Jan Wade (artist)

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Jan Wade
Born1952 (age 71–72)
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
NationalityCanadian
Alma materOntario College of Art and Design
Known formixed-media assemblage, painting, sculpture and textiles
Notable workBlood in the Soil, 2022
AwardsVIVA Award, Jack and Doris Shadbolt Foundation for the Visual Arts, 2022

Jan Wade (born 1952) is a Canadian artist known for her work in mixed-media assemblage, painting, sculpture and textiles. Wade draws inspiration from her personal history as a Black Canadian woman with a mixed cultural background. In 2022 her solo exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery was the first by a Black female artist in the history of that institution.[1]

Biography[edit]

Jan Wade grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, in a close-knit Black community. Her father's family was descended from formerly enslaved people who migrated from Virginia to Canada in the early 20th century, and her mother's family background is European.[2] Wade cites her paternal grandmother and great-grandmother as formative cultural influences, as well as the local African Methodist Episcopal Church, where she first encountered Black diasporic traditions such as spiritual singing, quilting and communal storytelling.[3] Wade attended an arts-focused high school in Hamilton and went on to the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, in 1972. She graduated with honours in 1976 and moved to British Columbia in 1979, first to Gibsons and eventually to Vancouver in 1983.[4] She lived for many years in the city's Strathcona neighbourhood, holding independent shows and sales at her studio in between residencies and formally-organized exhibitions at galleries and art museums.[3]

Career[edit]

Wade's work has been the focus of solo exhibitions including Sanctified/Soul Art (McMaster Museum of Art, January 7-February 18, 2001); Epiphany (Walter Phillips Gallery, August 29-October 16, 1994); and Jan Wade: Soul Power (Vancouver Art Gallery, July 10, 2021 – March 13, 2022).[5][6][3] Notable international group exhibitions in which she has participated include the first Johannesburg Biennale, in 1995.[3] Wade's travels to Cuba in 1993 and 1994 have been noted as a transformative experience, where she encountered the Santeria religion as a dimension of Black diasporic culture.[3] Wade has held artistic residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts (1994), the Bellagio Center for the Arts and Humanities (2004) and the Elsewhere Living Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina (2015). She is represented by the Mónica Reyes Gallery in Vancouver and the Richard Saltoun Gallery in London and Rome.

Works[edit]

Awards[edit]

Wade was honoured with a VIVA Award from the Jack and Doris Shadbolt Foundation for the Visual Arts in 2022.[9]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Thomson, John (9 August 2021). "Soul Power". Galleries West. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  2. ^ Tousley, Nancy (10 September 1994). "Spiritual Forces Bridged by Art". Calgary Herald.
  3. ^ a b c d e Vancouver Art Gallery (2022). Jan Wade : soul power. Vancouver, BC: Vancouver Art Gallery and Information Office. p. 10. ISBN 9781988860138.
  4. ^ "Jan Wade". MÓNICA REYES GALLERY. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  5. ^ McMaster Museum of Art (2001). Jan Wade : sanctified : sanctified/soul art : January 7 through February 18, 2001 : an exhibition of Jan Wade. Hamilton, Ont.: McMaster Museum of Art. ISBN 9781894088268.
  6. ^ Walter Phillips Gallery (1994). Epiphany. Banff, Alta., Canada: Walter Phillips Gallery. ISBN 9780920159804.
  7. ^ "AGO acquires 17 new works by 10 artists at Art Toronto". Art Gallery of Ontario. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  8. ^ "Vancouver Art Gallery: Recent Acquisitions". www.vanartgallery.bc.ca. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  9. ^ "2022 - Jan Wade - The Jack and Doris Shadbolt Foundation". The Jack and Doris Shadbolt Foundation. Retrieved 12 February 2023.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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