Don (Donald) Jean-Louis was born in Hull, Quebec, but grew up in Ottawa. A largely self-taught artist, his first solo show was at The Isaacs Gallery in Toronto in 1961. His experience working in the television news graphics department at the CBC led him to devise one of the first interactive works in Canada, shown at The Isaacs Gallery in 1969, titled “The Nature of the Media is to Expose,” followed by another media work titled “All the N.E.W.S.” in 1980. Jean-Louis' work in the 1970s and 1980s utilized neon and a personal vision for photography but he continued to paint and draw. He was awarded public art commissions for a Government of Canada building in North York, Toronto, 1976 (neon and sail cloth), CIL House, North York in the mid-1980s (integrated neon), and a hanging sculpture based on maple keys for the atrium of the Canadian Embassy in Beijing, in 1990.
Jean-Louis was a sessional instructor at the Ontario College of Art for a period in the mid-1970s and in 1978 was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. He moved from Toronto to Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island in 1996.
The Robert McLaughlin Gallery and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria collaborated on a survey exhibition in 2006, which toured to other public galleries in Ontario through 2009. His works are represented public collections across Canada, including the National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen's University, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Vancouver Art Gallery, University of British Columbia at Okanagan, and the Musée d'art contemporain in Montreal.
We extend our thanks to Dr. Ihor Holubizky for providing this biography of Don Jean-Louis.
