Arthur Shilling
Arthur Shilling (1941-1986) - Biography
Arthur Shilling was born to Ojibway parents on the Chippewas of Rama First Nation (90-minutes north of Toronto on the eastern shore of Lake Couchiching) into a family of 13 children. He moved to Toronto during his late teens, and although he received a scholarship to attend art school, he went to few classes, preferring to find his own way. That way meant rejecting traditional Indigenous art forms, narrative legends and animal symbolism, while at the same time exploring the Indigenous experience in the life around him, particularly in the faces of his people. Over 30 years of painting, Shilling developed a distinctive, expressionistic style using bold brushstrokes of intense colour to contrast the proud defiance he found in the faces of his subjects.
In February 2016 the exhibition Arthur Shilling: The Final Works opened at the Art Gallery of Peterborough. (view exhibition). The exhibition by curator William Kingfisher, went on to tour at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, June to September 2016 then onto the MacLaren Art Centre from March to June 2017. The exhibition publication included essays by Kingfisher, Wanda Nanibush (Art Gallery of Ontario’s Curator of Indigenous Art) and artist Robert Houle who writes, “Once in a generation an artist comes into our midst and captures an inspirational collective identity. Arthur Shilling was such an artist.”
Selected Solo & Group Exhibitions:
Orillia Public Library, 1963, 64, 67
Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, 1966
1967 - Tom Thomson Gallery
1986 - Thunder Bay Art Gallery
1967 - Indian Hall of Fame, C.N.E.
1974, 1978 - Royal Ontario Museum, Canadian Indian Art
1974, '76-'82, '85, '86 - Woodland Indian Cultural Centre, Brantford
Contemporary Native Art of Canada - travelling exhibition including: R.O.M., Canada House London, England, & Germany
1977 - Museum of Sao Paulo, Brazil
1977 - Trent University, Peterborough
1979 - McMichael Canadian Collection, Kleinburg
1982 - Thunder Bay Art Gallery
1983 - Contemporary Indian Art at Rideau Hall, Ottawa
1990 - Columbus Centre, Toronto
1990, '92, '94, '97 - Roberts Gallery, Toronto
Selected Major Collections:
McMichael Canadian Art Collection (Kleinburg, Ontario)
Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto, Ontario)
Canadian Museum of History (Gatineau, Québec)
Indigenous Art Centre, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC)(Gatineau, Québec)
The Woodland Cultural Centre (Brantford, Ontario)
ArcelorMittal Dofasco (Hamilton, Ontario)
The United Nations Art Collection
Seagram Company Ltd.
Artist Specialization: Shilling is best known for his intimate portraits of family and friends on the Chippewas of Rama First Nation (formerly the Rama Reserve) an Anishinaabe community. He created a legacy through his art and rekindled pride in Indigenous people during his short life. A hulking yet gentle man, Shilling captured the sensitivity of his subject matter with bold brushstrokes accompanied by his trademark colours.
