Ross McLaren (December 4, 1953November 28, 2023) was a Canadian artist, filmmaker, and educator based in New York City.

Biography

McLaren was born in 1953 in

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario ** Sudbury (federal electoral district) ** Sudbury (provincial electoral district) ** Sudbury Airport ** Sudbury Basin, a meteorite impact cra ...

, Ontario, Canada and graduated with honors from

Ontario College of Art Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD U, is a public art university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its main campus is located within Toronto's Grange Park and Entertainment District neighbourhoods ...

, where he also did post-graduate work. He was a faculty member at

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union, is a private college on Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-s ...

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

and

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...

, and also taught at

Millennium Film Workshop The Millennium Film Workshop is a Non-profit organization, non-profit media arts center located in New York City. It is dedicated to the exhibition, study, and practice of avant-garde and experimental cinema. It was also where the St. Mark's Poetry ...

in New York City. Following a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

in July 2023, McLaren died in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

on November 28, 2023.

Work

Advocacy

Beginning in 1976, McLaren worked as a filmmaker, scholar, teacher, curator, critic, and community organizer. He founded and was first director of the

Funnel Film Centre A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening. Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its constructi ...

in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, an institution devoted to the production, exhibition, and distribution of film. As founder/director, McLaren encouraged continued recognition of film—particularly

Super 8 Super 8 or Super Eight may refer to: Film * Super 8 film, a motion picture film format released in 1965 * Super 8 film camera, a motion picture camera used to film Super 8mm motion picture format * ''Super 8'' (2011 film), a science-fiction f ...

—in his native country.

Films

His films include: '' Crash 'n' Burn'': the "self-destructive document of Toronto’s eponymous punk club,"Springer. "Creemedia," ''Creem'', Vol. 10, No. 4, Sept. 1978. ''Wave'', ''Weather Building'', ''Dance of the Sacred Foundation Application (feat. Jack Smith)'', ''Sex Without Glasses'', and the

Ann Arbor Film Festival The Ann Arbor Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Established in 1963, it is the fourth-oldest film festival in North America (after the Yorkton Film Festival, 1947; Columbus International Film & Video Festival, 19 ...

award-winning sensation ''Summer Camp''. A recipient of such prestigious grants as the Ontario and

Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to ...

awards, McLaren's works have been shown worldwide. His films screened at

MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

Anthology Film Archives Anthology Film Archives is an international center for the film preservation, preservation, film studies, study, and film distribution, exhibition of film and video, with a particular focus on independent film, independent, experimental film, ex ...

, the

Menil Collection The Menil Collection, located in Houston, Texas, refers either to a museum that houses the art collection of founders John de Menil and Dominique de Menil, or to the collection itself of paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs a ...

, the National Film Theatre in London, the

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

, the Biennale du Paris,

Documenta Documenta (often stylized documenta) is an Art exhibition, exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. Documenta was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgarte ...

VI, Jyväskylä University in Finland, and

ARKEN Museum of Modern Art ARKEN Museum of Modern Art () is a state-authorised private non-profit charity and contemporary art museum in Ishøj, near Copenhagen. The museum is among Denmark's major contemporary and modern art collections, holding a variety of international ...

in Denmark. His work, which was presented in such esteemed venues as the

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Toronto 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 ...

, and Oberhausen Film Festivals, is found in several permanent collections, including that of the

American Federation of Arts The American Federation of Arts (AFA) is a nonprofit organization that creates art exhibitions for presentation in museums around the world, publishes exhibition catalogues, and develops education programs. The organization’s founding in 1909 ...

, New York, the

Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (l ...

, the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; ) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located on Dundas Street, Dundas Street West in the Grange Park (neighbourhood), Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, the museum complex takes up of phys ...

, Toronto, Ottawa’s National Film Archives and 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 ...

Selected filmography

* ''Winning'', 40 min (2005) * ''Wave'', 5 min. (2004) * ''Dance of the Sacred Foundation Application (feat. Jack Smith)'', 15 min. (2003) * ''Lapland'', 3 min. (2002) * ''Muted Horn, Squeaky Stool'', 9:11 min. (2001) * ''Another Story'', S-8, 5 min. (1988) * ''Spin'', 16mm, 1 min. (1987) * ''Warehouse Eyes'', S-8 & 16mm, 13 min. (1986) * ''Tilt'', S-8, 3 min. (1985) * ''Let's Run Amok'', S-8, 3 min. (1984) * ''Sex Without Glasses'', 16mm 12:30 min. (1983) * ''Calgary Girls'', S-8, 5 min. (1983) * ''Launch 5ive'', S-8, 2:38 min. (1982) * ''9 X 12'', 16mm, 1 min., (also microfiche insert for ''Impulse'' Magazine) (1979–81) * ''Wednesday, January 17, 1979'', 16mm, 4:40 min. (1979) * ''Snorkel'', 16mm. 10:10 min. (1976–79) * ''Summer Camp'', 16mm, 60 min. (1978) * '' Crash 'n' Burn'', 16mm, 27:45 (1977) * ''I.E.'', 16mm, 14:45 min. (1976) * ''Weather Building'', 16mm, 10:15 min. (1976) (features

weather beacon A weather beacon is a beacon that indicates the local weather forecast in a code of colored or flashing lights. Often, a short poem or jingle accompanies the code to make it easier to remember. The beacon is usually on the roof of a tall build ...

on the

Canada Life Building The Canada Life Building is a historic office building in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fifteen-floor Beaux Arts building was built by Sproatt & Rolph and stands at , including its weather beacon. It is located at University and Queen Street ...

) * ''Baby Green'', S-8, 10:15 min. (1974)

Academic appointments

, Toronto * The

Funnel Film Theatre A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening. Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its constructi ...

, Toronto * Fanshawe College, Fine Arts Dep’t., London * The Cooper Union School of Art, New York *

, New York * Fordham University: College at Lincoln Center, New York * Koulu Lapland, Finland *

, Brooklyn

Selected awards and distinctions

* Albert Frank Toronto - Amsterdam Artist's Award *

Award (multiple) *

Black Maria Film Festival Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''Psyc ...

- Director's Citation *

Grant, London Film Festival * Canada Council Film Production Grant *

Ontario Arts Council The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) is a publicly funded Canadian organization in the province of Ontario whose purpose is to foster the creation and production of art for the benefit of all Ontarians. Based in Toronto, OAC was founded in 1963 by O ...

Film Production Grant * Ontario Arts Council Visual Arts Grant * Parabola Arts Foundation Film Distribution Project

References and sources

External links

The Cooper Union

Fordham University, New York, NY
*
Millennium Film Workshop, New York, NY

* ttp://www.pratt.edu Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY {{DEFAULTSORT:McLaren, Ross 1953 births 2023 deaths Artists from Greater Sudbury Canadian experimental filmmakers Canadian video artists Artists from Ontario