Jill Thomson

Jill Thomson Description

Education
1987 B.F.A - Concordia University, Montreal

Solo Exhibitions
2017    Gibson Fine Art, Feature Artist, Calgary

2016   A Place for Prose Writers Salon, Feature Visual Artist, Edmonton

2014   Skirtsafire Arts Festival, Happenstance, Edmonton

2011-2012  Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts, Unfolding Neighbourhoods, Feature artist
instructor with Nina Collective, Edmonton

2007, 2002  Rochester International Jazz Festival, Jazz Pieces, Rochester, NY,

2002    Pori Jazz Festival, Jazz Pieces, Pori, Finland

Group Exhibitions
2016    Gibson Fine Art, Summer Group Show, Calgary

2014    Stollery Gallery, Nest Tree Confidences, Curator and Artist, Edmonton

2016    AGA Art Rental, Feature Artist, Edmonton

1996    Alberta Gallery of Art, Les Graff Selects from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Edmonton

1992    Harcourt Gallery, Go Figure, Edmonton

1989    Concordia University – Visual Arts Gallery, Montreal

Galleries and Collections
Gibson Fine Art Gallery, Calgary; Art Rental and Sales Gallery, Alberta Gallery of Art; Alberta Foundation for the Arts; Edmonton Arts Council; Alberta Gallery of Art; Edmonton City Hall; National and International private collections

Public Art Projects and Grants
Alberta Ave Alley Project, Alleyway Mural featuring nine artworks by Jill Thomson. A
joint project of Arts on the Avenue, AABA, City of Edmonton Ave Initiative, Neighbourhood Empowerment Team, October, 2013

Heritage Quarter: A New Vision for an Urban Landscape Boyle Street Projections, Collaborative Public Art project with Jill Thomson, Mercury Opera, Guru Digital Arts and Wolf Willow Sound, grant from the Edmonton Heritage Council, November 2013
Dream City, Rivne International Film Festival, Screening and competition, Ukraine, 2016
Hinckley Opera Festival, Screening, London, 2016


Commissions and Awards
“Legislature from Strathcona Neighbourhood”, Alberta Legislature, commission for Premier Rachel Notley, 2016

Edmonton Arts Council and Edmonton Transit commission of artwork for retiring Transit employees, 2011

Edmonton Arts Council gift and presentation to Edmonton City Hall of “Edmonton Neighbourhood” painting for Capital Campaign, 2007

Medici Foundation, Award for Painting, Edmonton, 1994

Art Board and Volunteer Assignments

Skirtsafire Festival

Board member

2013-2014

Vice President, 2015

Curator of Visual Arts Exhibit, 2014

Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts

Unfolding Neighbourhood project  - Visiting Studio Artist and instructor

Jill Thomson Statement

“Jill Thomson’s paintings are views of urban environments and interiors of both
public and private spaces such as cafes, libraries, brownstones and homes and as
the paintings’ surfaces increase in size so the images absorb more houses, their
street – the entire neighbourhood. The paintings have become deconstructed views
of a house in a setting – its content and its inhabitants simultaneously revealed
through multiple planes on a single surface.

A western viewer, particularly an urban person, recognizes the architectural
vernacular of the old, Chicago-style neighbourhoods, their bungalows and foursquares
– their brick facades – the same architecture Jill brings up to the surface to
reveal both the structure and its interior. This shared visual language between
artist and audience heightens the metaphoric and narrative possibilities of these
works and reflects back to the viewer her own relationship to place and time.”