George Raab (born 1948) is a Canadian printmaker who has gained an international reputation for his wilderness landscape photo-based etchings and aquatints.

Career

Raab spent his early years in Toronto and discovered printmaking as a student at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario.A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 (online only), by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker, National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada After graduating in 1971 with a diploma in fine arts, he enrolled in the University of Toronto as an extension student to study in the printmaking studio. He also studied etching at Erindale College, Streetsville, Ontario. In 1970, he travelled internationally. By 1978, he was living a few miles north of Bancroft, Ontario. There he set up a studio and by May 1978 held his first solo show at the Downstairs Gallery, Bancroft. He moved to Lakefield, Ontario, in 1980 to be nearer Trent University at Peterborough and became artist-in-residence in 1981, at Trent University's Otonabee College. At Trent University in 1981, he held a

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...

exhibition of etchings. Since then, he has held dozens of solo exhibitions as well as participated in many group shows throughout

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

. His work is included in more than 100 public, private, and corporate collections, including the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Beve ...

. Among Raab's numerous awards is the Grand Prize for Prints at the prestigious American Biennial of Graphic Art. He lives today and has his studio in Millbrook. His intaglio images are made by creating grooves and textures below the surface of zinc or copper plates. The techniques he uses most frequently are

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

, aquatinting, photo-etching, and

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

painting. His inspiration and subject matter is from the natural areas around Millbrook, Ontario and the Kawarthas. He is a former director of the Algonquin Arts Council; a member of the Canadian Artists’ Representation, Ontario, the founder and former curator of the Ironwood Art Gallery, Trent University, Peterborough; a member of the International Graphics Society, New York, New York; a former member of the Executive Council of the

Ontario Society of Artists The Ontario Society of Artists (OSA) was founded in 1872. It is Canada's oldest continuously operating professional art society. When it was founded at the home of John Arthur Fraser, seven artists were present. Besides Fraser himself, Marmaduke M ...

' a member of the board of directors of the Otonabee Conservation Foundation; a member of the Print and Drawing Council of Canada; and of the Print Club, Cleveland, Ohio.

"My original landscape etchings are bits and pieces of a familiar landscape. There is a sense of peace and solace within them, of mystery and primal longings. They are a cry for the preservation of those wild lands we need in order to know ourselves, and a celebration of our natural heritage. Printmaking, my chosen medium, is very indirect and elusive. In these intaglio prints there is a sense of the mystery of the wild lands we all need in order to better know ourselves.".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raab, George 1948 births Living people Canadian printmakers Artists from Ontario People from Peterborough County French emigrants to Canada