Allen Smutylo: Biographical Statement

I was born in Toronto in 1946. I was a founding member of Circle Arts, a co-operative art studio-gallery in Tobermory in 1969 and in 1970 graduated with honours from the Ontario College of Art in Toronto. I am a member of the Ontario Society of Artists.

    For the last 26 years my work has been based on experiences from extensive travelling. This includes over 25 expeditions in the far North, including: the Queen Charlotte Islands, Alaska, the Yukon, Baffin Is., Bylot Is., Devon Is., Ellesmere Is., Labrador, Iceland, and Greenland. More recently I have been travelling to the Indian Tibetan border area of the Himalayas, as well as numerous trips to Antarctica and Patagonia.

    I work in a variety of mediums including; oil on canvas, watercolour, drawing, etching and monoprint. My images usually depict specific experiences or places from a trip. These ideas are often layered with other "memories" in the land: such as geophysical forces, land and marine biology, and the imprint of previous cultures.

    My paintings and prints are included in over 200 public and corporate collections in Canada and abroad. My work has been exhibited in dozens of solo shows and countless group shows nationally and internationally.

    I have won numerous awards for my work, including the prestigious Sapparo International Print Biennial in Japan.

    My work and my adventures have been profiled in many magazine and newspaper articles in Canada and the United States. I have been the subject of three films, including the most recent, the Radio-Canada (Québec CBC) coproduction of the Jean Lemire film, The Last Frontier (the first film in the Nature of Art Series).

    I reside in Big Bay, Ontario.

Also see Resumé page.

Silent Boats: Etching and Chine-collé, 15"X32", ©1995