titled & dated on the gallery labels verso
Provenance: Gallery Moos, Toronto ON; Art Rental and Sales Gallery of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto ON
Ted Godwin was born and raised in Calgary. He attended the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and Art (1951-1955) and, upon graduating, worked as a television art director, a neon sign designer and a commercial artist. He moved to Regina in 1959, where he began to attend the Emma Lake Artists’ Workshops. In 1964 he began teaching at the University of Saskatchewan (Regina Campus), then at the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Regina. He returnined to Calgary after his retirement in 1985. Godwin was a founding member of the ground-breaking modernist group of painters known as the Regina Five. He received many awards during his career, including membership in the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (1974), the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal (1977), an honorary degree from the University of Regina (2001), and Officer of the Order of Canada (2004).
Godwin’s streambank paintings, while initially appearing representational, upon further contemplation reveal the artist’s deep interest in the abstract, and his drive to uncover and express the colours and patterns evident within nature. The works are gestural, bold and colourful, typically painted from a low perspective; they explore the interplay of tangled shrubs, trees, rocks and water along the water’s edge. These streambank images are deeply personal for Godwin, an avid fisherman, whose family had a long-standing connection to the river. Ted writes (on page 11 of “Lower Bow: A Celebration of Wilderness, Art and Fishing”; Ted Godwin & Geoffrey Simmins; Hard Art Moving and Storage Co. Ltd., Calgary; 1991):
“Growing up by the Elbow River, our house was closer to the prairie and wilderness than to downtown, and the riverbank was my natural playground. No stranger to nature, Dad enjoyed taking me for a walk along the river, occasionally with fishing rods. In so doing, he relived his past at the same time instilling a love of streamside in me…In retrospect, most of the time I spent growing up was streamside, although this memory lay dormant for a long time. Old memories now merge with new and the only constant is the current of the dark stream that flows through my life. It seems to me that the images and rhythms of streamside have formed an integral part of whatever it is that is Ted.”
