Derek Michael Besant

Derek Michael Besant (born 1950 in Alberta) is a Canadian artist living in Calgary, Alberta.

Career

Besant studied at University of Calgary, where he received a BFA Honours in 1973 and continued with Graduate Studies in 1974. He was Exhibitions Designer for The Glenbow Museum between 1973 -1977. He designed exhibitions throughout the art gallery and museum spaces, along with catalogues and travelling exhibitions. The Alberta College of Art and Design invited him to teach in the Drawing / Fine Arts Department in 1977. He has taught there ever since for the past thirty years. He was the Head of the Drawing Department between 1979 – 1991.

He won the Alberta Governor General Award in Art 1980, the World Culture Prize in Research Arts & Letters from Milan Italy in 1983, a Distinguished Alumni Award in 1999 from University of Calgary and The Smithsonian Museum of the Americas Portfolio Award in Boston in 2005.

Some of his public commissions include: The Flatiron Mural in 1980 behind Toronto’s landmark Gooderham flatiron building on Front Street, Waterfall at 15 storeys high inside the atrium of Scotia Plaza at King & Bay in 1989, two murals for Worldwide Centre at 58th and 8th Manhattan Cineplex New York City in 1989, and Train of Thought, a series of portraits at the uOttawa station of the Ottawa O-Train.[1]

Besant's exhibitions have included: Representing Canada in the Sharjah Biennial in 2003, United Arab Emirates, University of London Goldsmiths College, Tokyo Media-Art Festival, Metropolitan Museum of Photography in Japan, the 2004 SIGGRAPH International Conference on Computer Imaging + Interactive Technologies, Los Angeles in 2004.

Controversy

An investigation has been ordered by the City of Calgary into allegations that Besant plagiarized the content of a public art installation for which he received $20,000 (CDN) in municipal funds.[2][3]

Honours

Notes
  1. "O-Train Confederation Line". City of Ottawa. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  2. Learmonth, Andrew. "Calgary artist accused of stealing Edinburgh Fringe comics' photos for $20k art project". The National. Retrieved November 28, 2017.
  3. News, BBC. "Artist sorry for using comedians' faces in underpass art". BBC News. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
  4. "Members since 1880". Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.