Ken Danby, D.F.A. (6 March 1940 – 23 September 2007) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

painter. Danby is best known for creating highly realistic paintings that study everyday life. His 1972 painting '' At the Crease'', portraying a masked

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

goalie defending his net, is widely recognized and reproduced in Canada.

Early life and education

Danby was born and grew up in

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Sault Ste. Marie ( ) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is at the St. Mary's River on the Canada–US border. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay. The Ojibwe, the indigenous Anishinaabe inhabitants ...

."Surreal death of a Canadian icon"
''Toronto Star'' Peter Goddard, Sept. 25, 2007 He began drawing and painting in high school. He enrolled at the

Ontario College of Art Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within do ...

in 1958.

Career

Early in his career, Danby experimented with abstract expressionism. In August 1961, Danby participated in the first Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition (TOAE) in the parking lot of the Four Seasons hotel, located at that time on Jarvis Street in Toronto. Danby won the "Best of Exhibition" prize with an untitled abstract, currently in the collection of the artist. Danby later focused on realism in most of his work, and developed his skill with watercolour. His first solo exhibition in 1964 sold out. In 1975, Danby was elected a member of the

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor General ...

. He designed four coins for the 1976 Montreal Olympics. He also received the Jessie Dow Prize, the 125th Anniversary Commemorative Medal of Canada, the City of Sault Ste. Marie's Award of Merit and both the Queen's Silver and Golden Jubilee Medals. In the 1980s, Danby painted a number of

watercolours 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 ...

about the

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and portrayed Canadian athletes at the

1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games (Serbo-Croatian and Slovene: ''XIV. Zimske olimpijske igre''; Cyrillic: XIV Зимске олимпијске игре; mk, XIV Зимски олимписки игр ...

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

. Danby has served on the governing board of the

Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the federal government's principal i ...

and as a member of the Board of Trustees of the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...

. In 1997, Danby received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from

Laurentian University Laurentian University (french: Université Laurentienne), officially the Laurentian University of Sudbury, is a mid-sized Bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public university in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, incorporated on March 28, 1960. Lau ...

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. In 1999 Danby had a studio near Guelph. In 2001, he was vested in both the

Order of Ontario The Order of Ontario () is the most prestigious official honour in the Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier David Peterson, the civilian order is adm ...

and the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

. A school on Grange Road in

Guelph, Ontario Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Welli ...

was named after Danby. Ken Danby Way in his home town of the Sault Ste. Marie includes the Public Library and fittingly, the Art Gallery of Algoma. He was inducted into the Sault's

Walk of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

in 2006. In 2016, the Art Gallery of Hamilton organized 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 ...

of Danby's work, entitled ''Beyond the Crease''. For approximately three decades until his death, Danby lived and painted in a rural property near

, and spent years restoring the historic Armstrong Mill; some of his art work features the property. From November 2016 to January 2017, the Guelph Civic Museum exhibited examples of Danby's work including his

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

portrait, ''The Great Farewell''.

Death

On 23 September 2007, Danby collapsed while on a canoe trip in

Algonquin Park Algonquin Provincial Park is a provincial park located between Georgian Bay and the Ottawa River in Ontario, Canada, mostly within the Unorganized South Part of Nipissing District. Established in 1893, it is the oldest provincial park in Canad ...

near

North Tea Lake North Tea Lake is a lake in the Ottawa River drainage basin in the geographic townships of Ballantyne and Wilkes in the Unorganized South Part of Nipissing District in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is on the Amable du Fond River and lies in t ...

with his wife Gillian Danby and friends. The party summoned help, but paramedics were unable to revive him. Danby is the second famous Canadian artist to die in

Tom Thomson Thomas John Thomson (August 5, 1877July 8, 1917) was a Canadian artist active in the early 20th century. During his short career, he produced roughly 400 oil sketches on small wood panels and approximately 50 larger works on canvas. His w ...

died on Canoe Lake at the park in July 1917. Canadian writer Blair Frazer also drowned in the park on the Petawawa River's Rollaway Rapids in May 1968.

Family

The subject matter of many of Danby's early works was found on St. Joseph Island and it was there that he met his first wife Judy Harcourt, whom he married in 1965. Together they purchased a home at Armstrong Mill near Guelph, Ontario, which provided Danby with subject matter from which to gain inspiration. The couple had three sons, who have appeared in Danby's work. They separated in 1980 and divorced in 1984. One of his sons from this marriage is

Noah Danby Noah Dalton Danby (born April 24, 1974) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for portraying Connor King in the series ''Painkiller Jane''. Early life Danby was born in Guelph, Ontario, the son of painter Ken Danby. Personal life Danby became e ...

, an actor. Danby's second wife's was Gillian Rumble, to whom he was married until his death.

References

External links

Official site

Order of Canada Citation

Kenneth Edison Danby
at

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available fo ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danby, Ken 1940 births 2007 deaths 20th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters 21st-century Canadian painters Artists from Ontario Canadian people of English descent Members of the Order of Canada Members of the Order of Ontario People from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts 20th-century Canadian male artists 21st-century Canadian male artists