Indigenous news, issues and culture