Eleanor Bond (born 25 March 1948) is a Canadian multimedia artist and art educator who is best known for reworking the Canadian landscape tradition using a new ecological awareness.

Early life

Eleanor Bond was born in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

to pharmacist Herbert Bond and teacher Mildred MacFarlane. She graduated from the School of Art,

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.comparative religion Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study of religion yie ...

and

interior design Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordin ...

Work

In the early 1980s, Bond produced aerial views of natural sites showing ecological disruption. In her ''Work Station'' (1989) and ''Social Centres'' (1992) bodies of work, Bond explored the impact of technological advances and

urban design Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, cities, and regional spaces, urban de ...

on humankind by producing staged, fictitious landscapes and built urban environments. She used lengthy, ironic titles in her earlier work. These large-scale, unstretched canvases suggested that the city is an imaginary place with landscapes that existed as in-between spaces. Recent projects include the ''Mountain of Shame'' series of paintings and sculptures (2010) that marked a shift away from the social and architectural and towards the personal. Bond created an emotional topography in which the vulnerabilities of doubt, age and loss are mapped on the surfaces of various media. Bond's work has been widely exhibited in Canada and internationally, including solo shows at the

Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art Kunstinstituut Melly is a contemporary art gallery located in a former school building on Witte de Withstraat, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It was founded in 1990 and originally named after the street it was located on. It presents curated exhib ...

in Rotterdam (1988 and 1995), the Clocktower in New York (1990), the

Winnipeg Art Gallery The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) is an art museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Its permanent collection includes over 24,000 works from Canadian, Indigenous Canadian, and international artists. The museum also holds the world's largest collec ...

(1992), Museo de Arte Moderna de São Paulo in Brazil (1995),

Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal The Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (MACM) is a contemporary art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the Place des festivals in the Quartier des spectacles and is part of the Place des Arts complex. Founded in 1964, it is ...

(1998) and

Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art The Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada (MOCA), formerly known as the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA), is a museum and art gallery in Toronto, Ontario. It is an independent, registered charitable organization. ...

in Toronto (2001). Group exhibitions have included shows at The

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the ...

(1989) and the

Vancouver Art Gallery The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is an art museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The museum occupies a adjacent to Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, making it the largest art museum in Western Canada by building size. Designed by Fran ...

(1991) as well as exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art in São Paulo (1987) and the Barbican Centre in London (1991). She has been a lecturer, has held studio residencies abroad, and has been actively involved in Plug In ICA in Winnipeg since its inception. Bond's solo show ''Mountain of Shame'', curated by

Helga Pakasaar Helga Pakasaar is a contemporary art curator and writer based in Vancouver, Canada. She has worked as Audain Chief Curator at Polygon Gallery (formerly Presentation House Gallery). She has also curated exhibitions for Griffin Art Projects in North ...

, was the inaugural exhibition that opened the new Plug In ICA gallery in 2010 and toured to the

Illingworth Kerr Illingworth "Buck" Kerr (20 August 1905 – 6 January 1989) was a Canadian painter, illustrator and writer. He is best known for his landscape paintings of the Saskatchewan and Alberta prairies and foothills. Early years Illingworth Holey Kerr w ...

Gallery at the

Alberta College of Art & Design The Alberta University of the Arts (AUArts) is a public art university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The university is a co-educational institution that operates four academic schools. The institution originated from the art departmen ...

(ACAD) in Calgary in 2011. Bond is an Associate Professor of painting and drawing who works with graduate students at

Concordia University Concordia University (French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the th ...

. She also maintains an active art studio in the

North End, Winnipeg Winnipeg's North End is a large urban area located to the north and northwest of Downtown Winnipeg. Paskievich, John. The North End Revisited, Photographs by John Paskievich. University of Manitoba Press, Winnipeg 2017. It is bordered by the Red ...

References

External links

Eleanor Bond: Quick aging pivoting cityEleanor Bond: "Art and Communities: Re-Imagining Possible Futures" (January 24, 2014), Powell River Voices
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bond, Eleanor 1948 births Living people 20th-century Canadian painters 20th-century Canadian women artists Artists from Winnipeg Canadian women painters Academic staff of Concordia University University of Manitoba alumni 21st-century Canadian women artists Canadian art educators Canadian women educators