en-ca Joyce Wieland (1931-1998)

en-ca Canadian

en-ca "Born in Toronto in 1931, Wieland studied commercial art, went on an art trip to Europe, became a film animator, met Avant-garde artist Michael Snow and had her first solo show in 1960 at the Isaacs Gallery.

In 1963 she and Michael Snow moved to New York City and she gained popularity there, and also began experimenting with more materials. She did a series of paintings about plane crashes and disasters like sinking boats. When she returned to Canada she began doing many more patriotic themes like O Canada (1970) and The Maple Leaf Forever (1972). She also made many of her short experimental films during the 1960s.

The height of her career was "True Patriot Love", a solo exhibition of her work which opened on Canada Day in 1971. Many of her quilts and paintings were shown in the exhibition, and the extra fame led to her being commissioned to design a Canadian stamp.

Later in her career, she stayed out of the limelight (being a successful famous artist is tiring) and worked on paintings for the rest of her career. I however feel that it is her paintings during the early 1980s (the most sexual of them all) which are her overall best works.

Joyce Wieland died in 1998. She is often regarded as Canada's first feminist artist, and certainly one of Canada's most famous female artists."

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