Painter helped bring western art to forefront

Ted Godwin is being remembered as a brave and influential artist. Photo, Dean Bicknell/Calgary Herald

"If anyone owns the Bow River, it's Ted Goodwin, because he painted it so many times and so well and so intently, both as an artist and also as a fisherman who loved being out there".  - Jeffrey Spalding, Artistic Director, Museum of Contemporary Art Calgary

Here are several items related to Ted Goodwin, who died on Friday. 

- 'Painter helped bring western art to forefront', by Stephen Hunt, Calgary Herald, Sat Jan 05, 2013 Acclaimed Regina 5 artist Ted Godwin dies in Calgary 

- The giant of Alberta visual art died on January 4 and his life and legacy is remembered in a conversation between CBC's russell Bowers and Jeffrey Spalding of Calgary's Museum of Contemporary Art. Remembering Ted Godwin 

- The following was written by Don Pike, Director of Special Events, Trout Unlimited Canada. Thanks also to Don for the links. 

It is with great sadness that Trout Unlimited Canada notes the passing of a great Canadian artist; Edward W. (Ted) Godwin. Ted passed away quietly in the morning on January 4th, 2013 after a long battle with congestive heart failure.

He was 79 years old, born in Calgary and graduated from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (and Art) in 1955.

Ted was an avid fly fisher and lover of the Bow River. He was selected as TUC's "Feature Artist" in 2010 for his painting "Silent Witness – Waters of Nova Scotia" which sold for $17,000 at our 2010 Calgary National Conservation Dinner.

He was so passionate about the Bow that in 1992 he issued the book "LOWER BOW" which featured text and images he created about the Bow River. As part of the exhibition a case limited edition of 85 was created. Each book had an enclosed unique hand tinted etching that matched the book number of each book. Ted generously donated three of these book/etching sets to TUC.

Ted was a faculty member at the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Saskatchewan from 1964 until his retirement in 1985. At this time he was a member of a group of artists known as The Regina Five. Ted was the last surviving member of the group. The other members included: Ronald Bloore, Kenneth Lochhead, Arthur McKay, and Doug Morton. The group became widely known as such because of an exhibition in 1961 at the National Gallery of Canada. The group was instrumental in bringing about change in the art world in the 1960s and put western Canada on the fore front of art at that time.

Ted's work has been exhibited at galleries across Canada and the U.K., and is represented in many major public art collections, including: the Ontario Museum of Art, The Glenbow Museum, the CBC, the Canada Council Art Bank, and the National Gallery of Canada.

Ted was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy in 1974, and won the Queen Elizabeth Silver Jubilee Medal in 1978. He was given an Award of Honorary Doctorate from the University of Regina in 2001, and received the Order of Canada in 2004 for excellence in visual art. Just last year (2012) Ted also received the Diamond Jubilee metal.

Ted was a larger than life character with amusing stories to match. He always talked about death as a transition to that "big waiting room in the sky"…we hope you have found peace, Ted, and that you are with your buddies from the Regina Five and painting up a storm.