Person

Lochhead, Kenneth, 1926-

Artist Kenneth Campbell Lochhead was born in Ottawa, Ontario on May 22, 1926, the son of Allan Grant and Helen Louise (Van Wart) Lochhead. Following high school graduation, he took a commercial art course at the Ottawa Technical High School (1944-1945) and attended art school at Queen's University, Kingston, during the summer of 1944. He then entered the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts where he studied until 1949. He won a number of awards at the academy, including travelling scholarships which enabled him to travel and study in Europe. He also studied art history and appreciation for two years at the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania (1946-1948). Ken Lochhead began his academic working career as the Director of the School of Art at the University of Saskatchewan Regina College, in 1950. He was also charged with developing what became the Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery. Under his guidance both the School and the Gallery blossomed. In 1955, Lochhead began the Emma Lake Artists' Workshops. While the first was led by Canadian artist Jack Shadbolt, this summer series was soon taught by such New York artists as Herman Cherry, Barnett Newman, Kenneth Noland, and Jules Olitski, as well as famed art critic Clement Greenberg. About this time Lochhead also began to garner major commissions, completing an enormous mural at Gander, Newfoundland, entitled: "Flight and its Allegories" (1957-58). In 1961, the National Gallery of Canada, through Richard Simmins, mounted the exhibit "Five Painters from Regina". Lochhead, Arthur McKay, Ronald Bloore, Douglas Morton and Ted Godwin became known as "The Regina Five", and made their permanent mark in Canadian art history. In 1964 Lochhead left Regina to take up an appointment as a professor of painting at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. He moved to a similar post at York University in 1973, and on to the University of Ottawa from 1975 until his retirement in 1990. Lochhead's work has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions at public and commercial galleries throughout Canada and in the United States, and is widely represented in major institutional collections. He has served on many arts committees, including the Art Advisory Committee of the National Capital Commission, Ottawa (1976-1985) and the Fine Arts Advisory Committee, Wascana Centre Authority, Regina (1975-76, 1979-88). He has won several awards for his work and in 1971 he was awarded the medal of the Order of Canada. Ken Lochhead married Patricia Ann Poole in 1952. Following their divorce in 1973 he married Joanne E. Bryers. He has two sons and four daughters. He continues to reside in Ottawa, Ontario.