Ross McLaren is a Canadian artist and filmmaker based in New York City.

Biography

McLaren was born in 1953 in

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, Canada and graduated with honors from

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 ...

, where he also did post-graduate work. He is faculty at

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

and

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

, and also taught at Millennium Film Workshop in New York City.

Work

Advocacy

Since 1976, McLaren has worked as a filmmaker, scholar, teacher, curator, critic, and community organizer. He founded and was first director of the Funnel Film Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, an institution devoted to the production, exhibition, and distribution of film. As founder/director, McLaren encouraged continued recognition of film—particularly Super 8—in his native country.

Films

His films include: '' Crash 'n' Burn'': the "self-destructive document of Toronto’s eponymous punk club,"Springer. "Creemedia," ''Creem'', Vol. 10, No. 4, Sept. 1978. ''Wave'', ''Weather Building'', ''Dance of the Sacred Foundation Application (feat. Jack Smith)'', ''Sex Without Glasses'', and the

Ann Arbor Film Festival The Ann Arbor Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Ann Arbor in the U.S. state of Michigan. Established in 1963, it is the fourth-oldest film festival in North America (after the Yorkton Film Festival, 1947; Columbus International Film ...

award-winning sensation ''Summer Camp''. A recipient of such prestigious grants as Ontario and

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 ...

awards, McLaren has shown his works worldwide. His films screened at

MoMA Moma may refer to: People * Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist * Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician * Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher Places ; Ang ...

Anthology Film Archives Anthology Film Archives is an international center for the preservation, study, and exhibition of film and video, with a particular focus on independent, experimental, and avant-garde cinema.Menil Collection The Menil Collection, located in Houston, Texas, refers either to a museum that houses the art collection of founders John de Menil and Dominique de Menil, or to the collection itself of approximately 17,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawing ...

, the National Film Theatre in London, the

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

, the Biennale du Paris,

Documenta ''documenta'' is an exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. The ''documenta'' was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Horticultura ...

VI, Jyväskylä University in Finland, and

ARKEN Museum of Modern Art ARKEN Museum of Modern Art ( da, ARKEN Museum for Moderne Kunst) is a private non-for-profit charity, state authorised, contemporary art museum in Ishøj near Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. The museum is amongst Denmark's major contemporary a ...

in Denmark. His work, which was presented in such esteemed venues as the

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, and Oberhausen Film Festivals, is found in several permanent collections, including that of the

American Federation of Arts The American Federation of Arts (AFA) is a nonprofit organization that creates art exhibitions for presentation in museums around the world, publishes exhibition catalogues, and develops education programs. The organization’s founding in 1909 w ...

, New York, the

Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (l ...

, 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 ...

, Toronto, Ottawa’s National Film Archives and 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 ...

Selected filmography

* ''Winning'', 40 min (2005) * ''Wave'', 5 min. (2004) * ''Dance of the Sacred Foundation Application (feat. Jack Smith)'', 15 min. (2003) * ''Lapland'', 3 min. (2002) * ''Muted Horn, Squeaky Stool'', 9:11 min. (2001) * ''Another Story'', S-8, 5 min. (1988) * ''Spin'', 16mm, 1 min. (1987) * ''Warehouse Eyes'', S-8 & 16mm, 13 min. (1986) * ''Tilt'', S-8, 3 min. (1985) * ''Let's Run Amok'', S-8, 3 min. (1984) * ''Sex Without Glasses'', 16mm 12:30 min. (1983) * ''Calgary Girls'', S-8, 5 min. (1983) * ''Launch 5ive'', S-8, 2:38 min. (1982) * ''9 X 12'', 16mm, 1 min., (also microfiche insert for ''Impulse'' Magazine) (1979–81) * ''Wednesday, January 17, 1979'', 16mm, 4:40 min. (1979) * ''Snorkel'', 16mm. 10:10 min. (1976–79) * ''Summer Camp'', 16mm, 60 min. (1978) * '' Crash 'n' Burn'', 16mm, 27:45 (1977) * ''I.E.'', 16mm, 14:45 min. (1976) * ''Weather Building'', 16mm, 10:15 min. (1976) (features

weather beacon A weather beacon is a beacon that indicates the local weather forecast in a code of colored or flashing lights. Often, a short poem or jingle accompanies the code to make it easier to remember. The beacon is usually on the roof of a tall buil ...

on the

Canada Life Building The Canada Life Building is a historic office building in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fifteen-floor Beaux Arts building was built by Sproatt & Rolph and stands at , including its weather beacon. It is located at University and Queen Stree ...

) * ''Baby Green'', S-8, 10:15 min. (1974)

Academic appointments

, Toronto * The Funnel Film Theatre, Toronto * Fanshawe College, Fine Arts Dep’t., London * The Cooper Union School of Art, New York * Millennium Film Workshop, New York * Fordham University: College at Lincoln Center, New York * Koulu Lapland, Finland *

, Brooklyn

Selected awards and distinctions

* Albert Frank Toronto - Amsterdam Artist's Award *

Award (multiple) * Black Maria Film Festival - Director's Citation *

Grant, London Film Festival * Canada Council Film Production Grant *

Ontario Arts Council The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) is a publicly-funded Canadian organization in the province of Ontario whose purpose is to foster the creation and production of art for the benefit of all Ontarians. Based in Toronto, OAC was founded in 1963 by On ...

Film Production Grant * Ontario Arts Council Visual Arts Grant * Parabola Arts Foundation Film Distribution Project

References and sources

External links

The Cooper Union

Fordham University, New York, NY
*
Millennium Film Workshop, New York, NY

* ttp://www.pratt.edu Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY {{DEFAULTSORT:McLaren, Ross 1953 births Living people People from Greater Sudbury Canadian experimental filmmakers Film directors from Ontario Canadian video artists Artists from Ontario