Dianne Bos
Over the past couple years I’ve had the opportunity to explore pinhole photograph in the same environment where Leonardo da Vinci once experimented with similar image projection techniques. I’ve visited 16th century sites where light still pours in to large cavernous cathedrals through a tiny hole in the ceiling, projecting the image of the sun itself on the floor. Though initially designed to tell time, this sun projection helped changed earlier beliefs that the earth was the centre of the Universe.
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As Derek Walcott puts in his poem, In Italy, this is “light older than wine” whose “shadows are the dial of time.”
Pinhole projections and the ‘camera obscura’ – Italian for dark room – changed Western thinking of the Earth’s relationship into the sun, and changed the face of art in the Renaissance. I can’t help contemplating all of this history when I’m using this simple but sublime pinhole device to photograph in Italy – whether the subjects are temples with their light-gathering apetures, or “hill towns with their stamp-sized squares” and “the roofs and beached of the ligurian coast”. (Derek Walcott, In Italy, The New Yorker Magazine, April 21st, 2008)
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Recent Artwork
Video Interviews
Artist Information
Over the past 25 years Dianne Bos has continually explored motifs such as galaxies and constellations, European interiors with light portals (such as windows or doors) and figures presented as light apparitions. Pinhole projections and the camera obscura - Italian for dark room - changed Western thinking of the Earth’s relationship to the sun, and in turn, assisted in transforming the face of art during the Renaissance period. These tools and devices formulate and extend her fascination with journeying, time, and light-forms. Bos is well known for her museum exhibitions that feature handmade cameras, walk-in light box installations, and sound pieces. Based in Calgary, Alberta, Dianne Bos has been called Canada’s “queen” of pinhole photography. Multi-talented, her art practice and interests extend into a variety of creative fields, from being a lead singer and keyboardist for several musical bands. Her photography has been used on several vinyl, cassette, CD and video releases in Canada, USA and Europe, and she has written and photographed for contemporary garden and design magazines. Bos has consistently exhibited photography and installation works in solo and group shows in public and private galleries and museums across Canada and internationally for over 30 years. Along with Canadian Museum and corporate collections, elected collections of Dianne Bos works include Official Residence, Canadian Ambassador, Paris, France, the Canadian Embassy, Brussels, Belgium, and Department of Global Affairs, for NATO Offices, Brussels, Belgium.
Artist Website: diannebos.ca/
Born: Hamilton, Ontario, 1956
Residence: Calgary, Alberta and Languedoc-Roussillion, France
Education
1978 BFA, Honours, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, 1974-78
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2018 The Sleeping Green No Man’s Land 100 Years Later, Hamilton Art Gallery, Hamilton, Ontario
2018 The Sleeping Green Studies in No Man’s Land, Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2017 The Sleeping Green No Man’s Land 100 Years Later, Centre of Culturael Canadien, Paris France
2015 Sleeping Green, No Man’s Land 100 Years Later, University of Lethbridge, AB Sleeping Green, Newzones Contemporary Art Gallery, Calgary, AB See Attached, (with Sarah Fuller), University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, AB
2014 Revenant, TBA Carnegie Gallery, Dundas, Ontario
2013 See Attached, (with Sarah Fuller) Truck Contemporary Art Gallery, Calgary AB
2013 Peregrinations (with Roy Hartling), Beaux-arts des Ameriques, Montreal
2013 La Porte, Newzones Contemporary Art, Calgary, AB
2011 Dianne Bos: Reading Room, Cambridge Galleries, Cambridge, ON
2009 Dianne Bos: Wonder Rooms, Newzones, Calgary, AB
2009 Light Echo: Dianne Bos and Doug Welch, The McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, ON
2009 Light Older Than Wine: New images From Italy, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2008 Souvenir de Voyage, NewWorks, NewZones Gallery, Calgary, AB
2007 Garden Shed Galactica, Outdoor installation, Museum London, ON
2007 Lumen, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2006 Verre et Mer, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2006 Tournesol, Skew Gallery, Calgary, AB
2006 Apparitions, Wynick Tuck Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
2005 Temps Retrouvé, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver BC
2005 Sound & Light, Whyte Museum, Banff, AB
2004 Casements: Versailles and other Interiors, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver BC
2004 Galactic Carousel, Truck Gallery, Calgary, AB
2003 New Photographs & Soundworks, Wynick Tuck Gallery, Toronto, ON
2002 Camere Illuminati, University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Waterloo, ON
2002 Son et Lumiere, Kamloops Art Gallery, Kamloops, BC
2002 Kamloops Art Gallery, Kamloops, BC
2002 University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Waterloo, ON
2002 It’s about time, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2001 Dianne Bos- A survey, Durham Public Art Gallery, Durham, ON
2001 Brightness Falls. New Work, Wynick Tuck Gallery, Toronto, ON
2001 Expedition, New Work, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
1999 Galaxies and Other Bright Matters, Wynick/Tuck Gallery, Toronto, ON
1999 The Depth of Fields, The Carnegie Gallery, Dundas, ON
1997 …Girl’s Dreams of Castles, Lonsdale Gallery, Toronto, ON
1997 Pin Spots, The Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, ON
1996 Through a Pinhole/Darkly, Lonsdale Gallery, Toronto, ON
1996 Panoramic Views from the Valley Town, The Carnegie Gallery, Dundas ON
1995 Commission for Simcoe Place, Front Lobby, large photo installation in collaboration with Ian Paterson, Permanent installation, Toronto, ON
1993 In the Province of Memory, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton
Selected Group Exhibitions
2017 War Stories 1917, The Military Museum, Calgary AB
2017 Bury the Sun, Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, MAN
2017 Poetics of Light, Contemporary Pinhole Photography, National Media Museum, Bradford, UK
2017 Seeing, Frost Museum of Science, Miami, Florida, USA
2016 Seeing, the Science Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
2016 Prairie Sun, University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, AB
2015 The Grand Tour, The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Traveling exhibitions.
2015 Perception, Newzones, Calgary, Alberta
2015 Over … time, The Edge Gallery, Canmore, Alberta
2015 Camera Obscura, Midnight Sun Festival, Dawson City, Yukon
2015 See Attached, University of Lethbridge Gallery, Lethbridge, AB
2015 Exposition en milieu de travail / Exhibition in the Workplace, KBHNS, Ville St-Laurent, QC
2014 Photography in the Time of DIGITAL Disenchantment, Peel Art Gallery Museum and Archives, Brampton, ON
2013 Made In Alberta 2012, Part 3, MOCA, Calgary, Alberta
2013 Realiteit,, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery Vancouver BC
2012 Memory Images, Alberta Society of Artists, Blckfalds Public Library, Blackfalds, Captain John Palliser School, Calgary, Claresholm Public Library, Claresholm, and Strathmore Municipal Library, Strathmore, AB
2012 The End of the World, Centro Civic Can Baste Barcelona, Spain, El Otunio fotografico, Orense, Spain, and Centre Culturel André Malraux de Bourget, Le Bouget, France
2012 The West, Glenbow Museum, Edmonton, AB
2012 The Gamble of Perfect Symmetry: Double or Nothing, FCP Gallery, First Canada Place, Toronto, ON
2012 Peripheries, Edward Day Gallery, Toronto, ON
2011 FOTOGRAFIA STENOPEICA, Museo Comunale d’Arte Moderna, Senigallia, Italy
2011 Perception, Newzones Gallery, Calgary, AB
2010 Lucky 13, Annual Christmas Group Show and Art Auction, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2009 12th Annual Christmas Group Show, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2009 Place, NewZones, Calgary, AB
2008 Photography 101:press the buttons, Confederation Centre of the Arts, Charlottetown. PEI
2008 Wayne Gretzky Rocks, NewZones, Calgary, AB
2008 Out There, Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, AB
2008 Through the Looking Glass, Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB
2007 Image and Apparatus, London Museum, London, Ontario
2007/06 Dark Matter: The Great War and Fading Memory, Confederation Centre Art Gallery,Charlottetown, PEI
2007/06 Time and Space, Shown first at Helen Christou Gallery, University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Alberta curated by Josephine Mills. Traveling to: Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, September 7 – November 11, 2007 The Rooms, Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador, March 28 – June 8, 2008, Owens Art Gallery, Sackville NB, September 2008
2005 Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art, Walter Phillips Gallery, Edmonton Art Gallery & Art Gallery of Ottawa, AB
2005 Alberta Scene, Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON
2005 French Landscapes, Art Gallery of Edmonton, Edmonton, AB
2004 Faculty Exhibition, Nickle Arts Gallery, Univ. of Calgary, AB
2004 Expanding, Group exhibition, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2004 That Obscure Object of Desire, A Group Exhibition of Visions of Delight, Fascination and Desire, Cambridge Galleries, ON
2004 Box, Wynick Tuck Gallery, TO
2003 Time and Again, Gallery 44, Toronto, ON
2003 In the Light of, 6 Contemporary Artists Explore the Legacy of William Fox TalbotKitchener Waterloo Art Gallery
2003 Scene Through a Pinhole, PhotoSpace Gallery, Calgary, AB
2002 Visionariamedia Festival, First International Pinhole Exhibition in Italy, Siena, Italy
2002 Contemporary Art Forum, Kitchener, Waterloo, ON
2002 6th Annual Photogathering, Old Electricity Building, Aleppo, Syria
2001 Wheeler Hut Expedition,Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, Alberta, traveled to:
The Works, Visual Arts Festival, Edmonton & Illingsworth Kerr Gallery, Alberta College of Art & Design, Calgary, AB
2001 Why Pinhole, Visual Arts Centre, Rochester, New York, USA
2000 Fresh, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2000 Out There Here: An International Pinhole Exhibition, Provincetown, MA, USA
2000 Time, Wynick Tuck Gallery, Toronto, ON
2000 First Contact, Hamilton Artists Inc., Hamilton, ON
2000 2000 LUX, McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, ON
1999 10 Countries, Pennings Gallery, Eindhoven, Netherlands
1999 Passion for Wings, (commissioned work) National Aviation Museum, ON,
1999 Pinhole International 2, Lonsdale Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
1998 Speed: Visions of an Accelerated Age, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, ON
1998 Pinhole International, Lonsdale Gallery, Toronto, ON
1998 Camera Ready, Harbourfront Center, Toronto, ON
1998 Women with Cameras, Burlington Art Centre, Burlington, ON
1997 Deluxe Assortment, Lonsdale Gallery, Toronto, ON
1997 “you can’t say more than you can see…” The Carnegie Gallery, Dundas, ON
1996 High Winds on the Skyway, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, ON
1994 Linda Genereaux Gallery, Two Person Exhibition, Toronto, ON
1993 Up, Up and Away: Stairwell Project #8, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, ON
1993 The Apartment Show part of seven artists collective ‘The Bureau’, Toronto, ON
1989 Atque Ars: Art from Mount Allison University 1854-1989, Owens Art Gallery, NB
1986-89 The Pinhole Camera, The Photographer’s Gallery, Saskatchewan. Traveled to Ring House Gallery, Saskatoon; Floating Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba; Whyte Museum, Banff, Alberta; Dunlop Gallery, Regina, Sask.; Moose Jaw National Exhibition Centre, Moose Jaw, Sask.; Estevan National Exhibition Centre, Saskatchewan
Art Fairs
2011 San Francisco Fine Art Fair (Jennifer Kostuik Gallery)
2010 TIAF Toronto International Art Fair (Jennifer Kostuik Gallery)
2010 Bridge NY Art Fair (Jennifer Kostuik Gallery)
2009 AAFNY Affordable Art Fair NY (Jennifer Kostuik Gallery)
2008 Los Angeles Art Fair (Jennifer Kostuik Gallery)
2007 Art Miami (Jennifer Kostuik Gallery)
2007 AAFNY (Jennifer Kostuik Gallery)
Grants, Awards & Special Projects
2012 Canada Council Project Grant
2008 Alberta Foundation for the Arts Grant
2007 Canada Council Project Grant
2006 Barbara Spohr Photography Award
2005 Best Photography in Avenue Magazine, National Magazine Awards
2004 Dario Argento Photography Scholarship, Banff Centre for the Arts
2002/03 Alberta Foundation for the Arts Grant
2001/02 Canada Council, Mid Career Grant
2001 Intrawest, Blue Mountain Commision
2001 Banff Centre for the Arts, New Works Residency- winter, Slo Mo – Fall
2000 National Magazine Award, Silver Award- Homes & Gardens- (Azure Magazine)
2000 Ontario Arts Council, Mid Career Grant
2000 Canada Council, Travel Grant
2000 Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Expedition
1997/98/99 OAC Materials assistance grant
1995 Ontario Arts Council, Special projects grant
Selected Collections
Air Canada
ArtBank, Canada Council, Ottawa, Ontario
Alberta Foundation or the Arts Collection
Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB
The Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario
Intrawest , Blue Mountain, Ontario (Commission)
Kamloops Art Gallery, BC
Lovas Stanley Paul Ray Berndtson Inc. Toronto, Ontario
MacDonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario
Museum of New Mexico, Pinhole Resource Collection, New Mexico, USA
Museo Comunale d’Arte Moderna, Senigallia, Italy
National Aviation Museum, Ottawa (Commission), Ontario
Origins Institute, McMaster University
Simcoe Place Co-Owners, Cadillac Fairview, Toronto (Commission), Ontario
St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto, Ontario
University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Alberta
The VU, Aspen Ridge Homes, Public Art Work, Toronto, Ontario
Walter Phillips Gallery, The Banff Centre, Alberta
Wood Gundy Private Client Investments, Toronto, Ontario
Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, Alberta
Television Profiles
2005 Spirit of the Art: The Donovan Collection at St. Michael’s College, OMNI TV
2001 Through the Lens: Profile- Fashion Television Network, Fall
2001 O Zone, TFO. January 4, 2001, 8pm
2000 Studio 2, TVO. ‘Pinhole International’, Air time: Summer 1999 – Winter 2000
2000 Gardeners Journal: ‘A Photographers Garden’ HGTV Winter 2000 (USA & Canada)
1999 @Discovery, The Art and Science of Pinhole Photography, Summer 1999.
Selected Photographic Work in Commercial Print
2012 Carousels, PinHole Photography, Issue 02/2012
2012 The Heliocentricists: Pinhole Artists Collective (PAC) essay for publication, Winnipeg
2007 Waiting for the Tour de France, Swerve
2007 Ooh La La: Tripping out in the South of France, 11/30/07, Swerve
2006 The MacLeod Trail Expedition, 2/10/2006, Swerve Magazine
2006 All the Time in The World, Winter 2006, Wine Access Magazine
2006 Private and Public Space, 01/20/06, Swerve Magazine
2004 Maison (Sweet) Maison, Avenue Magazine
Gold Prize winner for Photography, House and Garden category, National Magazine Awards 2005
2002 The Artful Garden, Landscape Architecture Magazine, 12/2002
2001 High Kitsch, Landscape Architecture Magazine. 11/2001
2000 Avant-Gardens In A Quebec Landscape, Azure Magazine, 11/2000 National Magazine Award- Silver
Photography Related Experience
Curatorial Work
2009 A Field Guide to Observing Art, McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, ON, September 2009
2003 In the Light of: Six contemporary artists explore the legacy of William Henry Fox Talbot.Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery, September
2001 Lux Nova: A Low Tech Explosion, York Quay Gallery, Harbourfront Centre,
2000 Toy (Camera) Stories: Club Lucky, Toronto, May
2000-01 Coordinator/Instructor of Toy Camera and Pinhole workshops, Contact, OCAD
1998-99 Pinhole International 1& 2 – Lonsdale Gallery, Toronto, May
1999 Coordinator of the International Pinhole Symposium as part of Contact 99
Numerous lectures and workshops on pinhole photography including such venues as:
Montecastello di Vibio, Italy
Harbourfront Centre, Banff Centre for the Arts,Ontario College of Art and Design, MacDonald Stewart Art Centre, The Burlington Art Centre, The Art Gallery of Hamilton, University of Toronto, University of Lethbrige, Lonsdale Gallery, Universty of Manitoba,
MAWA Winnipeg, Dundas Valley School of Art.
Speaker and workshop leader for the Photo Educators Conference, Toronto, 1999, 2000, 2001
Writer and photographer for Shitsunai, (Japanese Design Magazine), Spring 1997 to Winter 1998.
4 season photographic essay: In a Canadian Garden.
Avant Gardens, AZURE magazine, Nov/Dec 2000, photo essay.
High Kitsch, Landscape Architecture Magazine, November 2001, photo essay.
Selected Bibliography
2013 Daniel Lindley, It takes two: See Attached. Fast Forward Weekly, Calgary. Feb 28
2011 Katherine Ylitalo, Dianne Bos, Galleries West, Spring
2009 Alison Garwood Jones, Let There Be Light, Canadian Geographic, August
2009 Mary MacKay, A Blank Canvas, The Guardian, PEI, Nov 7
2009 Nancy Tousley, Calgary’s top 12 art exhibitions of 2008, Calgary Herald, January 4
2008 Nancy Tousley, Magic Shot Through a Pinhole, Calgary Herald, March 1
2008 Charles Storch, Artopolis, Chicago Tribune, April 26
2008 Janet Naclia, Photo Phenoms, Avenue Magazine, May
2008 Betty Ann Jordan, Canadian House and Home profile, August
2007 Christopher Willard, Alberta Exposure, Calgary Herald, Feb. 3
2007 Jaquie Moore, Exposure, Swerve Magazine, Feb. 2
2006 Jennifer McVeigh, Through the Pinhole, The Calgary Herald, March 25
2006 David Jager, Contact, Now Magazine, May 11-17
2006 Contact: Toronto Month of Photography, feature, May
2006 Enroute Magazine, Contact Photography Festival Feature, Spring
2005 PhotoLife– profile, Wes Lafortune, April
2005 Home Maison Home, Avenue Magazine, September feature
2005 Western Living Magazine – profile, January
2004 Julia Dault, National Post,March 11
2004 Wes Lafortune, Riding the Cosmic Merry-go-round, FastForward Weekly, Jan. 22
2004 Nancy Tousley, Critics Pick, Calgary Herald, Jan. 15
2004 Shawn Van Sluys,Unique Techniques, Galleries West, Spring
2004 Affairs of Note, Vernissage, The Magazine of the National Gallery, Spring
2004 Calgary: Dianne Bos at Truck, CIRCA Magazine Issue108, Ireland
2002 “Dianne Bos: Seeing the Light”, Photo Ed Magazine, Spring
2001 Signs of the Spirit: The Donovan Collection at St. Michael’s College
2001 Sandra Vida,”Go Tell it on the Mountain”, Border Crossings, Issue No. 79
2001 Kim Hume, Shotgun Reviews, LOLA 9, Summer Issue
2001 Dobbie, Shauna. “Photographer’s Garden”, Ontario Gardener, Spring
2000 Stevanovic, Gordana. Light Sketches, Dianne Bos: the world through a pinhole, Hamilton Magazine, Winter
2000 Photo Life, Spring
2000 Armstrong, John, “Vacation in Black and White: On the Travels oF Dianne Bos”, cover story, C International Contemporary Art, Spring 2000
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