Artist Biography: BRENDER A BRANDIS, Gerald (b. 1942) In a world where form and content are so often at odds, the still, reflective, unhurried wood engravings of Gerard Brender à Brandis deliver a powerful synthesis of the two. Carving fine white light into the black “canvas” of a wood block is, in itself, a meditative process, and one which lends itself to Brender à Brandis’ timeless subjects. He restores, with exacting detail, the small, forgotten wonderments of the world around us: an abandoned barn; an empty room glimpsed through a doorway; a solitary beetle; a single flower. The stark contrast of black and white throws every subject into vivid relief, bringing out the intense and immediate power of simple structures, their pure, unenhanced lines. Gerard Brender à Brandis was born in Holland, and came to Canada with his family when he was five. After living in British Columbia and Nova Scotia he eventually settled in Stratford, Ontario, where he lives and maintains an open studio. Although he graduated with a Fine Arts Degree from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, he studied wood engraving and the art of making books on his own. A celebrated printmaker and illustrator, Brender à Brandis is also an accomplished bookwright. Combining the arts of paper-making, wood engraving, typesetting, printing, bookbinding, and spinning, dyeing and weaving flax into linen book covers, he produces his own limited-edition, hand-made books. He is currently working on a book project of all the flowers mentioned in the plays of William Shakespeare, which will be illustrated by over fifty floral engravings and may take several years to complete. Brender à Brandis has had solo exhibitions almost every year since 1965, as well as numerous group shows. His work is included in both public and private collections, and public and university libraries from coast to coast in Canada and the United States. COLLECTIONS: National Gallery and National Library, Ottawa; Charlottetown Confederation Center for the Arts, PEI; London Library and Art Gallery; Metropolitan Tirtono Library; Concordia University Library, Montreal, Quebec; New York Public Library; Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton, Ontario; Hunt Botanical Library at Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. SOLO SHOWS: Carnegie Gallery, Dundas, 1988; Victoria College, University of Toronto, 1972, 1983; Alice Peck Gallery, Burlington, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1981; Lyghtesome Gallery, Antigonish, NS, 1988; Memorial University, St. John’s Newfoundland, 1984-1987; Grimsby Public Art Gallery, 1980; Burlington Cultural Center; 1979; Gallery Stratford, 1975, 1994
