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Arlington Hoffman, who goes by the name of Arlie, was born in 1939 in Windsor, Ontario, as Arlington James Hoffman. He was the second youngest of five children. His family left Windsor when he was an infant, and he was raised in Pembroke, Ontario, until c. 1946. Then they lived in Sarnia from c. 1946 to 1948. In c. 1948, they returned to Pembroke, where Arlie lived until he moved to North Bay, Ontario in 1966.

He trained as a radiology technician at the Civic Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario and the Cottage Hospital in Pembroke. He spent nine years working at the Cottage Hospital after graduating. In 1966, he became technical director of radiology in the imaging department in the North Bay Civic Hospital.

In 1959, he married Darlene Biesenthal, with whom he has three children.

In the late 1970s, he served on the North Bay Art Association Board, and he currently serves on the board of the Capitol Centre as a liaison with the W. K. P. Kennedy Gallery in North Bay.

Solo exhibitions of his work have been held at: The Powassan Public Library, Powassan, Ontario, 2006), The Lindsay Gallery, Lindsay, Ontario (2003), the Classic Theatre, Cobalt, Ontario (2003), the W.K.P. Kennedy Gallery (2002), the Woodland Gallery, South River, Ontario (2000), Art in Public Places, Capitol Centre, North Bay, Ontario (1999-2000 and 1998), Pembroke Public Library, Pembroke, Ontario (1991), North Bay Public Library, North Bay, Ontario (1991), Timmins Museum National Exhibition Centre, South Porcupine, Ontario (1984), and the Laurentian University Museum and Arts Centre, Sudbury, Ontario (1984).

At the W. K. P. Kennedy Gallery in North Bay, he curated the John F. Seguin Retrospective (2003) and the Angele Project (2006), which explored the legacy of Grey Owl.

He was artist in residence at the W. K .P. Kennedy Gallery from 2002 to 2003, and at the Capitol Centre, North Bay, from 2003 to the present.

Arlie's works are in private, public and corporate collections, including Cambrian College (Sudbury, Ontario), the City of Timmins (Ontario), the City of North Bay (Ontario), Ontario Northland Railway, CKOC Radio (Hamilton, Ontario), Richardson Group (North Bay, Ontario), W. K. P. Kennedy Gallery Permanent Collection (North Bay, Ontario), Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement Board (Toronto, Ontario), Trans Canada Pipeline, and the Temiskaming Art Gallery Permanent Collection (Haileybury, Ontario).

(The biographical information featured here was written in consultation with the artist in 2006.)

Interview:

Arlie Hoffman, a resident of North Bay for almost 40 years, is an integral part of the local arts community. In addition to serving on the board of White Water Gallery, the W. K. P. Kennedy Gallery and the Capitol Centre over the years, he teaches in Canadore College's summer Artsperience program, and he has a continuing role in the North Bay Heritage Carousel Project. Hoffman says, "If I wasn't involved, I would feel isolated." Soft-spoken and modest, he sees his community involvement as a way for him to give something back.

Art has always been a part of his life, if only at the periphery at times. He did not receive formal instruction in the visual arts. "It just seemed that I wanted to do it instinctively," he says. As a child, Hoffman enjoyed music and sports, but art was his "main thing." Sometimes his interests overlapped, like when he produced drawings of sports. Similarly, as he embarked on a career in radiology, he was drawn to its artistic elements. "A beautifully produced x-ray would excite me as much as a painting. It had all the elements of black and white photography," he says. It was a supportive radiology teacher who saw the artist in Hoffman and encouraged him. This was while he was living in Pembroke, and through the local service club that organized art shows, he began exhibiting and conceiving of his art as more than a hobby. When he moved to North Bay, he devoted himself too his job and his family and had little time for art. However, it was always in the back of his mind. Through meeting Dennis Geden, he was inspired to return to figurative work. Other local inspiration includes Lake Nipissing, the subject of many of his landscapes. He describes his introspective approach to landscapes as zoning in on a singular element of nature and learning to truly see, like a musician learns to truly hear (again, note the overlapping of interests).

Although he is technically retired, there is no sign of Hoffman slowing down. His next major undertaking is 'Angele' at the W.K.P. Kennedy Gallery in 2006, an exploration of Grey Owl's wife and descendants, some of whom live in North Bay. While Hoffman sat sketching by the waterfront, he chatted with one of the actors of 'Indian Heart,' a Nipissing Stage production, which led him to paint a representative portrait of 'Anahareo', one of Grey Owl's other wives. Through his experience, he connected with the local descendants of Angele and Grey Owl. The exhibition will include Hoffman's portraits of five generations, as well as historical documents and multi-media works from other local artists.

There is "so much...to appreciate," he says, and "I'm in this wonderful moment in my life to pursue all of this."

(By Heather Saunders, published in January 2005 White Water Gallery newsletter).

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Arlington Hoffman
2006

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Arlington Hoffman, Albert (study), oil
2005

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Arlington Hoffman, Draft for press release by W. K. P. Kennedy Gallery curator Dennis Geden
1989

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Arlington Hoffman, Arist in residence flyer (featured with North Bay artist Nancy Davies)
2002