Janice Tanton is 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 ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

Background

Tanton was born on October 25, 1961 in

Oshawa Oshawa ( , also ; 2021 population 175,383; CMA 415,311) is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of Downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the ...

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 ...

and is the daughter of George and Jacqueline Tanton. Her birth parents were Doug Hunter and Louise Brown, both deceased, of Toronto. After graduating from R.S. McLaughlin C.V.I., she attended the BFA (Acting) program at the

University of Windsor , mottoeng = Goodness, Discipline and Knowledge , established = , academic_affiliations = CARL, COU, Universities Canada , former_names = Assumption College (1857-1956)Assumption University of Windsor (1956-1963) , type = Public universi ...

for two years and continued her post-secondary education, graduating from the Graphic Design Program at

Durham College Durham College of Applied Arts and Technology is located in the Durham Region of Ontario, Canada, with a campus co-located with Ontario Tech University in Oshawa, a second campus in Whitby, and community employment services in Uxbridge, Port ...

. Tanton continued her interest in the arts, working professionally in

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscip ...

, and sales, and launched an art publishing and design company in 1989. She sold her original and published artwork in Canada and the United States, while operating two commercial galleries in Burford and Stratford, Ontario. She was a delegate to the first 1999 Businesswomen's Summit between Canada and the U.S. She has held membership in the Society of Tempera Painters, Organization of Women in International Trade (OWIT), and WEC (Women Entrepreneurs of Canada) and has participated on Team Canada Trade and Export missions. From 1996 to 2006 she was the creative director and illustrator of Country Home Candle. She illustrated the series, "Some Beary Nice Places" and "Christmas Memories" of plates for the Bradford Exchange. In 2010, Tanton, along with Chrissy Nickerson, Landon Giauque, Pascale Ouellet (Bigoudi), Susan Padula, were a part of the Corridor Collective Studio and Gallery founded by Cheryl Baxter and Chris Beck.

Art

Tanton mentors and instructs a number of Canadian artists and youth community arts programs, and maintains a studio practice in

Canmore, Alberta Canmore is a town in Alberta, Canada, located approximately west of Calgary near the southeast boundary of Banff National Park. It is located in the Bow Valley within Alberta's Rocky Mountains. The town shares a border with Kananaskis Countr ...

. She works primarily in oils.

Awards and honours

Moving to

with her family in February 2005, Tanton became the Program Manager for Indigenous Leadership and Management in Leadership Development at The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. In April 2008, and Elder Tom Crane Bear of Siksika First Nation (Blackfoot) designed the tipi to mark the 75th Anniversary of The Banff Centre a few weeks ahead of the apology by the Canadian government to Aboriginal people. The design was transferred to her and Brian Calliou (Program Director for Aboriginal Leadership) and their families in a ceremony conducted by Blackfoot Elders Bruce and Anne-Marie Wolfchild, and witnessed and attended by

Governor General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy ...

Michaëlle Jean Michaëlle Jean (; born September 6, 1957) is a Canadian stateswoman and former journalist who served from 2005 to 2010 as governor general of Canada, the 27th since Canadian Confederation. She is the first Haitian Canadian and black person ...

and her husband

Jean-Daniel Lafond Jean-Daniel Lafond (born 18 August 1944) is a French-born Canadian filmmaker, teacher of philosophy, and the husband to the former Governor General Michaëlle Jean, making him the Viceregal Consort of Canada during her service. Biography Lafo ...

. Tanton and her family were adopted by Elder Tom Crane Bear and she was given the Blackfoot name, "Iniskimaki" (Buffalo Stone Woman). In 2008, she was named an Alumnus of Distinction by

. In 2009, she received a

Canada Council for the Arts 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 in ...

individual visual arts project grant to produc
The Community Fusion Project

References

Sources

Janice Tanton Canadian site

Janice Tanton US site

Robert Genn

Durham College

The Globe

Lake Babine

Northumberland Today

AINC - INAC

Banff Centre

Community Fusion

TEDxCalgary 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanton, Janice 1961 births Living people Artists from Oshawa People from Canmore, Alberta Businesspeople from Alberta Businesspeople from Ontario Canadian women artists Artists from Alberta Canadian illustrators