OTHER MINDS: The World in Translation - 22/23 Walker Cultural Leader Series

Introduction

    Janice Gurney is a Canadian contemporary artist born in Winnipeg; She moved to Toronto with Andy Patton in 1977. Janice graduated with a Master of Visual Studies degree from the University of Toronto in 2007 with a joint degree in Book History and Print Culture. She received a PhD in Art and Visual Culture at Western University in 2012. Gurney's work is featured in solo and group exhibitions across Canada. Notable collections which have featured her art include the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and Museum London. In her work, Gurney explores abstract concepts of human connection, meditation, and isolation using text, collage, and visual meditation as methods for inspiration

    Andy Patton also has had a distinguished career as a painter. He represented Canada in the Fifth Biennale of Sydney. With the poet's Roo Borson and Kim Maltman, Patton was part of the poetry collaboration, "Pain Not Bread'; together, they wrote "Introduction to the Introduction to Wang Wei." In 2009 Andy attended Western University to pursue a PhD in Art and Visual Culture. His research area was the calligraphy of China's Northern Song dynasty and the aesthetic practices that sustained it. He was awarded the 2013 Governor General's Gold Medal Award for his research and thesis. In 2014, his text paintings were included in "The Transformation of Canadian Landscape Art" exhibition in Xi'an, which later travelled to Beijing.