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Lionel Venne, the oldest of four children, was born in 1936 in Verner, Ontario as Lionel Alcide Joseph Venne. His family moved from Verner to Matachewan, Ontario in 1940, where they lived until 1941. In 1942, they moved to Windsor, Ontario and in 1944, to Leeville, Ontario.

He lived in Leeville until 1983, when he moved to Elk Lake, Ontario, where he currently resides.

He moved to Sudbury in 1951, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities from Sacred Heart College.

He was a separate school teacher from 1956 to 1970 in Charlton, Uno Park, Brethour, and Kenabeek, Ontario.

He served on the board of Visual Arts Ontario from 1994 to 1996. He served on the board of the Northern Ontario Art Association from 1984 to 1986, 1986 to 1989 and 1996 to 1998 and he was president during the latter two time periods. He was vice-president of the Boreal North Sculpture Association from its inception in 2004 to 2006, and became chair for a two-year term in 2006.

Solo exhibitions include of his work include: New Collage Works on Paper & Sculptures (2006, Englehart & Area Museum Gallery, Englehart, Ontario), Recent Works (Salle Augustin-Chénier, Ville-Marie, Quebec), Horizons (2004, Classic Theatre, Cobalt, Ontario), Autumn Landscapes (2004, Eco-Centre, Elk Lake, Ontario), From Where I Stand (2003, Temiskaming Art Gallery, Haileybury, Ontario), Recent Works (2003, Chapel Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria), A Sense of Place (2002, Sir Harry Oakes Museum of Northern History, Kirkland Lake, Ontario), This and That (2002, Classic Theatre, Cobalt, Ontario), A Sense of Place (2001, Timmins Museum & National Exhibition Centre, South Porcupine, Ontario), New Works (2001, Galleria d'arte moderna e contemporanea "M. Fogolino", Trente, Italy), Imaginary Landscapes (1999, Sudbury Art Gallery, Sudbury, Ontario), Spirit of Landscape (1999, Tedora Gallery, Toronto), Italian Impressions (1999, Temiskaming Art Gallery, Haileybury and Sir Harry Oakes Museum of Northern History, Kirkland Lake), Selected Views (1998, W. K. P. Kennedy Gallery), Views of Italia (1998, Sir Harry Oakes Museum of Northern History, Kirkland Lake), Retrospective 1980-1998 (Galleria d'arte moderna e contemporanea "M. Fogolino", Trente, Italy), New Works (1997, Timmins Museum & National Exhibition Centre, South Porcupine, Ontario, and Sir Harry Oakes Museum of Northern History, Kirkland Lake, Ontario), New Works (1996, Tedora Gallery, Toronto, Ontario), Views and Visions (1995, Centre Louis-Hémon Gallery, Chapleau, Ontario), À perte de vue (1995, La Galeruche, Timmins, Ontario), Seasonal Landscapes (1994, Timmins Regional & District Hospital, Timmins, Ontario), New Works: Watercolours/Collage (1994, Sir Harry Oakes Museum of Northern History, Kirkland Lake, Ontario), Oeuvres récentes/Collages (1993, Salle-Augustin-Chénier, Ville-Marie, Quebec), New Works: Watercolours/Collages (1993, Englehart Museum Art Gallery), New Works/Collages (Temiskaming Art Gallery, Haileybury, Ontario), Constructed Landscapes/Collages (1992, Timmins Museum & National Exhibition Centre, South Porcupine, Ontario), Paysages construits/Collages (1992, Centre des Arts, Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec), Recent Works: Watercolours (1991, Emma Ciotti Gallery, Iroquois Falls, Ontario), Views of the Landscape/Paysages (1991, La Galeruche), Views & Impressions of the Landscape (1991, Bancroft Art Gallery, Bancroft, Ontario), Views & Impressions of the Landscape (1991, Timmins Museum & National Exhibition Centre), Meta Gallery (1990, Sault-Ste-Marie, Ontario), Timmins Museum & National Exhibition Centre (1988), The Temiskaming Art Gallery (1986, Haileybury, Ontario), Queen Charlotte Island Museum & Gallery (1986, Queen Charlotte, British Columbia), Angel Gallery (1985, Toronto, Ontario), Paintings and Tapestries (1984, Algonquin Art Gallery, Bancroft, Ontario), New Watercolours (1984, Angel Gallery), Paintings and Tapestries (1983, The Temiskaming Art Gallery, Haileybury, Ontario), New Works (1983, Angel Gallery, Toronto, Ontario), Timmins Museum & National Exhibition Centre (1982, South Porcupine, Ontario), The Temiskaming Art Gallery (1982, Haileybury, Ontario), McGugan Gallery (1982, Hamilton), and The Temiskaming Art Gallery (1981 and 1980, Haileybury, Ontario).

He has received the following grants: Senior Artists Grant (Ontario Arts Council, 2001 and 2004), Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Commerce (1998), Individual Artists Grant (Ontario Arts Council, 1993), Exploration Grant (Canada Council for the Arts, 1984), Visiting Artist Grant (Canada Council for the Arts, 1986, 1988), Material Assistance Grant (Ontario Arts Council, every year from 1981 to 2006)

He has been commissioned by the following for tapestries: Agnico Mines Ltd. (Cobalt, Ontario), Ascension Parish (Matachewan, Ontario), Government of Ontario: Ministry of Correctional Services (North Bay, Ontario), The House of Hope (Sault-Sainte-Marie, Ontario), International Foundries (Ransomville, New York), International Platinum Corp. (Toronto, Ontario) Nativity Parish (Elk Lake, Ontario), Ontario Association of Optometrists, the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, and B. Zelin (New York).

His work is held in the collections of Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (Cobalt, Ontario), Algonquin Art Gallery (Bancroft, Ontario), Association of Optometrists of Ontario (Toronto), Cadbury Schwepps (Melbourne Victoria), Conseil des Écoles séparées d'Ottawa (Ottawa), Conseil des Écoles séparées du Temiskaming (New Liskeard, Ontario), Continental Bank (New York), Grant Forest Products (Englehart, Ontario), International Platinum Corp. (Toronto, Ontario), Little Gallery (Haileybury, Ontario), Michael Benson Association (Windsor, Ontario), Ministry of Northern Affairs and Mines, Ontario Provincial Government Collection (North Bay and Sudbury), Northern Telephone Ltd. (New Liskeard, Ontario), Ontario Northland Commission, Union Station (Toronto, North Bay and Kirkland Lake, Ontario), Saxum Canada Inc. (Brampton, Ontario), Stern Gucker Hotel, Königsleiten (Austria), Stonnington City Council (Melbourne, Victoria), Temiskaming Art Gallery (Haileybury, Ontario), City of Timmins, Timmins Regional Hospital, Two Rivers Gallery (Prince George, British Columbia), Queen Charlotte Museum (Queen Charlotte Island, British Columbia) and Wypich, Illsley & Associates (Toronto, Ontario).

He is represented by Fine Focus Gallery (West Hampton, New York), Madeline Jordan Gallery (Wincester, New York), Canvas & Clay Gallery (New Liskeard, Ontario), and Madelyn Galleria d'arte moderna e contemporanes "Fogolinio" (Trento, Italy).

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

Interview:

Lionel Venne paints every day, and sometimes he gets up in the middle of the night to paint.

He first felt his "creative spirit...awakened" when he was in grade school. About thirty years later, he entered his first juried exhibition and won two awards, which he cites as the first time he felt like an artist. He has worked in weaving, collage and painting.

Living in northern Ontario has affected his artwork by eliminating distraction. "You discover yourself and you discover your art," he explains. Also, he feels that artists should make work about what they know, and consequently, the northern landscape plays a key role in his work. He enjoys walking around and taking in the landscape. He never sketches or paints en plein air, but he does note intimately the details of the landscape like how the air smells or the direction that the wind blows.

Over time, his work has changed. He has discovered new materials that create texture in his paintings on paper, such as alcohol, salt, Windex, and coffee (the latter being accidental, when he dipped his paintbrush in his coffee). Details have lessened and more references have been added to lines, shape and colour as the work has become more abstract. "I'm deconstructing the landscape to construct a painting," he says. Lionel is not concerned with capturing exactness, but rather in conveying an impression of what he feels.

(By Heather Saunders based on an interview in December, 2006).

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Lionel Venne
2006

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Lionel Venne, From Where We Stand (installation view, two-person exhibition with Maureen Stewart)
2003
W. K. P. Kennedy Gallery, North Bay, Ontario, Canada

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Lionel Venne, Artist statement
1991