Saskatchewan NAC

Saskatchewan Artist

David Garneau
Starlight Tour - 2008 - by David Garneau

David Garneau

David Garneau is a Métis artist born in 1962 in Edmonton, Alberta. He moved to Calgary at the age of 17 but soon returned to Edmonton to begin a career in childcare. During this time he made sculptures of people he saw around Edmonton, and though he was selling his work regularly, he decided to return to Calgary to study painting and drawing at the University of Calgary. Garneau received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1989. He went on to receive his Masters in American Literature in 1993. He taught at the University of Calgary and the Alberta College of Art until 1999, and then moved to Regina, Saskatchewan to teach at the University of Regina.

Garneau’s practice includes painting, drawing, curating and critical writing.  He has curated several large exhibitions and written numerous catalogue essays and reviews.  In 1989 Garneau co-founded Artichoke, a visual-arts quarterly that was published until 2005. While in Regina, Garneau has become involved in the arts community through a number of institutions and groups. He has curated exhibitions for the MacKenzie Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of Regina, and has been involved with the Sakewewak First Nations Artists' Collective.

 

Garneau's work explores themes of masculinity, history and identity, including his own Métis identity. As Garneau says, “My task is two-fold: to explore the historical aspects of Métis identity and culture; to examine the Riel cult and to see Métis identity against the larger issues of Aboriginal, Settler and masculinity dynamics; and to explore the contemporary lived experience of Métis identity.” His oil paintings have been exhibited across Canada in group and solo shows, including the recent “Drive-By Landscapes” solo exhibition at Regina's Mysteria Gallery (2010).

Garneau's works are found in the collections of the Canadian Museum of Civilization (Ottawa), The Canadian Parliament, the Mackenzie Art Gallery (Regina), the Mendel Art Gallery (Saskatoon), Glenbow Museum (Calgary), City of Calgary, University of Lethbridge, and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, among others.

Garneau has received awards and grants from organizations including the Saskatchewan Arts Board and the Canada Council for the Arts, designed a coin honouring Louis Riel for the Royal Canadian Mint, and in 2023 received the Canada's Governor General Award for outstanding achievement in Visual Arts.

 

David Garneau is a Professor in Visual Arts at the University of Regina.

 

 

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David Garneau

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