Bonnie Devine (born April 12, 1952) is a Serpent River Ojibwa installation artist, performance artist, sculptor, curator, and writer from Serpent River First Nation, who lives and works in Toronto, Ontario.[1] She is currently an associate professor at OCAD University and the founding chair of its Indigenous Visual Cultural Program.[2]

Bonnie Devine
Born
Bonnie Devine

(1952-04-12) April 12, 1952 (age 72)
NationalitySerpent River First Nation, Canadian
Known forInstallation artist, performance artist, sculptor, writer
AwardsEiteljorg Fellowship (2011)

Background edit

Bonnie Devine was born in Toronto and is a status member of the Serpent River First Nation.[1] In 1997 Devine graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design, with degrees in sculpture and installation,[3] and she earned her Master of Fine Arts degree at York University in 1999.[4] She has taught studio and liberal arts at York University, Queen's University, and the Centre for Indigenous Theatre. She joined OCAD University as a full-time instructor in 2008[2] and was a founding chair of the university's Indigenous Visual Culture program.[5]

Artwork edit

As a conceptual artist, Devine works with a variety of media, often combining traditional and unconventional materials. At a 2007 solo exhibition, Medicine River, at the Axéneo 7 art space in Quebec, she created eight-foot long knitting needles and knitted 250 feet of copper cable to bring attention to the contamination of the Kashechewan water system.[6] She has fashioned full-sized canoes from paper and works with natural materials such as reeds in her 2009 piece, New Earth Braid. She also created land-based installations.[7]

Devine's work is also primarily influenced by "the stories, technologies, and arts of the Ojibwa people."[8]

Exhibitions edit

Devine's work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Canada, the U.S., South America, Russia and Europe.[8] Her 2010 solo exhibition, Writing Home, curated by Faye Heavyshield, was reviewed in Border Crossings.[9] A solo exhibition of Devine's work, Bonnie Devine: The Tecumseh Papers was held at the Art Gallery of Windsor from September 27, 2013, to January 5, 2014.[10] Her work is featured in the Art Gallery of Ontario's exhibition Before and after the Horizon: Anishinaabe Artists of the Great Lakes.[11]

Awards and recognition edit

Devine has received numerous awards, including 2002 Best Experimental Video at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, the Toronto Arts Awards Visual Arts Protégé Award in 2001, the Curry Award from the Ontario Society of Artists in 1999, a variety of awards from the Ontario College of Art and Design, as well as many grants and scholarships.[4] She has been chosen for the 2011 Eiteljorg Museum fellowship.[12] She received a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2021.[13]

Published work edit

  • Devine, Bonnie, Duke Redbird, and Robert Houle. The Drawings and Paintings of Daphne Odjig: A Retrospective Exhibition. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2007. ISBN 978-0-88884-840-6.

Notes edit

  1. ^ a b "Bonnie Devine." Archived 2017-03-19 at the Wayback Machine Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art. (retrieved 30 Nov 2010)
  2. ^ a b "Bonnie Devine". www2.ocadu.ca. OCAD University. Archived from the original on 2017-09-25. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  3. ^ "About the Artist: Bonnie Devine." Archived October 4, 2012, at the Wayback Machine University of Toronto (retrieved 30 Nov 2010)
  4. ^ a b "Bonnie Devine Biography." Archived October 4, 2012, at the Wayback Machine University of Toronto (retrieved 30 Nov 2010)
  5. ^ "University offering new options for art students." Windspeaker, Feb. 2013, p. 14. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A319976795/AONE?u=usocal_main&sid=AONE&xid=2fa59d8b . Accessed 8 Mar. 2018.
  6. ^ "Medicine River: Bonnie Devine." Archived July 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Axéneo 7. 2007 (retrieved 30 Nov 2010)
  7. ^ Rubisova, Lena. "Faculty Profile: Bonnie Devine." Archived January 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Ontario College of Art and Design. 11 Jan 2010 (retrieved 30 Nov 2010)
  8. ^ a b Everett, Deborah (2008). Encyclopedia of Native American artists. Zorn, Elayne. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. pp. 31–34. ISBN 9780313080616. OCLC 328280157.
  9. ^ Karlinsky, Amy. "Bonnie Devine." Border Crossings vol.29, no.2 (May 2010)
  10. ^ "Bonnie Devine: The Tecumseh Papers." Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Art Gallery of Windsor (retrieved 27 September 2014).
  11. ^ "Before and after the Horizon: Anishinaabe Artists of the Great Lakes." Archived 2014-09-21 at the Wayback Machine Art Gallery of Ontario (retrieved 27 September 2014).
  12. ^ "Five artists named 2011 Eiteljorg Fellows." Archived 2011-07-26 at the Wayback Machine Eiteljorg Museum. 2010 (retrieved 30 Nov 2010)
  13. ^ "Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts". Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts. Retrieved 2021-07-28.

References edit

  • Fox, Suzanne G. and Lucy R. Lippard, eds. Path Breakers: The Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art, 2003. Indianapolis, IN: Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and West, 2004. ISBN 978-0-295-98369-1.

External links edit