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THE CHALK AND THE EASEL - The Life and Work of Stanford Perrott

July 12 – September 1, 2001

STANFORD PERROTT

Artist: Stanford Perrott Title, Date: Still Life, 1959 Medium: Oil on Canvas Collection: Mary Blake

ARTIST AND EDUCATOR
This retrospective exhibition presents a thorough examination and celebration of the life and work of Stanford Perrott, one of the most prolific Alberta watercolourists and art educators. Perrott is a familiar name to anyone who has studied history of contemporary western Canadian art. He has been regarded by art historians and critics as one of the most important figures in the development of art in Alberta in the post World War II period.

Born in 1917 near Stavely, south of Calgary, Stanford Perrott graduated from the Provincial Institute of Technology & Art (currently Alberta College of Art & Design) in 1939, and returned to teach at this school in 1946. In the middle of 1950's, Perrott studied with famous Abstract Expressionist painters Hans Hofmann in Provincetown, Mass. and in New York with Will Barnet. As a Head of the Alberta College of Art from 1967 to 1974, he provided the vision, integrity and the continuity critical to the next seven years of growth and development at his alma mater. A gifted educator at the Alberta College of Art, Perrott spent nearly forty years guiding a generation of Alberta artists. Under his unconventional tutelage, young artists learned to challenge the boundaries of regionalism and traditionalism and to embrace new artistic visions and expressions.

In 1988, Stanford Perrott was awarded the Sir Frederick Haultain Prize for his outstanding contributions to art and education in Alberta. He is also the recipient of the Alberta College of Art Board of Governors' Award of Excellence, The Province of Alberta's Achievement Award and, in 1991, an Honourary Degree from the University of Calgary.

Titled, The Chalk & The Easel: The Life and Work of Stanford Perrott, the exhibition profiles Perrott's art from the late 1940's to the late 1990's, during which time he made significant contributions to contemporary Canadian art. The show coincides with a launch of the book by Dr. Maxwell L Foran, and bearing the same title. Stanford Perrott is indisputably one of the master watercolourists, and has carved his well-deserved niche in the annals of contemporary western Canadian art. Although now in his 8th decade, he is still prolific in studio output. Even a cursory glance of Perrott's paintings reveals an authoritative control of the water-based medium. With persistent devotion, Perrott continues to investigate new techniques and ways of capturing the quintessential spirit of urban, rural, and mountain landscape, his dominant subject matter. His impressive body of work reveals not only ever-growing confidence with the medium, but a growing lyricism and poetry in the interpretation of his various subjects.

Jacek Malec
Director, Triangle Gallery of Visual Arts
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