Jeffrey John Spalding (November 5, 1951 – October 14, 2019) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

-born

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) 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 ...

artist, curator, author, and educator.

Career

Spalding earned his BA in 1973 from the

University of Guelph , mottoeng = "to learn the reasons of realities" , established = May 8, 1964 ()As constituents: OAC: (1874) Macdonald Institute: (1903) OVC: (1922) , type = Public university , chancellor ...

, a master's degree in art education from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pu ...

and an MFA from the

Nova Scotia College of Art and Design NSCAD University, also known as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design or NSCAD, is a public art university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university is a co-educational institution that offers bachelor's and master's degrees. The univ ...

. For more than forty years, Spalding taught at various education institutions and was actively involved as a museum professional. Over the course of his career he worked as a curator and director at various visual arts institutions including the

University of Lethbridge , mottoeng = ''Let there be light'' , type = Public , established = , academic_affiliations = Universities Canada , endowment = $73 million (2019) , chancellor = Charles Wease ...

, the

Glenbow Museum The Glenbow Museum is an art and history regional museum in the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The museum focuses on Western Canadian history and culture, including Indigenous perspectives. The Glenbow was established as a private non-profit ...

, and the

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) is a public provincial art museum based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The art museum's primary building complex is located in downtown Halifax and takes up approximately of space. The museum complex compr ...

. Between 1999 and 2002 Spalding served as the director of the

Appleton Museum of Art The Appleton Museum of Art is an art museum located in Ocala, Florida. It is affiliated with and governed by the College of Central Florida and has been since 2004. The Appleton Museum of Art houses a collection (museum), permanent collection of ...

in Ocala, Florida. He served as the 30th president of the RCA (Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts) from 2007 to 2009. From 2007 to 2009 Spalding also served as the President and CEO of the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta. From 2015 to 2017, he was the Chief Curator of the

Beaverbrook Art Gallery The Beaverbrook Art Gallery is a public art gallery in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. It is named after William Maxwell "Max" Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, who funded the building of the gallery and assembled the original collection. It opened ...

Fredericton Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...

, New Brunswick. In addition to his work as an educator and museum professional, Spalding also led a successful career as a painter and printmaker. His work can be found in major collections in Canada and around the world including 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 ...

, 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 ...

, the

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA; french: Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, MBAM) is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Squ ...

, the

Art Gallery of Alberta The Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) is an art museum in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The museum occupies a building at Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton. The museum building was originally designed by Donald G. Bittorf, and B. James Wensley, alth ...

, the

McMichael Canadian Art Collection The McMichael Canadian Art Collection (MCAC) is an art museum in Vaughan, 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 ...

, the

Robert McLaughlin Gallery The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is a public art gallery in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest public art gallery in the Regional Municipality of Durham, of which Oshawa is a part. The gallery houses a significant collection of Canadian cont ...

and the

. His work is also in the collections of the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., as well as the Canadian Consulate in Sydney, Australia. During 2018 and much of 2019, Spalding was living in Tao Hua Tan, China where he frequently took part in artist residencies. During this time he also curated a couple of exhibitions featuring prominent Chinese artists. Jeffrey Spalding was named to the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the c ...

in 2007. He died from a stroke in 2019 at the age of 67.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spalding, Jeffrey 1951 births 2019 deaths Canadian painters Canadian art curators Canadian educators Scottish emigrants to Canada Canadian printmakers Canadian male non-fiction writers 20th-century Canadian non-fiction writers Members of the Order of Canada University of Guelph alumni Ohio State University alumni NSCAD University alumni