| ARTIST BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Carmichael will perhaps be best known for his design of the loon on the Canadian one-dollar coin, launched in 1987. Nevertheless, he was an active painter throughout his life. Passionate about drawing from childhood onwards, he also explored the countryside near Sault Ste Marie as a child, finding inspiration for his art in nature. He graduated from the Ontario College of Art in 1959, and earned a BA from Carleton University, Ottawa, in 1964. While teaching in Pickering, ON, for several years, he also painted and drew daily.
Carmichael lived for several years in Edmonton, when his wife, Gwen Keatley, taught Theatre Design at the University of Alberta in the 1970s. During this time, his work was shown at what was then the Edmonton Art Gallery and at Latitude 53. The Temptation of Aquarius exhibit was shown at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, at the Glenbow, Calgary, and the Whyte Museum, Banff, in 1982. Carmichael’s primary interest was in acrylic landscapes and what some have called surrealistic paintings. The hyper-real images combine both fantasy and reality, showing nature in conflict with technological development, commercialism and environmental degradation. One work shows a bright Santa Claus crashing through a plate-glass window into a pristine mountain lake. Other features of his work are the juxtaposition of disparate everyday objects, methodical brush strokes, and the control of all elements, including making his own, often polygonal, frames.
Carmichael had submitted several designs to the Mint over the years, including the original loon design in 1978. The loon “symbolizes a lot of things we’re going to lose if we’re not careful”, in Carmichael’s words. He also designed the $1 Loon stamp for Canada Post in 1998, as part of the Wildlife Series, and was responsible for several special-edition coins.
Returning to Northern Ontario, Carmichael and his wife lived for many years in Sylvan Valley, near Echo Bay. He held a solo exhibit, Walking Spirits, at the Art Gallery of Algoma, Sault Ste Marie, in 2012. Drawing on landscape and childhood memories, these paintings also featured his intuitive process that encouraged viewers to find their own meanings in the works, framed in various shapes.
Carmichael died in 2016 at the age of 78. His works have also been exhibited across Canada at the National Gallery, the Beaverbrook Gallery, Fredericton; and the Tom Tomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound. His art can be found in a number of national collections, including at the Government of Ontario, Queen’s Park, Toronto; the Canada Council Art Bank in Ottawa, the University of Calgary, and the Algoma Gallery, Sault St Marie. |