| ARTIST BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Born in Calgary, photographer Gerald Borch humbly describes his artistic mission: “My photographic murals were made for my own enjoyment and not as part of my eighteen-year commercial photographic business. They are nearly all taken from roadside, eye level, which is why they look so accessible…. I do not promote them through advertising. I like to use them as gifts.”
Borch began his technical training at the New York Institute of Photography (1958 – 1960), and later earned his BA in Theatre and History (1969) and teaching certification (1970) from the University of British Columbia. He resumed technical training through the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (1982), the Alberta College of Art and Design (1991, 1995), and Red Deer College. Throughout his education he worked, first as a teacher of Canadian History and English at David Thompson High School in Invermere, British Columbia (1970 – 1978), a photographer for Associated Film Services of Calgary (1978 – 1980), and as the president and owner of his own studio (1980 – 1998). He also worked as a stage director for the University of Calgary’s Renaissance Singers and Players (1978 – 1988) and Calgary’s Kensington Sinfonia string chamber orchestra (1988 - ), and conducted workshops such as “How to Take Better Photographs” and “Traditional Stitching for Japanese Bookbinding.”
Borch mounted a solo exhibition of black-and-white photography at Calgary’s Bowness Community Centre and Photographs, Books, and Boxes at the New Gallery. His numerous group exhibitions include Bookworks ’93 at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre, the Artwalk in Calgary, and Cousins: Photography, Ceramics, and Bookbinding at the Medicine Hat Community College Gallery.
Borch was a member of the Calgary Professionals Club, Les Amis de la Reliure d’Art in Montreal, the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild, and Photo Marketing Association International. |