| CHRIS STONES | |
| Chris was born in 1955 in a town that was originally known as Port Arthur, but since 1970 has been known as Thunder Bay. He grew up with a keen interest in his natural surroundings and was fond of collecting everything from amethyst and fishing lures to tropical fish and British motorcycles. He is a sculptor and mixed media artist who works on and around the north shore of Lake Superior. The lake and the region figure prominently in his work. He has been seen leaving the area and on one occasion in 1996, he went off to do an MFA degree at the University of Waterloo. Since graduating, employment highlights have included contracts in numerous museums and galleries most notably with the Museum of Civilization in Hull, PQ. where his skills were applied to making casts of 4,000 year old maritime burial objects. His interest in Canadian history and the fur trade particularly, earned him positions with a team at the Williamstown Northwest Company and Loyalist Museum redesigning their fur trade exhibit, and more recently with Fort William Historic Park where his drawing techniques contributed to illustrating the voyageur experience and the material culture of 19th century life in Fort William. He has explored teaching through Lakehead University and the University of Waterloo (mentor program). Lakehead University’s department of Continuing Education sent him off campus to Ignace, Ontario (on the remote highway 11-17 west of Thunder Bay) to implement a mixed media course, and also flew him white-knuckled to Sandy Lake reserve in the winter of 2001, to instruct painting. Recently, he has been teaching introductory sculpture at Lakehead University. Good experiences all. Mostly though he can be found in his studio. Or cycling (motor and pedal), paddling, playing hockey (underwater style), beach combing, photographing stuff, investigating new music, or just hanging with friends. |