Shirley Wiitasalo

Shirley Wiitasalo (born 1949) is a Canadian painter whose work is characterized by abstract shapes and lines based on urban environments.[1] In 2011 she won the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts.[2]

Shirley Wiitasalo
Born1949
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Alma materOCAD University
Known forpainter
MovementAbstraction
AwardsGovernor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts (2011), The Gershon Iskowitz Prize (1998)

Life and work

Wiitasalo was born in 1949 in Toronto where she continues to live and work. From 1967-68 she studied at the Ontario College of Art with François Thépot.[2] From 1974 to 1991 she was represented by the former Carmen Lamanna Gallery. Since 1993 Wiitasalo has been represented by Susan Hobbs Gallery in Toronto.[3]

In 1986 she received the Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award from the Canada Council.[4] In 1998 Wiitasalo won The Gershon Iskowitz Prize a $50,000 cash prize and a solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario.[5]

According to a nomination statement given by artist, Ian Carr-Harris at the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts, Wiitasalo has over the course of her 30-year long career 'both inherited and shifted the practice of painting'.[6] Her work has been described as "lush washes of colour and pattern and ethereal swipes of obscuring neutrals".[7]

Wiitasalo has used photographic emulsions in her work, her 1981 painting Interior was created on a stretched canvas painted with Liquid Light, an image was projected onto it and finished with Bellini oils.[8]

Major exhibitions

Wiitasalo has exhibited widely across Canada in museums, artist run centres, and commercial galleries. Notably, in 2000 she had a solo exhibition at The Power Plant and was included in the exhibition Some Canadian Women Artists organized by the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.[9] Internationally she has participated in exhibitions at Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland (1993);[10] Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (1993); GreeneNaftali, New York (1999); in 1981 the National Gallery of Canada organized the exhibition titled, 20th Century Canadian Painting, which travelled to The National Museum of Art, Tokyo, Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan, and Oita Perfectural Art Centre, Oita City, Kyusha, Japan.[11]

Further reading
  • Enright, Robert (August 2005). "Elusive Clarity: An Interview with Shirley Wiitasalo". Border Crossings (95).
  • Monk, Philip (1987). Shirley Wiitasalo. The Art Gallery of Ontario. ISBN 0919777511.
  • Newlands, Anne (2007). Canadian Paintings, Prints and Drawings. Firefly Books. ISBN 9781554072903.

References
  1. "Shirley Wiitasalo - National Gallery of Canada | National Gallery of Canada". gallery.ca. 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  2. Bradley, Jessica (September 14, 2011). "Shirley Wiitasalo". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
  3. "Shirley Wiitasalo". www.susanhobbs.com. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  4. "Prizes". Canada Council. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  5. "Shirley Wiitasalo Nomination Statement by Ian Carr-Harris" (PDF). Canada Council for the Arts. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  6. Vaughn, R.M. (2015). "Shirley Wiitasalo, right down to the peek-a-boo - The Globe and Mail". theglobeandmail.com. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  7. Wallert Arie (1995). Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice. Getty Conservation Institute. p. 193. ISBN 978-0892363223.
  8. "Collections - Shirley Wiitasalo". www.gallery.ca. National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  9. "Kunsthalle Bern - HÖFER CANDIDA, WIITASALO SHIRLEY". kunsthalle-bern.ch. 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  10. "Shirley Wiitasalo - biography". www.susanhobbs.com. Susan Hobbs Gallery. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
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