Gathie Falk was born on January 31,1928, in Alexander near Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, to immigrant Russian Mennonite parents.
10 Facts About Gathie Falk
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In 1930, the Falk family relocated to another small town in southern Manitoba and continued to move around, eventually ending up in Winnipeg when Falk was a teenager.
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Gathie Falk then became a school teacher in 1953 and taught elementary students until 1965, when she left to commit herself full-time to creating art.
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Gathie Falk has worked in various media, including performance, installation, ceramics, painting, drawing and papier-mache.
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Gathie Falk created her first ceramic interpretations of quotidian objects, such as shoes, boots, and a suit coat, while studying ceramics with Glenn Lewis at the University of British Columbia.
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Gathie Falk's works find their source in the events and objects of everyday life, inviting us to consider the significance of the commonplace, including her well-known ceramic sculpture Fruit Piles, Single Right Men's Shoes and Picnics.
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Between 1968 and 1972, Gathie Falk created some fifteen performance artworks, which typically involved undertaking everyday activities, such as eating an egg, putting on makeup, or reading a book.
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Gathie Falk has participated in group and solo exhibitions in Canada, the United States, France and Japan.
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Gathie Falk is represented by Equinox Gallery in Vancouver, BC, Canada and by Michael Gibson Gallery in London, Ontario, Canada.
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Gathie Falk has received many awards including the Gershon Iskowitz Prize, the Order of Canada, the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts and the Viva Award for Lifetime Achievement.