Torrie Groening, born in 1961 in

Port Alberni Port Alberni () is a city located on Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The city lies within the Alberni Valley at the head of the Alberni Inlet, Vancouver Island's longest inlet. Port Alberni currently has a total popu ...

, British Columbia, is a photographer and artist based out of

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, British Columbia, Canada. Her art practices include drawing, painting, printmaking, and installation art. Groening is an alumna of the Visual Arts department of

The Banff Centre Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (formerly Banff Centre) is an arts and culture educational institution in Banff, Alberta. It offers arts programs in the performing and fine arts, as well as leadership training. It was established in 1933 ...

and attended Emily Carr College of Art & Design (now called

Emily Carr University of Art and Design The Emily Carr University of Art and Design (stylized as Emily Carr University of Art + Design and abbreviated as ECU) is a public university of art school, art and design located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1925 as the Van ...

) where she studied

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proces ...

Education and career

In 1978 Torrie Groening attended The Banff Centre, in

Banff, Alberta Banff is a resort town in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada, in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Calgary, east of Lake Louise, Alberta, Lake Louise, and above Banff was the first municipality to incorporate within ...

, followed by courses at

Langara College Langara College (snəw̓eyəɬ leləm̓ in ''Halkomelem'') is a public degree-granting college in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada which serves more than 19,000 students annually. Langara College started in 1965 as part of Vancouver Community ...

in Vancouver, which lead her to completing her degree, graduating from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 1983. After graduating, Groening became a member of the Malaspina Printmakers Society of Vancouver and exhibited her work at the Dundarave Print workshop. In 1984, a watershed date in the artist's career, Groening's work was included at the ''Pressing Matters: Prints by BC Artists'' exhibition at the Surrey Art Gallery. Groening worked as a printmaking instructor at Open Studio in

Toronto, Ontario 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 ...

later becoming the Director of the Lithography section in 1986. During her time in Toronto Groening worked alongside

Janet Cardiff Janet Cardiff (born March 15, 1957) is a Canadian artist who works chiefly with sound and sound installations, often in collaboration with her husband and partner George Bures Miller. Cardiff first gained international recognition in the art wor ...

, Harold Klunder, Don Holman, and Otis Tamasausken. In 1989 she went on to teach printmaking at the University of Guelf. That same year she returned to her home of British Columbia, back to Vancouver where she established a printmaking studio called Prior Editions Studios which she ran until 1999. In the 1990s, Groening took on teaching work at both the University of Victoria and Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. Further along in her career Groening worked with artists including

Molly Bobak Molly Lamb Bobak (née Lamb; February 25, 1920 – March 2, 2014) was a Canadian teacher, writer, printmaker and painter working in oils and watercolours. During World War II, she was the first Canadian woman artist to be sent overseas to docum ...

, Carel Moiseiwitsch, Toni Onley,

Gathie Falk Gathie Falk is a Canadian painter, sculptor, installation and performance artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Since the 1960s, she has created works that consider the simple beauty of everyday items and daily rituals. Life and work Ga ...

Takao Tanabe Takao Tanabe, (born 16 September 1926) is a Canadian artist who painted abstractly for decades, but over time, his paintings became nature-based. Biography Born Takao Izumi in Seal Cove, today part of Prince Rupert, British Columbia, the son o ...

, Gordon Smith, Doug Biden, Joe Average, and Jack Shadbolt. After the closure of her printmaking studio in 1999, Groening moved to San Francisco, California in the United States of America, where the artist joined the Achenbach Graphic Arts Council Board within the

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. FAMSF's combined attendance was 1,1 ...

and continued her printmaking practices.

Exhibitions

Torrie Groening's CV documents numerous solo and group exhibitions. Her work has been shown at the Vancouver based Capture Photo Festival in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019. In partnership with Art Rental & Sales at 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 Fr ...

, Groening exhibited ''Out of Studio'' at the Listel Hotel Vancouver in 2017. Her work is also in the permanent collections of such galleries and institutions as the

, the

Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia, on the campus of the University of British Columbia. The gallery is housed in a building designed by architect Peter Cardew which opened in 1995 ...

, the

Burnaby Art Gallery The Burnaby Art Gallery (abbreviated as BAG) is an art museum in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. The museum is located on the northern periphery of Deer Lake Park, situated off of Deer Lake Avenue. The museum occupies Fairacres Mansion, designa ...

, the Surrey Art Gallery, and the

Art Gallery of Hamilton The Art Gallery of Hamilton (AGH) is an art museum located in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The museum occupies a building on King Street (Hamilton, Ontario), King Street West in downtown Hamilton, designed by Trevor P. Garwood-Jon ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Groening, Torrie Living people 1961 births People from Port Alberni 21st-century Canadian photographers Emily Carr University of Art and Design alumni Langara College people