Glossary of Canadian Art History

Originally a painter, Yarwood abandoned the medium for sculpture after the demise of Painters Eleven, of which he was a member. He constructed his works from such materials as cast aluminum, bronze, wood, and found objects. His public commissions can be found in Winnipeg, Toronto, and Montreal.

Early in his career Yeomans studied with his aunt, the carver Freda Diesing, and the Haida artist Robert Davidson (Guud San Glans). A highly regarded artist, he has become known for working in a wide range of materials and for bringing together traditional Haida iconography and contemporary motifs. 

A British-born art historian, curator, and writer who was a key figure in the establishment of the art history department at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (now NSCAD University), where he taught as a professor and served as the department chair from 1972 to 1990. Prior to NSCAD, he co-founded the Toronto Art Therapy Institute and held the position of curator of modern art at the Art Gallery of Toronto (now the Art Gallery of Ontario).

A Haida historian as well as an artist, Young was trained in traditional storytelling practices that valued profound commitment to recalling stories in detail. Young shared his stories with oral history projects and with Bill Reid, who was deeply moved and inspired by the experience. 

Part of a generation of American Abstract Expressionist artists including Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Motherwell, and Agnes Martin, Jack Youngerman lived and worked in Paris from 1947 to 1956, where he developed an interest in organic forms and hard-edged abstraction. After returning to the United States he settled in New York City, where he was included in Dorothy Miller’s seminal exhibition 16 Americans at the Museum of Modern Art in 1959. Working in colour, then in black and white, then in colour again, in the 1970s Youngerman expanded his practice to include abstract sculpture in cast fibreglass followed by steel and aluminum, as well as wood cut-outs.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, Yu is an Ottawa-based painter and installation artist. Her politically informed and conceptual work focuses on what she refers to as “global nomadism.” Yu settled in Montreal with her family in 1988. Currently a professor of painting at the University of Ottawa, she holds an MFA from York University in Toronto. She has exhibited her work internationally, including at the 2015 Venice Biennale.

Vancouver-based artist and activist Yuxweluptun merges Northwest Coast motifs with Surrealist visual language to address issues of Indigenous and global concern. Colonial encounters, scenes of environmental destruction, and struggles over sovereignty unfold across his vibrant and imaginative canvases. A graduate of the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Yuxweluptun’s work has been exhibited internationally.