Elaine Goble is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

visual artist The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...

who lives in

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Biography

Early life

Elaine Goble was born in 1956 in

St. Thomas, Ontario St. Thomas is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It gained its city charter on March 4, 1881. The city is also the seat for Elgin County, although it is independent of the county. At the time of the 2021 Census, the population of the city w ...

to Mr. and Mrs. Grant Goble of Avon, Canada.Brandon, Laura. “Colville to Goble: Some Thoughts on the Evolving Place of Photography In Canadian Military Art.” ''Canadian Military History'' 26, Iss. 1 (May 15, 2017)
https://scholars.wlu.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgiarticle=1864&context=cmh.
In 1979, Goble moved to

, where she continues to live, and worked as a secretary on

Parliament Hill Parliament Hill (), colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern bank of the Ottawa River that houses the Parliament of Canada in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. It accommodates a suite of Gothic revival buildings whose ...

during her first five years there. In 1981, she married Denis Rozon who worked as a system analyst. In 1990, they had two daughters, Alianne Rozon and Amélie Rozon, eighteen months apart.“Local artist comes home for the Anniversary.” ''Aylmer Express'', June 1986. https://www.elgincounty.ca/ElginCounty/CulturalServices/Archives/tweedsmuir/Kingsmill-Mapleton%20Vol%204/page%20095%20-%20110.pdf. page 8 In the early 1980s, Goble decided to work full time as a

Visual Artist The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...

after being offered to exhibit her work at the McPherson Gallery in

. She resigned from her full-time job in

to pursue her artistic career in the early 1980s upon meetin
Paul Duval
her mentor.

Education

Goble graduated in 1975 from

Lord Dorchester Secondary School Lord Dorchester Secondary School is a Thames Valley District School Board Secondary School located in the town of Dorchester, Ontario, part of the municipality of Thames Centre, in the county of Middlesex, in Ontario, Canada. Although small whe ...

London, Ontario London is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River (Ontario), Thames River and N ...

. In 1975 she continued her education at

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

, in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. After two years of working towards a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students pursuing a professional education in the visual arts, Fine art, or performing arts. In some instances, it is also called a Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA). Background ...

degree at

, she moved back to Avon, Ontario due to the high pressure of becoming an artist in the city. In 1977, Goble enrolled at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

where she graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree.

Works

Artistic process

Although Goble has worked in a variety of

mediums Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spir ...

, she favors pencil drawings the most. Goble finds inspiration from photographs of strangers, an example of this is referencing pictures of veterans she took at a Remembrance Day ceremony in

. Through her drawings she hopes to emphasize the subjects personalities by listening to their stories and combining significant details of their lives within each piece. Goble’s hyper-realism works fall under the classification of

representational art Representation is the use of signs that stand in for and take the place of something else.Mitchell, W. 1995, "Representation", in F Lentricchia & T McLaughlin (eds), ''Critical Terms for Literary Study'', 2nd edn, University of Chicago Press, Chica ...

with a focus on

portraiture A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better re ...

drawings. In her ''Cost of War: The Canadian Homefront'' exhibition, the process of each piece took 6-9 months to complete, this included multiple meetings with her subjects to understand their background and engage in photography sessions. Within her work, Goble consistently uses photography to develop compositions, exhibit and donate works, while never considering herself a professional photographer. Photography is a vital tool in her artistic process used to capture her subjects. Afterward, she creates using

graphite Graphite () is a Crystallinity, crystalline allotrope (form) of the element carbon. It consists of many stacked Layered materials, layers of graphene, typically in excess of hundreds of layers. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable ...

, with subtle use of

egg tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. ''Tempera'' also refers to the paintings done in ...

and sometimes

oil paint Oil paint is a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil. Oil paint also has practical advantages over other paints, mainly because it is waterproof. The earliest surviving ...

. This process begins with a photograph being printed then transferred onto large pieces of mat board where she then copies the images onto her own support. She uses a detailed hand with tiny strokes to create her desired tones and lines. The range of values in her palette is diverse, using graphite pencils as dark as 6B. Her works done in

maintain a photographic composition and origin even though the medium is different. This effect happens through the use of finite detail and, almost always the whole surface is depicted in hyper-realism. Over the years, she has questioned the value of her photographs compared to her finished artworks, both attract genuine attention but more serious institutional interest and dollar value are placed on her handcrafted drawings and paintings over the photographs. Due to this, Goble does not consider her two practices equal.

Major works

Among Goble’s most famous works is a 2008 drawing titled ''Lucy and Her Family''. This work depicts the true story of Lucy Gagnon who is pictured alongside her husband and teenage daughter. The three of them stand with Lucy who is in the front wearing her military uniform. Gagnon was a neighbor of Gobles and at this time Lucy had been faced with the opportunity to go over to Afghanistan for an important posting, with all her gear packed and ready to go she noticed that even though she was all ready for the mission, her daughter may not have been. Realizing this, Lucy had to decide on whether she should respond to the call to Afghanistan or be present with her family. Goble demonstrates that the final decision of what Lucy chose is not important here. While explaining what this piece is about Elaine says, “I think what’s really important is that she was put in a position where there was no right answer, where there are messy unfortunate decisions that will make people unhappy when one has to go into a dangerous area and leave kith and kin behind.”“Battle Lines Drawn.” ''National Post,'' January 2009. For over a decade, she worked on her contemporary war-themed series that is inspired by the consequences of war. Her dedication and hard work allowed her to exhibit this series at the

McMichael Canadian Art Collection The McMichael Canadian Art Collection (MCAC) is an art museum in Kleinburg, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located on a property in Kleinburg, an unincorporated village in Vaughan. The property includes the museum's main building, a sculpture gar ...

Kleinburg, Ontario Kleinburg is an unincorporated village in the city of Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, an art gallery with a focus on the Group of Seven, and the Kortright Centre for Conservation. In 2001, the village ...

, The

Canadian War Museum The Canadian War Museum (CWM) () is a National museums of Canada, national museum on the military history of Canada, country's military history in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The museum serves as both an educational facility on Canadian military hist ...

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, and the

Canadian Museum of Civilization The Canadian Museum of History () is a national museum on anthropology, Canadian history, cultural studies, and ethnology in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. The purpose of the museum is to promote the heritage of Canada, as well as support related res ...

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, directly across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region of Quebec and is also p ...

Themes

In the past 25 years, Goble’s work has been largely focused on the legacies of war, specifically the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and how military families are affected by it. Elaine Goble has been an active artist in contemporary

military art Military art is art with a military subject matter, regardless of its style or medium. The battle scene is one of the oldest types of art in developed civilizations, as rulers have always been keen to celebrate their victories and intimidate ...

by researching alternative perspectives on war life as she transitions from traditional, documentary depictions of war to further question the military’s activities and critically examine the problems of military life on the soldiers and their families. Challenging old views on history with new perspectives allows for an increased limitation on the bias since there are more diverse views on the subject being depicted. There have been gallery guidelines that sometimes prohibit the acceptance of these types of artworks due to the type of narrative they are trying to display, which is a struggle the artists under this movement experience. Other artists following this movement of

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

include Gertrude Kearns, Allan Harding Makay, Scott Waters, and

Alex Colville David Alexander Colville (August 24, 1920 – July 16, 2013) was a Canadian painter and printmaker. Early life and war artist David Alexander Colville was born on August 24, 1920 in Toronto, Ontario, the second son of Scottish immigrant D ...

Exhibitions

Elaine Goble’s artistic career started in 1977, she had a solo exhibition at Founders Art Gallery at

and an exhibition of

Oil Paintings Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or copper for several centuries. ...

Hart House Hart House may refer to: * Harthouse, a record label ;in Canada * Hart House (Alberta), historic house of the Hart wrestling family * Hart House (University of Toronto), a student centre ;in the United States * Wilson A. Hart House, La Junta, Col ...

, Toronto Ontario. In 1978, she participated in the Juried Group Exhibition of Prints, at the Art Gallery of the

. The mid- late 1980s exhibitions such as: Solo Drawing Exhibition, McPherson Gallery,

, 1985. Group Exhibition, Juried, City Hall,

, 1986. Solo Drawing Exhibition, Nancy Poole’s Studio, Toronto, ON, 1987. ''About Faces'', Group Portrait Exhibition, Nancy Poole’s Studio,

, 1988. She ended the decade with ''A Private Moment'', Solo Exhibition of

Egg Tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. ''Tempera'' also refers to the paintings done in ...

Paintings, Nancy Poole’s Studio,

, 1989.3 In the early 90s, Goble’s career took off with a total of seven exhibitions between 1990-1994. These included: ''Works on Paper'', Juried Group Exhibition, ArtsCount,

, 1990. Invitational, Nancy Poole’s Studio, Toronto, Ontario, 1990. ''Rediscovering the Art of Painting'', Group Exhibition, Nancy Poole’s Studio, Toronto, Ontario, 1991. Solo Exhibition, Robertson’s Gallery,

, 1992. National Fine Art Competition, Group Exhibition,

, 1993. ''The Canadian Figure,'' Group Exhibition, Nancy Poole’s Studio, Toronto, Ontario, 1993. ''Portraits'', Solo Exhibition of

Paintings, Nancy Poole’s Studio, Toronto, Ontario, 1994. In the late 1990s, Goble began to focus on solo exhibitions which include: ''The Collection- Ten Years Later'', Karsh- Masson Gallery,

Ottawa, ON Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, 1996. ''Canadian Achievement'', Phase 1, Solo Exhibition, Paintings, Drawings, and Photography,

New Brunswick Museum The New Brunswick Museum, located in Saint John, New Brunswick, is Canada's oldest continuing museum. The New Brunswick Museum was incorporated as the "Provincial Museum" in 1929 and received its current name in 1930, but its history goes back muc ...

, Saint John, New Brunswick, 1996. And continued with ''Canadian Achievement'', Phase II, Solo Exhibition, Paintings, Drawings, and Photography, New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, New Brunswick, 1997. Ending the century with a Portrait Exhibition, Wallacks Galleries, Ottawa, Ontario, 1999. Afterwards, she slowed down in the early 2000s participating in two exhibitions; one being the Solo Exhibition, Gallery Telpaz, Ottawa, Ontario, 2000 and the Group Portrait and Figure Exhibition, Abbozzo Gallery,

Oakville, Ontario Oakville is a town and List of municipalities in Ontario#Lower-tier municipalities, lower-tier municipality in Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton Region, Ontario, Canada. Generally seen as a commuter suburb of Toronto, it is located on Lake ...

, 2003. In the mid-late 2000s, she began producing some work that she is most well-known for; Solo Exhibition, Dale Smith Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario, 2005. ''Promises to Keep'', Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario, 2005-07. ''Painting of Ground Zero'',

, 2007-09. ''Star Portraits'', PTV/ Bravo Production, Documentary, 2009. ''War, a Family Affair'',

, Kleinberg. Kingston Prize Exhibition,

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...

, 2009. Finally, an exhibition that caught the attention of the media, ''Cost of War- The Canadian Homefront'', solo exhibition, St. Lawrence College, Brockville, Ontario, 2009. In 2010, she participated in the Juried Exhibition,

Art Gallery of Peterborough The Art Gallery of Peterborough is a free admission, non-profit public art gallery in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. A registered charity that depends on the support of its members, it was founded in 1974 by an independent board of volunteers. I ...

Peterborough, Ontario Peterborough ( ) is a city on the Otonabee River in Ontario, Canada, about 125 kilometres (78 miles) northeast of Toronto. According to the 2021 Census, the population of the City of Peterborough was 83,651. The population of the Peterborough ...

, and in 2011 Goble was commissioned by the National Capital to create ''Portraits in the Street'' that was then featured in the

National Archives of Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; ) is the federal institution tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is the 16th largest library in the world. Th ...

. In 2012, she created one major piece, ''Double Take: Portraits of Intriguing Canadians'', and continued it as a traveling exhibition featured at a variety of locations between the years of 2012-2014. These locations include:

, Kleinburg, Ontario, 2012.

(now known as the Canadian Museum of History), Gatineau, Quebec, 2013. The

Agnes Etherington Art Centre The Agnes Etherington Art Centre is located in Kingston, Ontario, on the campus of Queen's University. The gallery has received a number of awards for its exhibitions from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Association of Art Galleries ...

Queen's University at Kingston Queen's University at Kingston, commonly known as Queen's University or simply Queen's, is a public university, public research university in Kingston, Ontario, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Queen's holds more than of land throughout Ontario and ...

, Ontario, 2013-14, and the Canadian Military Engineers Museum, Oromocto, New Brunswick, 2014.“Elaine Goble.” Abbozzo Gallery Toronto. https://abbozzogallery.com/elaine-goble/ Her most recent works include: ''The Painted Truth'', Wallack Galleries, Ottawa, Ontario, 2015.Wallack Gallery. ''Elaine Goble: The Painted Truth.'' Ottawa: Wallack Gallery, 2015. Group Exhibition: Go Figure at First Canadian Place, Abbozzo Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, 2016. Egg Tempera and Mixed Media Landscape and Architecture Paintings in the Feature Gallery, Abbozzo Gallery, Toronto, Ontario. Agriculture and Food Museum, Ingenium Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, 2016. ''The Tamworth'',

painting showcased at

Canada Agriculture and Food Museum The Canada Agriculture and Food Museum () is a national agricultural museum in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Occupying several buildings within the Central Experimental Farm, the museum operates as a "working farm", and provides public programs and exh ...

, Ingenium Canada,

, 2018. Lastly, a Group Exhibition, Abbozzo Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, 2019.

Collections

* National Defence Canada, Canadian Military Engineers Museum *

Royal Canadian Mint The Royal Canadian Mint () is the mint of Canada and a Crown corporation, operating under an act of parliament referred to as the ''Royal Canadian Mint Act''. The shares of the mint are held in trust for the Crown in right of Canada. The mi ...

* Canada Council Art Bank * Queen’s University,

, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada * City of

Awards and achievements

* 2013: Made a life-long member of the Principal’s Circle of Distinction, Grant Hall Society,

, Ontario. * 2010: Short- listed for the

Diamond Jubilee A diamond jubilee celebrates the 60th anniversary of a significant event related to a person (e.g. accession to the throne or wedding, among others) or the 60th anniversary of an institution's founding. The term is also used for 75th annivers ...

Portrait of Her Majesty, The Queen of Canada * 2009: Finalist
The Kingston Prize
* 2005: Award: Artist for the Year of the Veteran coin design,

, Commissioned by the Royal Canadian Mind to design commemorative coin of the Year of the Veteran ** 30 Million quarters in general circulation ** 20,000 Ten-dollar fine silver collection coins * 1997- 2000: Exclusive Portrait for the

Canadian Figure Skating Association Skate Canada (Canadian French: ''Patinage Canada'', lit. "Skating Canada") is the national governing body for figure skating in Canada, recognized by the International Skating Union and the Canadian Olympic Committee. It organizes the annual ...

’s Hall of Fame * 1997: Assistant to photographer

Malak Karsh Malak Karsh, MPA. (March 1, 1915 – November 8, 2001) was a Canadian photographer known for his photographs of Canada and the Ottawa region. Career Born in Mardin, Ottoman Empire, a few months before the Armenian genocide, he emigrated to Can ...

* 1993: First place, Portraiture, Canadian National Fine Arts Competition

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goble, Elaine 1956 births Artists from Ontario Canadian women illustrators Canadian women artists University of Western Ontario alumni People from St. Thomas, Ontario Living people