While Saskatchewan artist Joe Fafard has a number of university degrees to his name, he said shunning what he learned in university in the 1960s was important to his development as an artist.
In his twenties, Fafard worked in Regina teaching.
鈥淏y that time I was quite frustrated,鈥� Fafard said at his artist talk on Feb. 15. 鈥淚t took me a couple years to get rid of all the garbage I learned in school.鈥�
Fafard has been creating art in a professional context for at least 50 years, he said. He has honorary doctorate degrees, public art in Canadian cities including Edmonton, Toronto and Ottawa, and work in museums in the U.S., the U.K., France and Japan.
One of Fafard鈥檚 works is The Pasture, located in downtown Toronto, in which statues of cattle lounge on a patch of grass.
A recent exhibition of Fafard鈥檚, Retailles, is showing at the Chapel Gallery until March 25. French for scraps, Retailles 鈥渙ffers a glimpse into the evolution of Fafard鈥檚 inquiry into representational space and considers how drawing has been a sustained curiosity throughout his practice.鈥�
Much of Retailles鈥� sculptures consists of animal figures made of a number of different materials, such as laser-cut steel. Embossed and woodblock prints are also featured in the exhibition.
Fafard was born to French-Canadian parents in the small agricultural community of Ste. Marthe and currently lives near Lumsden. Among many accomplishments, Fafard was honoured by Canada Post in a series of postage stamps in 2012, and created work toward an exhibit organized by the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, and the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina.
Fafard's work runs concurrently with Otherworld, by Todd Rennebaum, Denise Epp, and Greg Allen.
