| ARTIST BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Along with partner and co-creator Brian McArthur, Dawn Detarando has crafted some of Alberta’s most iconic public art, including Immense Mode, a pair of gigantic socked-and-shod calves-and-feet outside Edmonton’s Southgate Shopping Mall, and a giant brick bunny for her home base of Red Deer. Detarando has won acclaim for her whimsical treatment of Canadian history, animal migration, and family, and won a Lieutenant Governor’s Award.
Detarando received her B.F.A. from the Massachusetts College of Art (1996) and her M.F.A. from Ohio State University (1998). After teaching at a range of post-secondary institutions, Detarando moved to Alberta in 1998 to run Voyager Art and Tile with co-owner and partner Brian McArthur. They create original, hand-pressed, decorative tiles from native clay they glaze with their own concoction to render the Alberta landscape in their works. Their devotion to Alberta is not merely aesthetic; their company is a member of 1% For the Planet, which donates 1% of their annual income to a local environmental organisation.
As creators of public installations, Detarando and McArthur achieved fame through their six meter tall Immense Mode in Edmonton, a 16 meter tiled mural in Red Deer, that included city landmarks such as its onion-shaped water tower, and a 2 meter tall brick rabbit in downtown Red Deer that anonymously receives a yellow ribbon round its neck every Easter (sometimes with a gift of carrots).
Artist Will Truchon writes that their art maintains “universal truths that remind us of our humanity…. [T]here is a sense of inclusion in their work, and accessibility to all.” Unsurprisingly, Detarando and McArthur have received numerous commendations, including the Alberta Craft Council’s Award for Achievement (2005) and a solo win for Detarando with the Lieutenant Governor’s Emerging Artist Award (2008). Several of their pieces reside in the collection of the Alberta Foundation of the Arts. Detarando’s many exhibitions include Creative Spirit (2002), Unity & Diversity (2009), and Thinking Big (2012). |