25 february to 31 march - artsdrummondville.com Ronald Headland curriculum vitae RONALD HEADLAND on in Monteal whee he lives and woks. Studies in musi at M Gill Univesity and in at

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Ronald Headland, The Memory of Things #5, 2013, acrylic and collage on canvas, 20 x 16 po

25 february to 31 march

2018

Ronald Headland curriculum vitae

RONALD HEADLAND Born in Montreal where he lives and works.

Studies in music at McGill University and in art at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts School.

Member of Atelier Graphia 3710 (1977-1990). Professor in the Music Department of Vanier College,

Montreal (1977-2008). In general his painting consists of three periods:

1975-1992 abstract works; 1993-2012 figurative works; 2013 until today abstract works.

[email protected]

EXPOSITIONS INDIVIDUELLES (SÉLECTION) 2018 La Mémoire des Choses, Galerie d’art Desjardins, Drummondville, Québec

2016 The Memory of Things, The Grace Jollymore Joyce Arts Centre, Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia

2014 Face Series, Township of Leeds and the Thousand Islands Building, Lansdowne, Ontario

2013 Paintings on Paper, Township of Leeds and the Thousand Islands Building, Lansdowne, Ontario

2012 Paintings 1993-1995, Holocaust Symposium 2012, Vanier College, Montreal

2008 Communications Department, Vanier College, Montreal

2005 Communications Department, Vanier College, Montreal

2004 Le Claremont, Montreal

1996 From Abstraction to Apocalypse: Ronald Headland Paintings 1977-1979/1993-1995,

La Maison de la Culture, Côtes-des-Neiges, Montreal

1996 New Paintings, Galerie Pink, Montreal

1989 Art 45, Montreal

1987 Seeing Through Surfaces, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, Ontario

1985 Print Exhibition, Art 45, Montreal

1982 Recent Paintings, Art 45, Montreal

1981 Works on Paper, St. Andrew’s Church Gallery, Kitchener, Ontario

1981 Art 45/ Galerie Don Stewart, Montreal

1980 New Paintings and Works on Paper, Aggregation Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

1979 Works on Paper, Art 45, Montreal

1976 Artlender’s Gallery, Montreal


COLLECTIONS PUBLIQUES

Museum of fine arts Montreal

Canada Council Art Bank

Confederation Centre Art Gallery

Bank of Montreal

Steinberg Collection

Vanier College

Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co.

Agnes Etherington Art Centre

Trans Canada Pipeline

Norcen Energy Resources

Interprovincial Pipeline

Bogdan and Associates

Concordia University Art Gallery

Nova Corporation

Petro Canada

Collection Prêt d’œuvres d’art, MNBAQ




EXPOSITIONS COLLECTIVES 2017 The Art That Inhabits Us, The New Collection 2018, Stewart Hall Art Gallery, Pointe-Claire

2017 Fun and Art, Montréal en Fête, Galerie d’Arts Contemporains, Montreal

2017 Stewart Hall Art Rental – The New Collection 2017, Stewart Hall Art Gallery, Pointe-Claire

2010-2017 Gallery Artists, Galerie D’Arts Contemporains, Montreal

2015 Painters and Sculptors : Witnesses of Their Time, Galerie d’Arts Contemporains, Montreal

2014 Perceptions et Vibrations, Galerie d’Arts Contemporains, Montreal

2014 Stewart Hall Art Rental – The New Collection 2015, Stewart Hall Art Gallery, Pointe Claire

2014 Arta Gallery, Toronto

2014 Galerie d’Arts Contemporains, Montreal

2014 The Creator’s Hand, Juried Exhibition, White Flag Gallery, Brockville, Ontario

1998-2014 Vanier College, Montreal

2013 Sixth Annual Juried Exhibition, Marianne Van Silfhout Gallery, Brockville, Ontario

2013 Stewart Hall Art Rental - The New Collection 2014, Stewart Hall Gallery, Pointe Claire

2013 Selections from the Stewart Hall Rental Service, Manoir Kirkland, Kirkland, Québec

2013 Celebration of Vanier Authors and Artists, Vanier College, Montreal

2012 Les récipiendaires du concours d’art 2012, Centre Culturel de Pierrefonds

2012 Stewart Hall Art Rental – The New Collection 2013, Stewart Hall Gallery, Pointe Claire

2012 Fifth Annual Juried Exhibition, Marianne Van Silfhout Gallery, Brockville, Ontario

2012 Concours D’art Pierrefonds-Roxboro 2012 (First Prize), Centre Culturel de Pierrefonds

1989-2009 Exhibition of Monoprints, Atelier Graphia, Cornwall Regional Art Gallery, Cornwall; St. Lawrence

College Library, Brockville, Ontario; La Galerie du Centre de La Societé Culturelle de Saint-

Lambert, Saint-Lambert; Museum of Contemporary Art, Ohio, USA; Cleveland; Arts Sutton, Sutton

2006 The Great Canadian Envelope Exhibition, Pinkespace, Montreal



2004-2005 Galerie 1637, Montreal

1980-1990 Atelier Graphia 3710, Montreal

1988 Art 45, Montreal

1979-1988 Gallery Artists, Art 45, Montreal

1979-1985 Gallery Artists, Aggregation Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

1984 La Collection Prêt d’œuvres d’art 1983, Quebec

1984 Intergrafik 84, Berlin, Germany

1984 Art Rental Service, The London Regional Art Gallery, London, Ontario

1983-1984 Albert Dumouchel - Un Hommage, Traveling Exhibition, Atelier Graphia 3710, Montreal;

Alliance Gallery, Montreal; La Galerie des Hautes Études Commercial, Montreal; National Library,

Ottawa; National Library of Canada, Ottawa; Délégation Génerale du Québec, Paris;

Jewish Public Library, Montreal; McGill University, Rare Books Department, Montreal;

Concordia University Library, Montreal; Musée du Québec, Quebec; Robert McLaughlin Gallery,

Oshawa, Ontario; Art Gallery of Algoma; Mount St. Vincent University, Halifax; Art Gallery of Hamiton;

Memorial University Art Gallery, Newfoundland; Université du Québec à Montreal; Canada House, R.U.

1983 9th International Print Exhibition, Yokohama, Japan

1983 Contemporary Canadian Drawings, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, Ontario

1981 Five Printmakers, Aggregation Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

1981 Christmas in Quebec, (14 Quebecer artistes) Johnson Drolet Gallery, Atlanta, Georgie, USA

1981 3rd Seoul International Print Biennale, Seoul, Korea

1981 Création Québec ’81. 3rd Biennale of Painting, Saidye Bronfman Centre, Montreal

1981 Création Québec ’81. Troisième Concours D’estampe et de Dessin, Centre Culturel, Université de

Sherbrooke; Erindale College, University of Toronto, Mississauga, Ontario; The Art Gallery of the

University of Moncton, New Brunswick; Maltwood Art Museum Gallery, Victoria, British Columbia;

Ring House Gallery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta; Estevan National Exhibition Centre,

Estevan, Saskatchewan; Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan; Confederation Art Centre,

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; Museum of New Brunswick, Saint John, New Brunswick

1980 Gallery Artists, Cardigan-Milne Gallery, Winnipeg

1979-1980 Annual Exhibition of Quebec Artists, Thomas Moore Associates, Place Bonaventure, Montreal

1979 Five Printmakers, Aggregation Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

1979 Prints, La Chasse - Galerie, Toronto, Ontario

1979 Aggregation Gallery at Confederation Centre,

Charlottetown, Île-du-Prince-Édouard

1979 Atelier Graphia 3710 Prints, Cardigan- Milne Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

1979 Three New Artists, Aggregation Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

1979 Art Gallery of Ontario, Rental Services, Toronto, Ontario

1976-1979 Montreal Museum Fine Arts Rental, Musée des beaux-arts de Montreal

1978 Gallery Artists, Galerie Gilles Gheerbrandt, Montreal

1978 The Workshop, Print Exhibition, Concordia University, Montreal

1977-1978 Gallery Artists, Rhadamanthus Gallery, Montreal

1975-1976 Annual Student Exhibition, Musée des beaux-arts de Montreal

The Memory of Things

by Ronald Headland

Music and art have always been a part of my life.

It was art that came first. My father had wanted me to take piano lessons, but I was not in-

terested in music at that time. I don't remember exactly the circumstances, but I must have

shown some skill or interest in painting. When I was about eight or nine years old I began

taking painting lessons with my father's aunt. She must have been about five hundred years

old. She was a wonderful, amazing person and I was very close to her. She taught me how to

paint with oil paints.

Her method of teaching was simple: she had hundreds of old postcards of scenes from Eng-

land and Scotland and she would tack one of these postcards onto the easel and we would

copy it on a small piece of cardboard.

Looking back on these lessons, what I learned at this early age was how to mix paint to get

different colours; how paint could be applied in different ways, thick or thin, and how differ-

ent textures could be created. Above all, what I learned was what I would call the feel of the

paint. And the excitement of painting.

I continued painting in this manner even after I began to be interested in music at about age

eleven. Once I started to take piano lessons music came to dominate my life. All through

high school I continued to paint on and off, but music was my main concern. I studied music

at McGill University. While there I took a couple of courses in art history which proved cru-

cial in my artistic development. I realized that there was more to art than what I had been

doing and that art history dealt with a vast range of ideas and issues far beyond simple deco-

rative landscapes.

As a result of these discoveries I started to paint with more urgency on my own and then I

went to study at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art School. There I took courses in drawing,

painting, silkscreen printing, and photography. These studio courses were just what I need-

ed.

Ronald Headland démarche artistique

A few general comments about my work.

My paintings have been divided into three main

periods.

From roughly 1975 to 1995 my work was abstract.

From about 1995 to 2013 my paintings were figura-

tive. And from 2013 to the present day I have re-

turned to total abstraction.

Therefore much of my work has been abstract.

Although the subject matter has changed as a re-

sult of these shifts from figuration and abstraction,

what unifies my work is the methodology of work-

ing and the emphasis on the process in creating the

works. Usually I don’t know, except in a very gen-

eral way, what the paintings will look like when I

begin. It is really a building process, a path of con-

stant discovery.

Interestingly enough, I recently found this idea ex-

pressed in the writings of Paul Klee, one of the

greatest artists of the twentieth century. I quote

from Klee:

“To succeed in what you undertake, it is essen-

tial never to work with a pre-conceived final image

in mind. On the contrary, one must devote oneself

entirely to the task at hand. Will and discipline are

everything…”

“One must always let the work develop according to its own rhythm.”

The process in which my paintings are made includes careful thought, balance, as well as

spontaneity, improvisation, and accidents.

Another feature of my paintings is that I tend to work in series.

It was during the period of the late seventies that my work first reflected my own personal

style. In 1977 I began the paintings that I felt were the most successful and personal works

that I had done to that point. These paintings were largely mixed media works on paper that

combined acrylic, watercolour, casein, pencil, and oil and chalk pastel. I called this series

“Gesturespace,” and over a period of time I created over 150 paintings with that title.




These paintings consist of several layers where the paint is built up and applied in various

ways. One is always aware to some extent of the previous underlying layers. Generally, I

think of a colour as being not just

one colour, but a combination of

two or three layers of colour. As

always, I was striving for a rich,

painterly surface – where colour

and texture play an important

role. This layering of paint contin-

ues in my work to the present

day.

The “Gesturespace” paintings

used a number of formats, usual-

ly consisting of bands or simple

rectangles. Against the order of

these structural elements, which

echoed the surrounding edges of

the painting, I combined the

spontaneous, freer, gestural ele-

ments and the richness of the

paint. In this way, all my abstract

works, from the seventies to the

present day, have dealt with the

opposition of structure and im-

pulse, simplicity and complexity,

and the manner in which edges

come up against each other.

While I was doing these works on

paper I was also painting large

works on canvas which devel-

oped further the same subject

matter and methodology.

Around the late 1980s and early

1990s there was a change in my work. I felt that I had exhausted what I had been doing and,

like most artists, I wanted to do something different. As a result, my paintings gradually be-

came representational. It was a slow process at first. The rectangles, bands, and the straight



Ronald Headland, The Memory of Things #51, 2015, acrylic and collage on canvas,36 x 48 po

lines were replaced by quirky, amorphous, organic shapes. However, these paintings still

retained the painterly qualities of my earlier work.

It was in the mid-1990s that the tentative organic shapes finally resulted in the human fig-

ure, although here too, the figures were quite abstract. It was in these paintings that collage

became an important element. The works moved back and forth in varying degrees of ab-

straction and realism. I wanted in these paintings to say something about the human condi-

tion. Later the figuration came to include faces, and for quite a long time faces alone be-

came the dominant subject matter.

It was in 2013 that the present series of paintings, that I have called “The Memory of

Things,” marked the return to total abstraction. Again, as with the earlier move to represen-

tation, I felt it was time for a change. “The Memory of Things” was the result and is an on-

going project. To date the series numbers about eighty-five paintings.

Memory, in the context of these paintings, suggests several levels of meaning. The memory

of the simple, banal objects and materials that are collaged onto the painting surface –

things that already have a “history” of their own that is recognized by the viewer. These ma-

terials include a wide range of things: bits of canvas, parts of clothing, wallpaper, fragments

of old paintings and drawings and palettes, burlap, buttons, sandpaper, metal hinges, card-

board, maps, paint brushes, and the like. The selection of these objects and materials is

done very carefully, although it may not immediately appear to be the case. The choice and

placement in the composition is based on their relevance as part of their esthetic function.

Another aspect of memory here is the memory of earlier ways of working and dealing with

colour, composition and paint quality. I am, above all, an abstract painter and these

paintings reaffirm issues and methods found in my earlier work.

Further, memory here is also the memory of art history and its bearing on my work.

‘The Memory of Things” continues my previous use of collage, but now these collaged ele-

ments assert themselves more directly within the new arrangements of the composition. In

these works the composition is not fixed – there is no “progression” in the usual sense – but

embraces an ever-changing variety of formats - all suggesting to some degree a sense of

order and structure that I feel is central to my work.

The list of things that can trigger the creation of a painting is endless: art history, an idea, a

colour, previous paintings that I have done, a wall with its paint peeling off. Anything can

spark an idea for a painting. Let me give you an example. In my studio for many weeks there

was a small torn piece of cardboard leaning up against the wall. It was basically a rectangle

with a sort of jog in it. I glanced at this cardboard from time to time, saying to myself I


should throw it out. Then one day, don’t ask me why, I realized that the shape could form

the basis of a painting. It can be as simple a process as that, of finding something in a piece

of cardboard that I had been looking at for weeks.

I think that this series, with its collage, has been so fruitful a project because it has allowed

me to expand the process-oriented methodology of my work and to further explore my fasci-

nation with memory, paint, colour, and surface texture.

Finally, I would mention that artists

are often intrigued and, sometimes

annoyed, by the comments and

reactions of people to their work.

In 2016 I exhibited some of the

paintings in this series in Nova Sco-

tia. One lady stared at one of the

paintings and said, “Cows. It looks

like cows. In a field. I’m from a

farm, you know.” I told her she was

dead on.

Of course we all see paintings in

different ways. That’s natural. We

can read anything into an abstract

work, even the most abstract. One

time I was showing friends pain-

tings in my studio. There were a

couple of blank white canvases in

the corner. I pointed to them and said that these were from my “Winter Blizzard Series!”

Even a blank canvas can suggest something. This need to find objects in a totally abstract

painting is understandable. But it is not the best way to look at abstract art. There are no

cows in my paintings. The most abstract of all the arts, the one that is the most removed

from everyday reality, is music. When we listen to a piece of music we don’t ask “What is it?

What does it mean?” The music just is.

The melodies, harmonies, and texture of the music itself create their own meaning and pow-

er and move us directly. It is the same with abstract art. The very elements of art – colour,

shape, line, composition, and so on, can in themselves evoke a strong emotional reaction,

that can’t often be put into words. One must learn to become sensitive to the basic elements

of art. And one does this, like one learns anything, by exposing oneself to paintings. The

more one does this, the greater will be the enjoyment of the experience of art.






Documents

25 february to 31 march - artsdrummondville.com Ronald Headland curriculum vitae RONALD HEADLAND on in Monteal whee he lives and woks. Studies in musi at M Gill Univesity and in at