Fenton, Terry

Terry Fenton is a Canadian artist, author, critic, and curator known for his landscape paintings, his support of modernist art, and his writing on the work of artists such as Jack Bush, Anthony Caro, Peter Hide, Dorothy Knowles, Ken Macklin, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, and William Perehudoff.  Fenton is the former director of the Edmonton Art Gallery (1972 – 1987), the A.C. Leighton Foundation, Calgary (1987 – 1993) and the Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon (1993 – 1997).  Since 2013, Fenton has resided in Victoria, British Columbia where he continues to paint.

Terry Fenton was born in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1940, and studied at Regina College’s School of Fine Art (now University of Regina) from 1958-1960. Moving to the Saskatoon campus to study English literature, Fenton earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1962.   Fenton attended Emma Lake Artist’s Workshops in Saskatchewan with John Cage and Lawrence Alloway in 1965, Frank Stella in 1967, and Michael Steiner in 1969.

Terry Fenton’s paintings often depict the large skies and wide open prairies of his home province.  “Because of their apparent lack of scenery, the open prairies haven’t been much painted by anyone. Even painters who’ve flourished in Saskatchewan have preferred the river valleys in the plains or the aspen parkland and forest to the north and east. While I admire and have absorbed much from them, I’m drawn south and west to the grasslands, partly because I was born and raised in Regina, but especially because the colour and light there is so luminous.”  Terry Fenton

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