Joyce Wieland facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Joyce Wieland
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| Born | June 30, 1930 |
| Died | June 27, 1998 (aged 67) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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| Nationality | Canadian |
| Education | Central Technical School |
| Known for | Film, painting |
| Movement | Avant-Garde, Postmodernism |
| Spouse(s) | Michael Snow (1956-1976) |
| Awards | Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, Order of Canada (1982), Toronto Arts Foundation's Visual Arts Award |
Joyce Wieland (June 30, 1930 – June 27, 1998) was a famous Canadian artist. She was known for her experimental films and for using many different materials in her art.
Joyce Wieland started her career as a painter in Toronto in the 1950s. She became very successful. In 1962, she moved to New York City. There, she began to use new materials and mixed media in her artwork. She also became well-known for her experimental films. Big art places like the Museum of Modern Art in New York showed her movies.
In 1971, Joyce Wieland had a special art show called True Patriot Love. This was the first time a living Canadian female artist had a solo show at the National Gallery of Canada. She received the Order of Canada in 1982. This is a very high honor in Canada. In 1987, she won the Toronto Arts Foundation's Visual Arts Award. She was also a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
Contents
About Joyce Wieland
Her Early Life and School
Joyce Wieland was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on June 30, 1930. Her parents were immigrants from Britain. Her father passed away in 1937, and her mother died soon after. This left Joyce and her two siblings in a tough financial situation.
Even when she was young, Joyce loved art. She drew many pictures and comic books. As a teenager, she went to Central Technical School. There, she studied commercial art and graphic design. At first, she thought about studying dress design. She hoped it would help her find a job, as she didn't think art would make much money.
But at Central Tech, she met Doris McCarthy, who was an art teacher. Doris McCarthy's passion for art inspired Joyce. Doris saw how talented Joyce was. She convinced Joyce to switch to the art department.
Starting Her Art Career
After finishing school in 1948, Joyce Wieland worked as a graphic designer. Her first job was at E.S. & A. Robinson, designing packaging. Then she worked at Planned Sales. At these jobs, she met many other artists. Many of them were also from Central Tech or the Ontario College of Art. During this time, she kept making her own art. But she wasn't ready to show it to others yet.
In the early 1950s, Joyce became very interested in art films. She started going to film screenings in Toronto. There, she saw films by artists like Maya Deren. These films later influenced her own work. In 1953, Joyce joined Graphic Associates. This was an animation studio. She learned many techniques there that she later used in her own films.
Her first solo art show was in 1960. It was at the Isaacs Gallery in Toronto. She was the only woman represented by this important gallery. This show helped her art become more recognized.
Moving to New York
In 1962, Joyce Wieland moved to New York. During the 1960s, she made most of her experimental films. One of her famous films is Rat Life and Diet in North America (1968). This film uses animals as its main characters. It's a story about revolution and escape. Cats are the bad guys, and gerbils are the good guys. The gerbils represent political prisoners in the United States. They escape to freedom in Canada. This film shows how Joyce Wieland used her art to talk about political ideas. She also explored ideas about countries, symbols, and myths.
Joyce Wieland saw herself as a feminist. This was during a time when women's rights were a big topic. Her feminist ideas were also shown in her art. However, her visual art was mostly popular in Canada.
Returning to Toronto
Joyce Wieland moved back to Toronto in 1971. She felt she couldn't make art in America anymore because of its ideas. Her 1976 film, The Far Shore, was not very popular. After this, her next film project didn't happen. This project was based on Margaret Laurence's famous book The Diviners.
In 1987, the Art Gallery of Ontario held a special show of her work. This show looked at all her visual art and experimental films.
Her Artworks
Joyce Wieland was a very important artist in Canada during the 1960s and 1970s. She started as a painter. But she began to use many different materials and art forms, including film. The 1960s were a very busy time for her. She responded to new art styles like Pop art and Conceptual art.
Art expert Joanne Sloane says that Joyce Wieland's ideas were always unique. Sloane points out several types of art Joyce made in the 1960s. These included abstract paintings, collages, sculptures, and film-like paintings. She also made "disaster paintings," plastic art, and quilts. Her art often had humor. But it also dealt with serious topics like war, gender, nature, and national identity.
Around the world, Joyce Wieland is best known for her experimental feminist films. She would physically change the filmstrip itself. This connected her films to traditional women's crafts. It also played with how real photographed images seem. She didn't make many films, but they got a lot of attention. In the 1980s, Joyce Wieland focused on painting again. Her paintings of nature became less about Canada. They were more about general ideas of nature, love, and life.
Her Personal Life
In 1956, Joyce Wieland married filmmaker Michael Snow. She had met him at the animation studio where she worked. They were married for over twenty years. They divorced in 1976. From 1962 to 1971, Joyce and Michael lived in New York.
After moving back to Toronto in 1971, Joyce Wieland continued to make art. She passed away on June 27, 1998, at age 67. She had Alzheimer's disease.
Films About Joyce Wieland
- Artist on Fire (Canada, 1987), directed by Kay Armatage
Visual Art Examples
- Untitled (Young Couple) (around 1959) (National Gallery of Canada)
- The Lovers No.23 (1961) (National Gallery of Canada)
- Red Fall (1962) (National Gallery of Canada)
- Boat (Homage to D.W. Griffith) (1963) (Private Collection)
- Boat Tragedy (1964) (Art Gallery of Ontario)
- This artwork shows a sinking sailboat in many frames. She made other similar works with sinking boats, ocean liners, and plane crashes.
- The Camera's Eyes (1966) (Art Gallery of Hamilton)
- Man Has Reached Out and Touched the Tranquil Moon (1970) (National Gallery of Canada)
- Barren Ground Caribou (1978) (Spadina Subway Station TTC)
- The Birth of Perception (1981) (National Gallery of Canada)
How She Influenced Other Artists
In 2014, artist Mark Clintberg created a quilted artwork. It was a response to Joyce Wieland's work called Reason Over Passion. Joyce Wieland's original quilt was made in both English and French. It was inspired by the saying of the Prime Minister at the time, Pierre Trudeau.
Pierre Trudeau's wife, Margaret Trudeau, famously tore the quilt during an argument. She wrote about this in her book Beyond Reason (1979). She said she was angry and wanted to show that passion was sometimes more important than cold logic.
Mark Clintberg's quilt was made with the Wind and Waves Artisans' Guild. His quilt turns Joyce Wieland's idea around. Each piece of his quilt is sewn "wrong"-side up. This shows the soft, colorful back of the fabric. His artwork also highlights the need for passion, which Margaret Trudeau felt. Unlike Joyce Wieland's quilts, which hung on walls, Mark Clintberg's quilts are placed on different beds each night at the Fogo Island Inn.
Images for kids
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Barren Ground Caribou, a fabric artwork by Joyce Wieland at Spadina subway station in Toronto.
