Alex Janvier
Janvier, Alex Simeon
Alex Simeon Janvier, painter (b at Le Goff, near Bonnyville, Alta 28 Feb 1935). A CHIPEWYAN, he graduated from the Southern Alberta College of Art in 1964 and had his start painting a mural for the Indians of Canada Pavilion at EXPO 67. Alex Janvier returned to Alberta in 1968 to teach adult classes at the Saddle Lake Indian School, St Paul, and Alberta Newstart Inc, Fort Chipewyan. Late in 1971 he decided to paint full time. In 1973 he was a founding member of the Professional Native Artists Inc (Winnipeg), a group of 7 Indian artists seeking to market their own work.
Alex Janvier's abstract linear work is characterized by whiplashing pools of colour on negative space. In 1975 he painted a mural for the Muttart Conservatory (Edmonton) and for the County of Strathcona Building (Sherwood Park, Alta). Janvier was invited to Sweden in 1977 to paint and exhibit. He did The Seasons for the NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MAN 1978-81 and a mural for the 1983 World University Games (Edmonton). In 1987 his work was included in 2 major shows in California. He was featured in a group exhibition at the NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA in 1992 entitled "Land Spirit Power," and was the subject of a travelling one-person exhibition, "The Art of Alex Janvier: The First Thirty Years (1960-1990)," organized by the Thunder Bay Art Gallery in 1993. Also in 1993, he completed his largest mural to date, entitled "Morning Star," on the dome of the CANADIAN MUSEUM OF CIVILIZATION, Hull, Québec. Alex Janvier and his family opened a gallery in Cold Lake Alberta in 2003, and in 2008 he was awarded a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.
True West, The
Alex Janvier, acrylic on canvas, 1975. Janvier's abstract linear work is characterized by whiplashing pools of colour on negative space (courtesy DINA).
Author GERALD R. MCMASTER
Suggested Reading
Lee-Ann Martin, The Art of Alex Janvier: The First Thirty Years (1960-1990), Thunder Bay Art Gallery, 1993.
Links to Other Sites
Native Artists
See an overview of native art in Canada. See also profiles of prominent native artists. From the website "Native Art in Canada."
Life and Work of the Woodland Artists
A brief synopsis of the television documentary "The Life and Work of the Woodland Artists." From Telefilm Canada.
Shawnadithit grew anxious waiting for her uncle, Longnon, to return to camp at the junction of Badger Brook and the Exploits River, deep in the wilds of Newfoundland...
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