Joseph Fafard (September 2, 1942 – March 16, 2019) was a Canadian

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Biography

Joseph Fafard was a twelfth generation Canadian born in 1942 in Ste. Marthe, Saskatchewan, to French Canadians Leopold Fafard and Julienne Cantin. Fafard is a descendant of Jacques Goulet. He received a B.F.A from the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

in 1966 and a M.F.A. from

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in 1968. From 1968 to 1974, he taught sculpture at the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

, Regina Campus (now the

University of Regina The University of Regina is a public university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the University of Saskatchewan as a j ...

). He was a visiting lecturer at the University of California, Davis in 1980–1981. He received several awards throughout his professional career including being named an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

in 1981, the Architectural Institute of Canada Allied Arts Award in 1987, the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2002, the National Prix Montfort in 2003, and the Lieutenant Governor's Saskatchewan Centennial Medal for the Arts in 2005. He also received Honorary Doctorate Degrees from the

(1989) and

(2007). Fafard met Ric Gomez and David Gilhooly in 1968 when he arrived at the Regina School of Art to teach pottery and sculpture. They introduced him to Funk art and under their influence, he began making figures in clay. Throughout his career, Fafard sculpted with plaster, clay, and bronze, which was his primary medium in the 1980s. His work was heavily influenced by his Saskatchewan surroundings, and ranged in size from handheld to larger than life-sized. He worked closely with choreographer Jean Pierre Perrault to place his cow sculptures as set designs for several of Perrault's environmental dance pieces. In 1985, he opened the Julienne Atelier foundry in Pense, Saskatchewan, where he was based for the majority of his working years. At the foundry, he worked in series, producing portraits of well-known artists and politicians, including bronzes of Canadian prime ministers Pierre Elliott Trudeau, and John G. Diefenbaker. Fafard's works have been shown in Canada and abroad in countries including the United States, Great Britain, France and Japan. In 2007, Terrence Heath curated the

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in software development, popular culture, and the arts. ...

exhibition ''Joe Fafard'' for the National Gallery of Canada and

MacKenzie Art Gallery The MacKenzie Art Gallery (MAG; ) is an art museum located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The museum occupies the multipurpose T. C. Douglas Building, situated at the edge of the Wascana Centre. The building holds eight galleries totaling to of ...

in Regina. His art was featured on a series of postage stamps issued by

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in 2012. The

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...

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 ...

installed his colourful ''Running Horses'' (2007) in 2011 adjacent to the Sussex Drive entrance. He died at his home outside of Lumsden, Saskatchewan on March 16, 2019, from stomach cancer at the age of 76. Fafard's work has been an inspiration to many western artists such as David Garneau.

Personal life

In 1967, Joe married Susan Wiebe, a major in ceramics also at the Winnipeg School of Art. ource: “Joe Fafard”, Terrence Heath, Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2007, p. 46Their son, Joёl, was born on November 18, 1968. Their first daughter, Misha, was born on March 23, 1970; and a second daughter, Gina, was born on December 10, 1972. “By the end of the 1980s Joe and Susan’s marriage had become strained. They began to live more and more separate lives.” p cit, p. 162Fafard divorced Susan in 1991. During this period of professional and personal turmoil in Fafard's life, he met Alyce Hamon, who came from a large French-Canadian family in Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan, who worked in French theatre in Saskatoon. p cit, p. 166 Joe's third daughter, Solenne, was born to Alyce Hamon on May 29, 1994. Joe's second son, Julien, was born to Alyce on June 11, 1998. Alyce Hamon and Joe were married on August 6, 2000. p cit, p. 208-9

Public works

File:Joe_Fafard_The_Pasture_01.jpg, " The Pasture" (1985), Toronto Dominion Centre,

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File:Edmonton Paskwamostos.jpg, ''Paskwamostos'', outside of Shaw Conference Centre,

Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

File:Joe Fafard - Nurture Nature 01.jpg, ''Nurture Nature'' (1993), east side of Hart House,

File:Fafard horses Ottawa.jpeg, ''Running Horses'' at the

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 ...

* ''Oskana-Ka-Ashteki'' (Cree for Bones that are piled together), 800 block of Scarth Street in downtown

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina ( ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 Canadian census, ...

(1998) * ''Claudia'', along avenue de Musée entrance of Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (2003)

Awards

* Officer of the

, 1981 * Medal in Allied Arts, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, 1987 * Honorary Doctorate Degree, University of Regina, 1989 * Saskatchewan Order of Merit, 2002 * National Prix Montfort, 2003 * Lieutenant Governor's Saskatchewan Centennial Medal for the Arts, 2005 * CTV Citizen of the Year in 2006 * Honorary Doctorate Degree,

, 2007 * Saskatchewan Arts Board Lifetime Achievement Award, 2007

References

Bibliography

External links

Official site

''I Don't Have to Work that Big'', an NFB documentary

Canada Post - Joe Fafard
* University of Regina Archives and Special Collections. Joe Fafard Fonds. https://www.uregina.ca/library/services/archives/collections/art-architecture/fafard.html * University of Regina Archives and Special Collections. Joe Fafard Slides. http://cdm16438.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15390coll1 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fafard, Joe 1942 births 2019 deaths 20th-century Canadian sculptors Canadian male sculptors 20th-century Canadian male artists 21st-century Canadian sculptors Members of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit Officers of the Order of Canada Artists from Saskatchewan Canadian Métis people Deaths from stomach cancer in Canada Métis sculptors Deaths from cancer in Saskatchewan