Tobey C. Anderson

Biography | Gallery | Resume | www.tobeycanderson.com

tobeyc with Joquin Bolivar - Taller Cultural, Santiago de Cuba, May 2009

Tobey C. Anderson has been exhibiting his work since 1969.  He is the recipient of awards and grants, and is represented in numerous private and public collections.  His labyrinths project was exhibited at Niagara Artists’ Company (2000) and Bierkart (2001), and in 2003 he was commissioned to produce a large painting installation for the Kirkwood Community College Foundation in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  His new, on-going body of work, The New American Century Project is touring Ontario in 2007- 10. 

Born in Washington, D.C. in 1946, Anderson grew up in Iowa, in the Midwest of the United States and studied Fine Art at The University of Iowa.  In 1969 he immigrated to Canada and settled in Kingston, Ontario where he spent a decade of artistic activity and employment in the Visual Arts Department at St. Lawrence College.  He became a Canadian Citizen and received his BFA in 1975.  In the 1980’s Anderson returned on a hiatus to Iowafor five years where he had his first bout with cancer.  He then moved and lived in San Diego, California before returning to Canada and settling in St. Catharines, Niagara’s Garden City in 1990.  A second bout with cancer visited him in 2007. 

His invovement in the artist-run network began with a connection to Artspace in Peterborough in 1973 when he was Gallery Director at the St. Lawrence College Art Gallery and then to establish Kingston Artists’ Association Inc. in 1976 as Founding President, now known as Modern Fuel Artist-run Centre. He concurrently became the first President of Artspace in Peterborough, Ontario. In the latter part of the 1970's Tobey became involved in the national artist-run network and served as Treasurer of ANNPAC.

More recently, Anderson was Director of Niagara Artists’ Company from 1990-98 and was Co-Director of The Quasi Cafe (1995-98) before resigning both to work as a full-time artist.  He is actively involved in cultural developments in Niagara and served as the inaugural Chair of the Culture Committee following the development and adoption of a new Cultural Policy for the City of St. Catharines.  Tobey is NAC’s disputed Artist-at-Large and in 2005 was the recipient of the Mayor’s Trillium Award for Artistic Excellence.

In January 2006 he initiated the CRAM collective and the world's smallest art gallery, and the smallest print facility followed in 2009 - CRAM Press. Most recently he developed the CRAM-Cuba exchange programme with the Cultural Factory "Luis Diaz Oduardo" in Santiago de Cuba that has realized over a dozen artist residencies and exhibitions in both countries.  Anderson maintains studios with his partner Carolyn Wren at their residence and at the CRAMplex in downtown St. Catharines.

For more information, resume, and to view his on-line archive visit: tobeycanderson.com

Listen to CBC interview about 'DU Babies' (11:17)

The Artist gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council through the Visual Artist Mid-Career, Exhibition Assistance, and 2011 International Residency programs.

 
The Ontario Arts Council is an agency of the Government of Ontario