Last Winter Light, Amherst Island
Open Water, trees
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Jack Reid
1925 - 2009
1925 - 2009
Price range: $1350-$4500
In person he looks and sounds nothing like you thought a painter should. He is physical person, built thick and powerful, with hands that could grip a miner’s sledge as easily as he wields the daintiest of brushes. His maniac energy is of a man decades younger than his 73 years. And he is talker; he offers his opinion as freely as his smile; and he is honest in both. He is kind but candid, a man born in an age when political correctness meant appreciating the right to vote rather than obeying the pressure to be silent.
Since he started teaching others his renowned techniques in 1971, more than 11,000 people have attended his watercolour workshops, demonstrations and foreign tours, and each year more student add themselves to the list. His passion is infectious and invigorating.
Reid’s career spans six decades and the honours have been many. Today his paintings endure in the collection of major corporations, ordinary Canadians and the Queen of England’s own at Windsor Castle. In 1992, he was awarded the Commemorative Medal by the federal Government for his contribution to Canadian Art and Honoured to be Arts Person of the Year in his hometown of Brampton.
But Reid hasn’t always supported his eating habit by watercolour painting. He worked as a graphic artist until 1970, and only then did he venture into the world of “Pure Art” full-time, with little security and no formal training. What he knows, he taught himself; what he paints is what he feels.
Reid lives with Maggie, his wife and friend of 32 years, in a rambling country bungalow near Brampton, Ontario, amidst the rolling fields that hug the Credit River. His home holds his studio; his work is his play.
His love of the art of watercolour is total.
“There’s a tremendous attraction that the transparency of watercolour holds for me”, he says. “The things I want to paint have to do with water-snow, rain, fog and reflections. I’m fascinated by their translucent nature. And what do I paint them with? A water-soluble pigment! It’s profoundly appropriate.”
Despite the success he’s achieved, Reid says his search is far from over, and the greatest joy he gets from his work is in the people he meets through it. The patron who hangs Reid’s work in his home and the weekend painter who shares his humour and enthusiasm over the magic of watercolour-these people contribute to the ongoing process that is Reid’s life as a painter.
“I didn’t get this far without help from a lot of people,” he says, “and I thank them all”.
Awards:
1999 Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolours, elected a Life
Member
1992 Commemorative Medal, Canadian Government recognition of
Contribution to the Arts of Canada
1990 Arts Person of the Year, Brampton, On
1974 Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolours purchase Award,
Toronto
1972 Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolours Purchase Awards,
Toronto, On
1971 First Prize, Watercolour, Carling Kiwanis, Outdoor Exhibition,
Toronto, ON
Collections:
Diamond Jubilee Collection C.S.P.W.C.
H.R.H. Queen Elizabeth II
Windsor Castle, England
Displayed in the Queen’s Gallery in Windsor and several Exhibitions in
U.K.
Savoy Hotel, London, England
United States National Park Service
Waterton Glacier International Peace Park, Montana, USA
The Honourable William Davis, Q.C., Brampton
NCR, Mississauga
Revenue Canada Taxation Division
Government of Canada
Mashusita Electric, Mississauga, ON
General Electric, Mississauga, ON
Brigdens Ltd., Toronto, ON
Carlton Cards, Toronto, ON
Rodman Hall, St. Catharines
Bramalea Ltd., Toronto, ON
M.P.H. Consulting Ltd., Toronto, ON
City of Brampton, On
Dominion Foundries and Steel Co., Hamilton
Citicorp Limited, Toronto
George Weston Limited, Toronto, ON
I.P.S.C.O. Inc., Regina, SAK
The Honourable Don Mazankowski
Mr. Denis Flynn, Toronto, On
Cargill Ltd., Head Office, Winnipeg, Manitoba
IBM, Canada
Warner Lambert Canada Limited, Toronto, ON
Wawanesa Mutual, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Ariens Corp, Burlington
Etobicoke Board of Education
North York Board of Education
Weight Watchers, International
Lindsay Public Library
Kitchener-Waterloo Public Library
St. Hilda College, Toronto, ON
Mrs. James Richardson, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Auctions:
1994-97 McMichael Gallery Fund Raising
1988-94 Oakville Art Society, Oakville
Dundas Valley School of Art, Dundas, ON
Mississauga Symphony, Mississauga, ON
Burlington Cultural Centre, Burlington, ON
Brampton Synphony, Brampton, ON
1983-94 Canadian Mental Health, Toronto, ON
Kitchener, Kingston, Peterborough, Stratford, Winsor, Sarnia,
Chatham, Guelph, Brockville, York Region, Barrie, Burlington,
St. Catharines, Woodstock
1980-90 Toronto Symphony Dream Auction, ON
1979 Aviva Hadassah, Toronto, ON
1973-74 Sotheby’s Canada Limited, Toronto, ON
One-Man Exhibitions:
1998 Assiniboia Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan
1994 Assiniboia Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan
1990 Harbour Gallery, Mississauga, ON
1989 Loch & Mayberry, Winnipeg, Manitoba
1988 Assiniboia Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan
1987 Halton Hills Cultural Centre, Georgetown
1985 Homer Watson Gallery, Kitchener
1984 Eaton’s Gallery, Toronto, ON
1982 Devooght Gallery, Vancouver, BC
1981 McDowell Gallery, Toronto, ON
1979-86 Assiniboia Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan
1979-83 Cardigan Milne Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba
1978 Peel Country Museum, Brampton, ON
1977 The Arts and Letters Club, Toronto, ON
1975-78 Pollock Gallery, Toronto, ON
1972 Doon School of Fine Art, Kitchener
1971-83 Gustafsson Gallery, Brampton, ON
1971 Imperial Life Insurance Co., Toronto, ON
Juried Exhibitions:
1994-97 McMichael Gallery Fund Raising, Kleinburg
1989-90 C.S.P.W.C., National Ballet of Canada, Toronto, ON
1988 McKenzie Public Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan
Diamond Jubilee Collection, Ontario House, London, England
1986 McDonald Gallery Diamond Jubilee Collection of the C.S.P.W.C.
1985 National Ballet, Canadian Opera Company, Toronto, ON
1981 C.S.P.W.C., National Ballet of Canada
1980 McDonald Gallery, Queen’s Park, Toronto, ON
Kitchener-Waterloo Gallery, Kitchener
Rodman Hall, St. Catharines
Burlington Cultural Centre, Burlington, ON
Sarnia Public Art Gallery, Sarnia
The Gallery, Stratford
1979 The Arts and Letters Club, Toronto, ON
C.S.P.W.C. Society, Toronto, ON
1978 Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, London, England
Citicorp Collection, Toronto, ON
Dofasco Collection, Hamilton, ON
1976 C.S.P.W.C. Society, Vancouver,BC
1974 C.S.P.W.C. Society, Calgary, AB
1972 C.S.P.W.C. Society, Toronto, ON
1971 Carling Kiwanis Outdoor Exhibition, Toronto, ON
1970 Society of Canadian Artists, Toronto, ON
Affiliations:
1997 Artist in Residence, Glacier National Park, Montana, USA
1994 Brampton Arts Council (Honorary Member), Brampton
1983 Erindale Gallery, University of Toronto (Consultant), Mississauga
1979-81 Schneider’s School of Fine Arts (Instructor), Actinolite
1978 Canadian Conference of Arts (Member), Toronto, ON
1976 Visual Arts, Ontario (Director), Toronto, ON
1975-92 The Arts and Letters Club, Toronto, ON
1975 Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolours (Life Member), Toronto, ON
Educational Publications:
1997 - Published “First Steps” series, an introduction to watercolour painting for the beginner and intermediate student. Release in the fall of 1998.
A second book on how to paint snow and water is now available. A new book titled “Watercolour for Fun and Travel” is in production for release in 2001.
CD Rom:
In 1996 production of a CD ROM titled “Watercolour My Way” an introduction to watercolour for the beginner or intermediate student.
Television:
In 1996 a 10 part Television Series titled “Watercolour My Way” for every level of student. This series was nominated for an award in Educational T.V. in 1996.
Watercolour Workshops:
Has conducted workshops in all of the Provinces of Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, Portugal, Mexico and many States in the USA, Including Alaska.
Reid conducts group Workshops in his studio and is also available for demonstrations or classes for Art Societies or Clubs.