1

Jeannie Thib was born in 1955 in North Bay, Ontario as Jean Elizabeth Thib. She was raised in North Bay.

In 1973, she moved to Toronto, Ontario, where she began a Bachelor of Fine Arts at York University in 1973, spending summers in North Bay. In 1977, she moved to Toronto permanently, graduating in 1979. She currently resides in Toronto.

Solo exhibitions of her work include Fac-simié (2006, Maison Patrimoniale de Barthète, Boussan, France), Construct (2006, Leo Kamen Gallery, Toronto, Ontario), Pattern Fields (2005, Foreman Art Gallery, Bishop's University, Lennoxville, Québec), Lure (2004, The Koffler Gallery, Toronto, Ontario and Art Gallery of Sudbury, Ontario), Dissections (2004, Joan Ferneyhough Gallery, North Bay, Ontario), Flourish (2003, Leo Kamen Gallery, Toronto, Ontario), Spill (2002, De Overslag, Eindhoven, the Netherlands), Interlace (2002, Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, DC), Fret (2001, Stride Gallery, Calgary, Alberta and Leo Kamen Gallery, Toronto, Ontario), Fret (2000, in Manifestation Internationale d'Art de Québec, Galerie Engramme, Québec, Québec), Second Skin (2001, Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Ontario), Corpus (2000, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College Art Gallery, Memorial University, Cornerbrook, Newfoundland), Preserve (The Art Gallery of Peterborough, Ontario), Second Skin (2000, McIntosh Gallery, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario) Token (2000, Leo Kamen Gallery, Toronto, Ontario), Guise (2000, Joan Ferneyhough Gallery, North Bay, Ontario), Scribe (1999, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie, Ontario and Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario), Archive (1999, SNAP Gallery, Alberta and Art Gallery of the South Okanagan, Penticton, British Columbia), Geographia (1998, Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Alberta), Body, Artifact and Absence (1998, W. K. P. Kennedy Gallery, North Bay, Ontario), Binary Codes (1998, Leo Kamen Gallery, Toronto, Ontario), Folio (1998, Joan Ferneyhough Gallery, North Bay, Ontario), Corpus (1998, Grimsby Public Art Gallery, Grimsby, Ontario), Model/Mimic (1997, Oakville Galleries Gairloch Gallery, Oakville, Ontario), Augur (1997, The Red Head Gallery, Toronto, Ontario), Jeannie Thib: Body Works (1995, The Art Gallery of Mississauga, Ontario), Archive (1995, The Red Head Gallery, Toronto, Ontario), Blueprint (1995, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto), Vanitas (1995, The Hammer Gallery, Hamilton, Ontario), Readings (1994, Niagara Artists' Centre, St. Catharines, Ontario), Survival Tips (1993, The Red Head Gallery, Toronto), Terra Incognita (1993, Women's Art Resource Centre, Toronto), Rorsach (1992, The Red Head Gallery Showcase, Toronto, Ontario), and Untitled (1990, White Water Gallery, North Bay, Ontario).

She has done artist residencies at Maison Patrimoniale de Barthète, Boussan, France (2006), De Overslag, Eindhoven, the Netherlands (2002), Pouch Cove, Newfoundland (2002), Stichting Kunst and Complex, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (2001), The Canada Council Paris studio, Paris, France (2001), and she was visiting artist at Open Studio (Toronto, Ontario) and at the McMichael Canadian Collection (Kleinburg, Ontario) in 1997 to 1998.

She has received the following grants: Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant (2003/04), Arts Grants B from the Canada Council for the Arts (2002, 1998, 1995, and 1993), Paris studio grant from the Canada Council for the Arts (2001), travel grants from the Canada Council for the Arts (2006, 2002, 2000, and 1998), Short Term/ Project Grants from the Canada Council for the Arts (1992, 1991, and 1998), a Senior Visual Artists Grant from the Ontario Arts Council (2003), Visual Arts Grants from the Ontario Arts Council (1996, 1995, 1992, and 1989), Exhibition Assistance Grants from the Ontario Arts Council (1998, 1997, 1995, 1993, 1990, and 1988, a Special Project Grant from the Ontario Arts Council for the 'Name 10 parts of the body' collective (1991), Grant to Visual Artists from the Toronto Arts Council (2002, 1995), Cultural/Interim Grant from the Toronto Arts Council or the 'Name 10 parts of the body' collective (1991, 1992), and Exchange Grant, MCC from the Ontario-Quebec Commission or the 'Name 10 parts of the body' collective (1992).

Five permanent public commissions of her work are installed in Canada. MOTH gardens, Downsview Memorial Parkette, consisting of a stone sculpture, steel arbour, and integrated landscape was commissioned by the City of Toronto and completed in 2006. Thib, the project lead, worked with landscape architect Scott Torrance.

Three interior stone wall installations were created in collaboration with artist Carl Taçon for the Bloorview MacMillan Children's Centre in Toronto. Sky Map, Landmarks, and Field Study were installed in 2006 at the new centre by architect Montgomery Sisam.

In 2005 Thib completed a commission from the City of Medicine Hat, Alberta for an exterior glass frit design on the south and west facades of the Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre by Diamond and Schmitt Architects.

Raked, an Artist Garden at Harbourfront, Toronto was created in 2001 and consists of a trellis and plantings by Thib and her partner, Bruce Holland.

Lastly, The Cranes: A National Tribute to Japanese Canadian Life, an interior slate and maple wall installation with dedications, was commissioned for the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto and KPMB in 2001.

Her work is held in the following public collections: Agnes Etherington Art Centre (Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario), Art Gallery of Mississauga (Mississauga, Ontario), Art Gallery of Peterborough (Peterborough, Ontario), Bloorview MacMillan Children's Centre (Toronto, Ontario), Canada Council Art Bank (Ottawa, Ontario), Canadian Dept. of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, City of Medicine Hat (Alberta), City of Toronto, Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, Justina M. Barnicke Gallery (University of Toronto), MacLaren Art Centre (Barrie, Ontario), McIntosh Art Gallery (University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario), McMaster Museum of Art (Hamilton, Ontario), Memorial University Art Gallery (St. John's, Newfoundland), Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (Toronto, Ontario), National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, Ontario), Oakville Galleries (Oakville, Ontario), Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery (Owen Sound, Ontario), University of Alberta Art Collection (Edmonton, Alberta), The Washington DC Convention Centre, and the W. K. P. Kennedy Gallery (North Bay, Ontario).

Her work is held in the following corporate collections: AIM Management (Toronto), Canadian Pacific (Montreal), CIBC Mellon Bank, Clarkson Gordon (Toronto), Dow Jones (Toronto), Ernst and Young (Toronto), Fidelity (Toronto), F.M.C. Corporation (Chicago), KPMG (Toronto), The Manufacturer's Life Insurance Co. (Toronto), McCarthy Tetrault (Toronto), Nestlé Canada Inc. (Toronto), Omers (Ontario), Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (North Bay), Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt (Toronto), The Royal Bank of Canada, R.M.E. Capital Corp. (North Bay), Tampa Bay Engineering (Tampa, Florida), Torys (Toronto), and Trimark (Toronto).

She is represented by Leo Kamen Gallery in Toronto and Joan Ferneyhough Gallery in North Bay.

Thib's curriculum vitae, including selected group exhibitions and bibliography, can be viewed at http://www.ccca.ca/cv/english/thib-cv.html

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

Interview:

Even from a young age, Jeannie Thib always wanted to be an artist. Her earliest memories of creating art are of writing stories to accompany her own drawings and cutting small images out of magazines. She doesn't recall the ultimate purpose of extracting these pictures, but feels that "the process was the important part".

As a teenager growing up in North Bay, Ontario, she took life-drawing classes after school with artist and teacher David Carlin. She remembers a day when the model was unavailable, so Carlin put on a clown nose and clown suit and filled in. Thib still has the drawings in her possession.

She also studied art and painted sets for school plays under the direction of Chippewa High School teacher Ron Elston. She later painted theatre and film sets professionally, enjoying the process of interpreting a theatre designer's sketch. The loose, quick working style of painting with a pole onto canvas backdrops on the floor was freeing, she says. The "pleasure of physical movement" was an excellent balance for the intricate prints she was producing at the time.

When asked if being raised in North Bay has had an impact on her work, she notes that growing up with dense bush behind her childhood home and a lake across the road has affected her worldview, and her sense of what is important. "Examining how we perceive and interpret nature is an important part of what I do," she says. The natural world is represented in her work in an arguably symbolic way, figuring in historical patterns derived from the decorative arts.

Thib chooses a particular genre of pattern for each body of work according to its appropriateness both conceptually and in terms of the processes to be used. What draws Thib to pattern in general, she says, is its rich encoding of history and experience in visual form. "There's so much encapsulated in historical ornament," she explains. With different time periods and cultures merging into a single pattern, there's an intrinsic hybridity and evidence of modifications made over many years. Also fascinating to Thib is the relationship between pattern and language which she has explored through use of Rorschach-like silhouettes and isolated fragments that suggest glyphs or signs.

Just as design is integral to fabric patterns, there is a very strong design sensibility in Thib's work. The attractiveness of the design entices viewers, compelling them to explore underlying levels of complexity. Often, viewers' initial responses, formulated at a distance, shift as they move closer to her works she says. The present is an interesting time for artists, Thib feels, because "boundaries are opening up between the fields of visual art, design and architecture."

Printmaking has served as a significant foundation for Thib's work, and has a continued presence in her work today. "Print has influenced me conceptually as well," she says, noting that the repetition "intrinsic to the process" has resulted in an exploration of the relationship between model and original and a fascination with the faux and the copy. She enjoys the fact that printmaking is a step removed from drawing. Through its "mediating influence," print "removes the hand from the work." At Sword Street Press, a publication press for artist lithographs in Toronto, where she worked shortly after her undergraduate studies in art, Thib was fortunate to have access to the resources, allowing her to continue her explorations of printmaking. The decision to seek arts-related employment, which lead her to that first job, continued to contribute to her identity as an artist.

Currently, Thib is developing a strong interest in public art, which she has been creating since 2000. She enjoys the challenge of "fitting...work into...parameters", while also ensuring that the final product "relate[s] closely to my studio art practice." Creating public art has affected the scope and scale of her other art projects, she says.

Another challenge Thib enjoys is artist residencies. Separated from the conveniences of her Toronto studio and the commercial processes she sometimes uses, she is "forced to push the limits", simplifying production methods and being inventive about material needs. For example, in a residency in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, Thib created "Spill", a large installation, by hand cutting lightweight landscaping cloth she transported with her from Canada. In a recent residency in Boussan, France she used hand cut adhesive backed vinyl purchased at the local "Monsieur Bricolage" to produce a large scale wall drawing. These experiences "feed into her constantly evolving work methods", Thib says.

Thib describes her creative process as taking form in sketches, which are "more like notations". Illustrations and text are featured in equal measure in her notebooks. After this preliminary stage, she researches and collects visual references. The production of a new artwork often entails experimentation with and use of new materials and fabrication techniques developed in tandem with its particular concept and form. Thib has a drive to continue to broaden the scope and impact of her work. It is this commitment that motivates her.

(By Heather Saunders, based on an interview in January, 2007).

2

Jeannie Thib
2006

3

Jeannie Thib, Spill (lower gallery view), landscaping cloth, site-specific installation
2002
De Overslag Gallery, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

4

Jeannie Thib, Untitled (installation view)
1990
White Water Gallery, North Bay, Ontario, Canada


Credits:
Bruce Holland

5

Jeannie Thib, Floorplan for Body, Artifact and Absence
1998
W. K. P. Kennedy Gallery, North Bay, Ontario, Canada