Ken Danby

Infobox Artist
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name = Ken Danby


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birthname = Kenneth Edison Danby
birthdate = Birth date and age|1940|3|6
location = Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
deathdate = September 23, 2007
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nationality = Canadian
field = Painting
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movement = Realism
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Ken Danby (March 6, 1940, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario – September 23, 2007) was a Canadian artist.

Life and work

Ken Danby enrolled at the Ontario College of Art in 1958. His first exhibition in 1964 sold out.

When asked to identify his favourite work, his answer was consistently "my next one".Fact|date=July 2008

Danby was best known for creating unique visual images that study everyday life. In "At the Crease" (1972), the masked ice-hockey goalie has been referred to as "something of a national symbol".

In 1975, Danby was elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. He has also been a recipient of the Jessie Dow Prize, the 125th Anniversary Commemorative Medal of Canada, the City of Sault Ste. Marie's Award of Merit and both the Queen's Silver and Golden Jubilee Medals.

In the 1980s he prepared a series of watercolours about the Americas Cup and the Canadian athletes at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. Danby has served on the governing board of the Canada Council and as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Gallery of Canada.

In 1997, Danby received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. In 2001, he was vested in both the Order of Ontario and the Order of Canada.Fact|date=July 2008

On September 30, 2006, Danby became one of the first ten inductees into Sault Ste. Marie's Walk of Fame.Fact|date=July 2008

Death

On September 23, 2007, Danby collapsed while on a canoe trip in Algonquin Park near North Tea Lake with his wife Gillian Danby and friends. The party summoned help, but paramedics were unable to revive him.

Danby is the second famous Canadian artist to die in Algonquin Park. Tom Thomson died on Canoe Lake at the park in July 1917. Canadian writer Blair Frazer also drowned in the park on the Petawawa River's Rollaway Rapids in May 1968.

Family

Danby was married and had three sons. His son, Noah Danby, is an actor and has been in various commercials, movies and television shows, most notably the drama series Painkiller Jane where he played the character Connor King.

Awards

*Order of Canada
*Order of Ontario
*Royal College of Art

External links

* [http://kendanby.ca Official site]
* [http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=7695 Order of Canada Citation]
* [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0002118 Kenneth Edison Danby] at The Canadian Encyclopedia