Tobey C. Anderson
editTobey C. Anderson 1946-2014
Visual Artist Nationality: Canadian-American Born: Washington, D.C., June 2, 1946 Immigrated to Canada in 1969 Died: St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, February 9, 2014
Tobey C. Anderson began exhibiting his artwork in 1969. He held a BFA from the University of Iowa. Anderson was a Professor of Fine Art (1970-75) and Chair of Visual Art (1975-79) at St. Lawrence College, Kingston, Ontario. In the late 1970’s he was Founding President of Kingston Artists’ Association/Modern Fuel Artist-run Centre, Kingston, Ontario and President of Artspace in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. The recipient of numerous awards and grants, Anderson was actively involved and has served in many capacities in the Canadian artist-run movement since 1974.
Anderson was Director of Niagara Artists’ Centre, St. Catharines, Ontario from 1990 to 1998 before retiring to work full-time as an artist. He was integral in the cultural development in Niagara and served as the inaugural Chair of the Culture Committee for the City of St. Catharines following his participation in the development and adoption of a new Municipal Cultural Policy and grant programmes. In 2005 Anderson was the recipient of the Mayor’s Trillium Award for Artistic Excellence.
In 2006 Anderson established CRAM CRAM Gallery and the CRAM Collective. The downtown 2nd floor CRAMplex facility features Canada's smallest gallery, CRAM Press (est. 2009), art storage, and studios. Individuals who have ties to the Director, St. Catharines, and the Niagara region of Ontario were eligible to be invited to join the collective. At every CRAM opening, all guests were invited to "cram" into the 8x10 gallery space for a photograph. CRAM Gallery closed in June 2013 due to Anderson's diagnosis with terminal cancer. In the 7 years that CRAM operated, numerous up-and-coming artists were given the opportunity to show their work in a quasi-professional gallery space that kick-started careers for emerging artists and provided the Niagara region with the opportunity to attend exhibits of influential and well known Canadian artists such as Alice Crawley, John Boyle, John Moffat, Alex Bierk, Jeff Bierk, Charles Bierk and Nicholas Bierk.
Anderson exhibited internationally and was the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including an Ontario Arts Council Mid-Career Artist Grant (2007-2008). His work is represented in private and public collections, including a recent acquisition (2008) by The Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario. A retrospective of his paintings, Trinities - 33 Years of Painting was exhibited at Rodman Hall Art Centre - Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario December 2007 through February 2008.
In 2004 Anderson began "The New American Century Project", a body of work inspired by the Washington based think tank, Project for The New American Century. Working in series of paintings and drawings, Anderson explored subject matter appropriated from the news media and internet about the American led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Elements of "The New American Century Project" have been exhibited in Ontario (St. Catharines, Kingston, Toronto, St. Thomas, and Grimsby 2004-10), Quebéc (University of Sherbrooke 2011), and Cuba (Universal Galeria 2011).
Anderson was an avid fisherman and known for quirky phrases such as Art=Life=Fishing and "Make Art Then Die". While he was a brilliant visual artist, he was equally passionate about fishing all over Ontario and the USA. Fish were often the subject of his acrylic paintings when he was not busy creating thought provoking, politically charged paintings highlighting what he believed were the injustices of the war on Afghanistan and Iraq. [1]
After surviving stomach cancer in the 1980's, colon cancer in 2007-2008, a "pesky bout" of skin cancer in 2009, Tobey was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2012 which metastasized in 2013 and led to his untimely death on February 9, 2014 at 67 years old.
A Tribute to Tobey's life was published in The Globe and Mail "A Life Well Lived" in May, 2014. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/facts-and-arguments/lives-lived-tobey-c-anderson-67/article18231172/ [2]
For examples of paintings and full bio/exhibitions: tobeycanderson.com
Gallerie CRAM Collective: cramart
Tobeyc (talk) 18:47, 15 February 2008 (UTC)tobeycTobeyc (talk) 18:47, 15 February 2008 (UTC)