Thaddeus Holownia ONB (born July 2, 1949)
is a British-born Canadian artist and professor. He taught photography at
Mount Allison University
Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839.
Mount Allison was the first university in the British Empire to award a baccal ...
and served as the head of the Fine Arts Department, retiring in 2018.
Career
Born in
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, the family of Thaddeus
Holownia emigrated to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
when he was five. He attended the
University of Windsor
The University of Windsor (UWindsor, U of W, or UWin) is a public university, public research university in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's southernmost university. It has approximately 17,500 students. The university was incorporated by ...
, studying printmaking and communications and graduated in 1972. Initially part of Toronto's art scene, he worked as a film editor before working at the
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...
, and later joining the faculty of the
Mount Allison University
Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839.
Mount Allison was the first university in the British Empire to award a baccal ...
Fine Arts Department in 1977.
Art Work
In Holownia’s large-scale photographs, he uses the idea of heightened perception to explore the traces humankind leaves on the landscape.
He often photographs the same sites and subjects over time, recording long-term transformations in detail.
About his work, he echoes Thoreau’s observation, "It’s not what you look at that matters, it's what you see". He favours a large-format banquet camera.
Holownia's pre-1989 work has been described as capturing the "slow violence" of environmental disaster.
An early series Holownia shot in Toronto features people posing with cars in urban areas that had been abandoned in favour of car-friendly suburbs.
His photographs have been the subject of numerous exhibitions, including a 40-year
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. ...
, ''The Nature of Nature, The Photographs of Thaddeus Holownia 1976–2016'', at the
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) is a public provincial museums of Canada, provincial art museum based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The art museum's primary building complex is located in downtown Halifax and takes up ...
; ''The Terra Nova Suite'', a 25 year survey of his work in Newfoundland & Labrador at the Provincial Gallery (The Rooms) in
St. John's, Newfoundland
St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. The city spans and is the easternmost city in North Amer ...
; ''24 Tree Studies for Henry David Thoreau'' at the
Beaverbrook Art Gallery
The Beaverbrook Art Gallery () commonly referred to simply as The Beaverbrook, 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 ...
in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and the Heckscher Museum in Huntington, New York. His 1998 retrospective exhibition, ''Extended Vision: Photographs by Thaddeus Holownia 1978–1997'', organized by the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, traveled across Canada and to the Centro de la Imagen in Mexico City. His photographs have been included in numerous group exhibitions, including ''Monet’s Legacy: Series, Order and Obsession'' at the Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany, and ''Car Culture'' at the Heckscher Museum in Huntington, New York. In 2020, his photographs of the stone lintels in Paris were exhibited at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. The show titled ''Thaddeus Holownia: Lintels of Paris'' accompanied a book about the lintels published at the same time.
Holownia`s photographs are in public collections such as 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
and many eastern Canadian galleries, such as the
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) is a public provincial museums of Canada, provincial art museum based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The art museum's primary building complex is located in downtown Halifax and takes up ...
, Halifax (27 works).
Honours
In 2000, Holownia was elected to the
Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880.
History 1880 to 1890
The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Victoria of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria on 16 ...
and in 2001, he received a
Fulbright Fellowship
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...
.
Holownia has been the recipient of grants and awards from the
Canada Council for the Arts
The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a 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 foster and promote the study a ...
, the
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 ...
, the
American Institute of Graphic Arts
The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional organization for design. Its members practice all forms of communication design, including graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience, branding and identity. The ...
, the
Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880.
History 1880 to 1890
The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Victoria of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria on 16 ...
, and the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC; , CRSH), often colloquially pronounced 'shirk' (), is a Canadian federal research-funding agency that promotes and supports post-secondary research and training in the humani ...
. In 2015, he was named to the
Order of New Brunswick
The Order of New Brunswick is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The order was instituted through the ''Order of New Brunswick Act'', which was granted royal assent on 20 December 2000. The order is intended ...
. In 2018, he was inducted into the
Royal Society of Canada
The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...
.
Royal Society of Canada
/ref>
Thaddeus Holownia now lives in Jolicure, New Brunswick.
References
Bibliography
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External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holownia, Thaddeus
Canadian photographers
1949 births
Living people
Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
University of Windsor alumni
Academic staff of Mount Allison University
English emigrants to Canada
Artists from New Brunswick