TEITELBAUM o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2007-09-25 published
DANBY kept art real
The renowned realist artist died Sunday at 67 while canoeing
in Algonquin Park.
By Lee-Anne
GOODMAN, Canadian Press, Tues., September 25, 2007
Toronto -- Ken
DANBY, recognized as one of the world's foremost
realist artists and best-known in Canada for his iconic hockey
painting, At the Crease, has died at the age of 67 while canoeing
in Algonquin Park.
Born in Sault Ste. Marie,
DANBY's vast portfolio includes everything
from portraits of famous Canadians to athletes in midplay to
landscape paintings so crystalline that at first glance they
resemble photographs.
"He aspired to be -- and in many ways achieved -- the status
of Canada's storyteller," Matthew
TEITELBAUM, director of the
Art Gallery of Ontario, said yesterday.
"He wanted to be an artist who painted Canada in its heroic moments
and in its everyday moments… he wanted to tell people through
his art that you could paint realistically and capture great
emotion and generate great feeling, and he did."
Ken McGEE, manager of the Danby Studio in Guelph, called his
friend a Canadian treasure.
"He's been called a national icon and that's basically what he
was," he said.
The prolific
DANBY was said to have known from a young age that
he wanted to paint and enrolled in the Ontario College of Art
in 1958. His first one-man show in 1964 sold out, an occurrence
that would become commonplace as his work proved popular with
private, corporate and museum collectors.
When asked to identify his favourite work, he frequently replied:
"My next one."
His 1972 painting of a masked hockey goalie hunched in the crease
is considered by many to be a Canadian national symbol and is
sometimes mistakenly thought to be a portrait of legendary netminder
Ken Dryden. Lacing Up, another hockey painting of someone tying
his skates in a locker room, is almost equally iconic.
On his website,
DANBY recalled an encounter about At the Crease:
"One day, a woman complimented me on my painting At the Crease,
which she referred to as 'That painting you did of the goalie,
Ken Dryden,' " he recalled.
"She said that she had long had a print of it in her home and
really enjoyed it. I thanked her, but also explained that, 'It
isn't an image of Ken Dryden.' Looking puzzled, she replied,
'Yes it is.' I responded, 'No it isn't.' After a long pause,
she loudly exclaimed, 'Yes it is!' I quickly apologized, with
the sudden realization that she was right. It's really whomever
one wants it to be."
The goalie painting is
DANBY's most successful but there's a
lot more to his work,
McGEE said.
"It's a worldwide image now. Over the years we have sold literally
hundreds of thousands of those images -- anybody who knows hockey
knows that image and therefore knows Ken
DANBY," he said.
"But his reputation seemed to be, from the public point of view,
that of a sports artist and he was certainly much, much, much
more than that. His works ranged from sports images and panoramic
landscapes to huge oils and figurative works and just some stunning
works. Particularly in the last few years, his work has expanded
both in size and imagery."
In the 1980s,
DANBY prepared a series of watercolours on the
Americas Cup and the Canadian athletes at the 1984 Winter Olympics
in Sarajevo.
He also served on the governing board of the Canada Council and
as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Gallery
of Canada.
McGEE said
DANBY, who continued to paint avidly, was
on the lookout for new inspiration while canoeing with his wife,
Gillian, in Ontario's pristine Algonquin Park on Sunday.
"He died gathering information for more paintings," said
McGEE,
who remembered his friend as "amenable, friendly, approachable,
kind and generous."
DANBY was a big supporter of the arts, and frequently railed
against the lack of arts education in the public school system.
"The arts are just as important as math and science in education,
and just as important as any other endeavour in our lives," he
said. "Art is a necessity. Art is an absolutely essential part
of our enlightenment process. We cannot, as a species, as a civilized
society, regard ourselves as being enlightened without the arts."
Ontario provincial police say
DANBY collapsed while canoeing
on North Tea Lake. He was transported by air ambulance to North
Bay General Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
He's survived by his wife, Gillian and three sons.
T... Names TE... Names TEI... Names Welcome Home
TEITELBAUM - All Categories in OGSPI
TEIXEIRA o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2007-01-02 published
MITCHELL,
Russell
Howard
Peacefully at Saint Thomas Elgin General Hospital on Saturday,
December 30, 2006. Russell Howard
MITCHELL of R.R.#1, Straffordville
in his 80th year. Beloved husband of 51 years Hazel
(PARKER)
MITCHELL. Dear father of Jeanette
BALDWIN and partner Dan
SMYTH
of Pt. Burwell and Linda
MITCHELL and fiancé John
TEIXEIRA of
Cambridge. Loving grandfather of Mark and Paul. Also survived
by a brother Lawrence
MITCHELL, sisters-in-law Jean and Evelyn
MITCHELL and a number of nieces and nephews. Predeceased by an
infant daughter Myrna, brothers Eugene, Walter and Max
MITCHELL.
Born in Bayham Township on June 12, 1927
son of the late Grant
and Mildred
(WOODWORD)
MITCHELL.
Russell was farmer and a member
of Richmond United Church. Friends may call at the H.A. Kebbel
Funeral Home, Aylmer on Tuesday 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. where the funeral
service will be held on Wednesday, January 3, 2007 at 1: 00 p.m.
Interment,
Straffordville
Cemetery. Rev. Norman
JONES, officiating.
Donations to the Richmond United Church would be appreciated.
Condolences at kebbelfuneralhome.com
T... Names TE... Names TEI... Names Welcome Home
TEIXEIRA - All Categories in OGSPI