BEAVER RICK

Rick Beaver is an Ojibway artist whose work reflects his native heritage and his contemporary experiences. Painting primarily in gouache, his sensitive creations combine flowing shape and a strong sense of drama, design and colour. His subjects are the "Children of the Sun, Moon and Earth": wildlife, the landscape and the people.

Formally educated as a professional wildlife biologist he began his career studying endangered bird species for the Canadian Wildlife Service. Although Rick has been painting full time since 1981 he still calls himself a "student of the environment" and has been influenced by the spiritual teachings of the Indian peoples and the philosophy of environmental action. This has involved Rick in a number of environmental and native issues here in Canada and abroad.

In 1985, through a group called VILLAGERS, he chaired a movement of Canada's First Nations artists, raising funds for and generating an awareness of the African famine. The collection of donated art work entitled "Native Life, Native Art" was exhibited at the United Nations Environmental Program African Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. Earlier this year, Rick participated in the Earth Day, 1990 Canada's Art Auction "Artists and Earth" in Victoria and Vancouver, B.C.

Rick Beaver's work is currently exhibited across Canada and in the United States. His work is in numerous corporate and public collections including the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Ottawa, Crown Life Canadian Collection, Toronto, Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, Ottawa, University of Western Ontario, London, Interprovincial Pipelines, Edmonton and others. The Public Service Commission of Canada published Rick's image "Twilight Dancers" as their 1987 calendar.

Rick hopes that the response of viewers to his art springs from an awakening celebration of the exciting possibilities and expressions of the land and the life it supports.