David Blackwood

David Blackwood

David Blackwood is one of Canada’s leading printmakers and visual storytellers. His iconic etchings of outport life illuminate Newfoundland’s history, legends, and society.

David Blackwood was born in 1941 in the outport community of Wesleyville on Newfoundland’s northeast coast. His family has a long seafaring history and Blackwood spent his childhood summers fishing off the Labrador coast aboard his father’s schooner, the Flora S. Nickerson. Blackwood’s upbringing in outport Newfoundland deeply influenced the kind of art he would later produce.

His talent was evident at an early age. He opened his own studio in 1956 and produced award-winning art while still a teenager. In 1959, he was awarded a Government of Newfoundland Centennial Scholarship to study at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto. After graduating in 1963, he moved to Port Hope, Ontario and became Art Master at the Trinity College School. The part-time position gave Blackwood ample time to practice his studio work.

During the 1960s and early 1970s, David Blackwood developed one of the largest thematically linked series of prints in Canadian history, The Lost Party. This famous series of 50 etchings focussed on the Newfoundland sealing disaster of 1914. He was also involved with establishing an art gallery at Erindale College, an affiliate of the University of Toronto. As a sign of gratitude to Blackwood, the gallery was named The Blackwood Gallery when it officially opened in 1992.

Despite his long Ontario residency, David Blackwood’s art continues to focus on Newfoundland. Blackwood’s output is prolific, and his subject matter has included the fisheries, the seal hunt, resettlement, shipwrecks, mummers, and other aspects of outport life. While known for his stark blue-black etchings, in recent years he has experimented with watercolour and oil tempera. He has become one of the most successful and respected artists in Canada.

Recognition and Achievements:

In 1974, the National Film Board of Canada produced the documentary Blackwood, which won 10 international awards and was nominated for an Academy Award. His work has been featured in four major publications: The Wake of the Great Sealers (1973); The Art of David Blackwood (1988); David Blackwood: Master Printmaker (2001); and Black Ice: David Blackwood Prints of Newfoundland (2011).

David Blackwood’s art has been extensively exhibited nationally and internationally in scores of solo and group exhibitions. Recent shows include Black Ice at the Art Gallery of Ontario, which toured Canada from 2011-2012; Illumination: Ephraim Kelloway’s Door (2010); Recent Watercolours (2009); and Flowers for Siromani (2005).

Blackwood is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and has honorary doctorates from several universities, including the Memorial University of Newfoundland. He received the Order of Canada in 1993 and the Order of Ontario in 2003. Also in 2003, Blackwood was named Honorary Chairman of the Art Gallery of Ontario.

In addition to being a part of The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery’s Permanent Collection, Blackwood’s art is in many private and public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada; the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle; the National Gallery of Australia; Uffizi, Florence, Italy; and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. In 2000, the Art Gallery of Ontario acquired a major collection of Blackwood prints and created the Blackwood Research Centre.

David Blackwood has retired from teaching, but continues to work on a full-time basis as an artist. He lives in Port Hope, Ontario and maintains a studio in Wesleyville, Newfoundland.

Credits
the above content is a direct excerpt from Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador