Spring Hurlbut facts for kids

Spring Hurlbut (born April 11, 1952) is a Canadian artist. She is known for creating art that mixes sculptures with buildings. Her work often explores ideas about life, death, and how things change over time. Spring Hurlbut lives and works in the city of Toronto.

Where Spring Hurlbut Studied Art

Spring Hurlbut went to art school in Canada. From 1971 to 1973, she studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design. This school is now called OCAD University. After that, from 1973 to 1975, she attended the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD University).

Spring Hurlbut's Artworks

Early in her career, Spring Hurlbut made art using plaster. These artworks were often created right on site, like inside a building. Her goal was to show that the buildings around us are not just simple structures.

Wall Art and Columns

Starting in 1977, Hurlbut began making many artworks for walls in her studio. One famous wall piece, called The Wall, was made in 1981 at the Art Gallery of Ontario. It was also shown in Germany in 1983.

Another interesting artwork was Three Tree Columns. This installation was displayed in Toronto in 1986 and at York University in 1989. It used real tree trunks. The tops and bottoms of these trunks looked like ancient Greek columns, but they were made from steel.

Later, she explored the history of Greek buildings in her art. An example is Ovo and Claw Entablature from 1990. In 2001, she created The Final Sleep/Le Dernier Sommeil. This installation used old objects from the Royal Ontario Museum.

Exploring Life and Death

In the mid-1990s, Hurlbut started taking photos of cremated ashes. Some of these photos are now in the National Gallery of Canada. These include Mary #3 (2006), Peewee #2 (2007), and Scarlett #1 (2005).

In 2008, she made a video called Airborne. This slow-motion video explores the idea of death. It shows human ashes being released into the air. Family members of the people who died gave these ashes to the artist. This included ashes of her own father.

Spring Hurlbut and Arnaud Maggs

Spring Hurlbut and her partner, the photographer Arnaud Maggs, were featured in a film. The film was called Spring & Arnaud. It first showed at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in April 2013.

In the 1990s, Hurlbut and Maggs spent their time between Toronto and France. They enjoyed looking for old objects in French flea markets during the summers. They used these objects in their art. Both artists explored similar themes in their work, like time, life, death, and loss.

Collections and Awards

You can find Spring Hurlbut's art in important collections. Her work is part of the permanent collection at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal. It is also held by the National Gallery of Canada.

In 2018, Spring Hurlbut received a special honor. She was given the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts. This award recognizes great artists in Canada.