Gundega Aria Janfelds Cenne (1933 – December 16, 2009) was a Latvian-born Canadian artist and art educator.

Early life

Gundega Aria Janfelds was born in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

, the daughter of Valentins Janfelds and Hilda-Alma Freimanis Janfelds. Her family left Latvia in 1945, lived in a

displaced persons camp A refugee camp is a temporary Human settlement, settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for interna ...

in Germany, and moved to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

in 1949. She graduated from Montreal High School for Girls. She completed a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

degree at

Sir George Williams University Sir George Williams University was a university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University on August 24, 1974. History In 1851, the first YMCA in North America was established on Sainte-Hélène S ...

in 1956.Gundega Cenne
"Portrait..."
''Toomey J Gazette'' 9(1966): 48-49. She also earned a teaching credential at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

, and pursued further art training at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Career

Cenne made filmstrip illustrations for the Montreal Protestant School Board when she was still a teenager. She illustrated a 1954 French-language textbook, ''Jouons Book 1.'' She taught art, and was a member of the Independent Artists' Association of Montreal. She exhibited her paintings in shows in Montreal, Paris, New York, and Toronto as a young woman. She was a full-time independent artist after she was seriously injured in a car accident in 1963. "I keep my wheelchair condition concealed whenever I am not present, or the public has only seen my photograph," she wrote in 1966, "for I wish to keep my work and my physical condition as two separate entities. I am a painter in my own right, and my physical condition has nothing to do with it." She held a retrospective exhibit in 1969, in

Owen Sound Owen Sound ( 2021 Census population 21,612) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The county seat of Grey County, it is located at the mouths of the Pottawatomi and Sydenham Rivers on an inlet of Georgian Bay. The primary tourist attract ...

, where she lived. In 1975 she was part of a show of six Latvian-Canadian artists at the

National Library of Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is t ...

. In 1986, her work was exhibited at the Latvian Lutheran Church in

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in the United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton, A ...

Personal life

Cenne married orthodontist Ivars Cenne; they had two children, Peter and Lauma. Her daughter, Lauma Kristina Cenne, became a textile artist. Her mother and her husband both died in 2001; she died in 2009, aged 76 years, in Ottawa.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cenne, Gundega 1933 births 2009 deaths Canadian people with disabilities McGill University Faculty of Education alumni Concordia University alumni Canadian illustrators Canadian women artists Wheelchair users Latvian emigrants to Canada