Culture of Acadia

Deepa Mehta, filmmaker (born at Amritsar, India). Deepa Mehta, whose father was a movie distributor, grew up watching films and began her career as a screenwriter for children's cinema.

Christopher Landreth, animator, writer, producer (b at Hartford, CT 4 Aug 1961). Chris Landreth, Canada's most talented computer-animation artist, received a Master's degree in theoretical and applied mechanics from the University of Illinois (1986).

Clémence DesRochers, actress, humorist, singer and author (b at Sherbrooke, Qué 24 Nov 1934). Daughter of the poet Alfred DESROCHERS, she is the most famous female monologist of her generation in Québec.

Deanna Durbin, born Edna Mae Durbin, actress, singer (born at Winnipeg 4 Dec 1921, died April 2013). Deanna Durbin was born in Winnipeg to English immigrant parents, but was raised from infancy in California. She was blessed with a strong and surprisingly mature voice.

He draws on history, ancient ceramics, film and photography to animate his expertly thrown pots. Active in ceramics for over 40 years, Payce has participated in over 150 group and solo exhibitions and numerous artist residencies around the world.

The Group of Seven was founded in 1920 as an organization of self-proclaimed modern artists. With their bright colours, tactile paint handling, and simple yet dynamic forms, the Group of Seven transfigured the Canadian Shield, the dense, northern boreal forest, and endless lakes, into a transcendent, spiritual force.

Emily Carr, painter, writer (born 13 Dec 1871 at Victoria, BC; died 2 Mar 1945 at Victoria, BC). Along with Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven, and David Milne, Emily Carr was one of the preeminent, and perhaps most original, Canadian painters of the first half of the twentieth century; she was also one of the only major female artists in either North America or Europe of that period.

Goodridge Roberts, OC, painter (born 24 September 1904 in Barbados, British West Indies; died 28 January 1974 in Montréal, QC). Goodridge Roberts was a member of an extended family of poets and writers in Fredericton, New Brunswick. This included his father Theodore, his uncle Sir C.G.D. Roberts and his cousin Bliss Carman.

John Massey, visual artist (born 6 July 1950 in Toronto, ON). Since the 1980s, John Massey’s installations, sculptures, and films have established him as one of Canada’s most prominent contemporary artists. In 2001, he won the Gershon Iskowitz Prize for lifetime achievement.

Katrina Chaytor, ceramist, teacher (born 13 May 1962 in St. John’s, NL). Katrina Chaytor is recognized for her investigations of decoration in functional ceramics, specifically how ornament interacts with form, history, and culture.

Alex Cameron, visual artist (born 1947 in Toronto, ON). Alex Cameron is broadly recognized as one of the most distinguished contemporary heirs of the Group of Seven, Jack Bush, and the Painters Eleven.

Canada's first official war art program, known as the Canadian War Memorials Fund, was established by Lords Beaverbrook (Max Aitken) and Rothermere under the aegis of the Canadian War Records Office of the Canadian Army during WWI.

Will Ogilvie, painter (b at Stutterheim, S Africa 30 Mar 1901; d at Toronto 30 Aug 1989). The first official Canadian war artist (appointed January 1943), Will Ogilvie painted many of his war works under fire, for which he was awarded the OBE. In Johannesburg, Ogilvie studied with Erich Mayer.

David Alexander Colville, painter (born 24 Aug 1920 in Toronto, Ontario died 16 July 2013 in Wolfville, Nova Scotia). Alex Colville moved with his family to Amherst, NS, in 1929 and studied at Mount Allison (1938-42).

Karen Alexandria Kain, dancer, ballet director (born 28 Mar 1951 in Hamilton, Ontario). Karen Kain is one of Canada's finest and most internationally renowned dancers and a respected public figure.

Thomas John Thomson, painter (born 5 August 1877 in Claremont, ON; died 8 July 1917 in Algonquin Provincial Park, ON). An early inspiration for what became The Group of Seven, Tom Thomson was probably the most influential and enduringly popular Canadian artist of the early part of the twentieth century. His paintings The West Wind (1917) and Jack Pine (1916-1917)are familiar Canadian icons.

Franklin Carmichael, painter (born 4 May 1890 in Orillia, ON; died 24 October 1945 in Toronto).

Lawren Stewart Harris, painter (born 23 October 1885 in Brantford, ON; died 29 January 1970 in Vancouver, BC).

Alexander Young Jackson, CC, painter (born 3 October 1882 in Montréal, QC; died 5 April 1974 in Kleinburg, ON).

Francis Hans Johnston (called Frank, and later Franz), painter (born 19 June 1888 in Toronto, ON; died 9 July 1949 in Toronto).

Arthur Lismer, painter, educator (born 27 June 1885 in Sheffield, England; died 23 March 1969 in Montréal, QC).

James Edward Hervey MacDonald, painter (b at Durham, Eng 12 May 1873; d at Toronto 26 Nov 1932). Among the Group of Seven, of which he was a founder, J.E.H.

Frederick Horsman Varley, painter (b at Sheffield, Eng 2 Jan 1881; d at Toronto 8 Sept 1969). In early life he spent much time in the English countryside and became intensely spiritual, finding God in nature, not in the church.

Alfred Joseph Casson, painter (b at Toronto 17 May 1898; d there 20 Feb 1992). After study at Hamilton (1913-15) and Toronto (1915-17), A.J. Casson got his first real job in 1919 at a Toronto commercial art firm as Franklin Carmichael's apprentice.

Jennifer Dickson, OC, visual artist (born 17 September 1936 in Piet Retief, South Africa). In 1965, Dickson was elected to the Royal Society of Painters, Etchers and Engravers (now the Royal Sciety of Painter-Printmakers) and subsequently became the only Canadian in history to be named a Royal Academician by the Royal Academy of Arts in London, England, in 1976.