VIDEO PORTRAITS Tony Urquhart Video © CCCA & Linda Corbett_Eyeris Inc. 2005 Video clips are in English only. Note: some videos may take 15-30 seconds to preload before playing. First Boxes Inspired by the three-dimensional quality of the Italian Primitive painters, Tony Urquhart noticed that by 1963 his "paintings began to change shape". The first boxes he made were of simple folded paper with painted landscape elements on each of the multiple two-dimensional panels. running time: 03.40 start   Painted Objects In 1967, Tony toured Europe and Ireland, seeing some of the fabulous altarpieces and reliquaries of which he is so fond. Returning home, he began to cut his boxes open and place things inside, fascinated by the ability of these "painted objects" to change shape, colour, and texture. As his technical skills as a sculptor evolved, he worked with white glue, rags, chicken wire and polyfilla, earning a reputation as the "master of polyfilla boxes". running time: 08.25 start   Nose Wiggle Urquhart doesn't play by any rules in his approach to making art. Its through a process of intuition and experimentation that he arrives at what he likes - what his wife Jane says, makes his "nose wiggle". running time: 03:04 start   Theme Using an abstract, non-linear approach, Tony may work on a theme, drawing or painting over the course of many months, or years, returning to add just a few lines to complete the piece. running time: 01:44 start   Process Urquhart's process is two-fold. At the beginning of a drawing, he will render what he sees. After a short time, he stops looking at the subject and begins to look more at the drawing, listening to what it says. Next, he begins working in an abstract way inviting imagination to play a role. Working a drawing over time is how a "work of art should grow" and take on "a life of its own". running time: 04:31 start   CARFAC In this clip, Tony Urquhart shares his recollections of the founding of CARFAC. In 1968, a simple unregistered letter from the National Gallery involving copyright lead to the founding of what was to become CARFAC. "It was Jack Chamber's baby" says Urquhart, "Jack was the godfather". What began as an issue of copyright went well beyond Canadian borders. running time: 06:00 start   Copyright ©1997, 2020. The CCCA Canadian Art Database. All rights reserved. , Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art. All rights reserved.