Barbara Astman

Astman was born in Rochester, New York, the second of three children of Bertha (née Meisel, a homemaker) and George Astman (an auto mechanic and salesman.) She received her associate degree at the Rochester Institute of Technology's School for American Craftsmen in 1970. That year, she moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada to study at the Ontario College of Art (now OCAD University,) and graduated with an associate degree (A.O.C.A.) in 1973. She joined the faculty of OCAD in 1975, served as chair of photography (2001–2002), and professor in the faculty of art (2002–2021). She retired in 2021 as professor emerita.{{cite web |title=Faculty |url=https://www2.ocadu.ca/bio/barbara-astman |website=ocadu.ca |publisher=OCAD |access-date=2 June 2023}}

Since the early 1970s Astman has explored a wide range of photo-based media and produced work, which has received recognition in Canada and abroad.{{cite web |title=Faculty |url=https://www2.ocadu.ca/bio/barbara-astman |website=ocadu.ca |publisher=OCAD |access-date=2 June 2023}}{{Cite web|url=https://canadianart.ca/features/barbara-astman-2/|title=Barbara Astman: A Movie For One|last=guhlyarik|website=Canadian Art|language=en-US|access-date=7 March 2020}}

Her first public solo exhibition immediately upon graduating from OCA (OCADU) was held in 1973, at Toronto's Baldwin Street Gallery of Photography. Two years later, the Still Photography Division of the National Film Board of Canada renamed as the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa and now part of the National Gallery of Canada, hosted her first museum show.

Since then, she has had an extensive and prestigious solo exhibition history. Her major touring retrospective exhibition, Barbara Astman - Personal/Persona - A 20 Year Survey was curated by Liz Wylie (Art Gallery of Hamilton, 1995). In May 2011, her installation, Dancing with Che: Enter through the Gift Shop (Kelowna Art Gallery, 2013) toured across Canada. Barbara Astman: I as artifact featured a new series of works accompanied by a comprehensive publication (McIntosh Gallery, 2014) and Barbara Astman Looking: Then and Now (Corkin Gallery), a two-part exhibition received recognition in 2016.

She has been included in major group exhibitions, such as: Beautiful Fictions (AGO, 2009); Light My Fire Part I: Some Propositions about Portraits and Photography (AGO, 2013); Herland, (60 Wall Gallery, New York 2014);Look Again: Colour Xerography Art Meets Technology (AGO, 2015); Living Building Thinking: Art and Expressionism (McMaster Museum of Art, 2016), and Toronto: Tributes + Tributaries, 1971–1989 (AGO, 2016), among many others. In 2024, her work was included in the Winnipeg Art Gallery's four-person exhibition featuring work from the permanent collection Animating the Figure with Photography along with the work of Donigan Cumming, Adad Hannah, and Stephen Livick.{{cite web |title=Exhibitions |url=https://www.wag.ca/exhibitions/animating-the-figure-with-photography/ |website=www.wag.ca |publisher=Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2024 |access-date=11 July 2024}}

Astman is represented by Corkin Gallery, Toronto and Paul Kyle Gallery, Vancouver.

Her artist's archives are held in the E.P. Taylor Research Library & Archives Special Collections, Art Gallery of Ontario.{{cite web |title=Special Collectiona |url=https://atom.ago.ca/index.php/astman-barbara |website=atom.ago.ca |publisher=Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives Special Collections |access-date=3 June 2023}}

She has completed several public art commissions, including a floor installation for the Calgary Winter Olympics (1987), a public art installation for the new Canadian Embassy in Berlin, GermanyGovernment of Canada http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/germany-allemagne/offices-bureaux/embassy_art_ambassade.aspx?lang=eng {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130604193420/http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/germany-allemagne/offices-bureaux/embassy_art_ambassade.aspx?lang=eng |date=4 June 2013}} (2005), consisting of a fritted glass tower wall; the Murano on Bay in Toronto consisted of 217 windows with photo-based imagery (2010); and a photographic installation (The Fossil Book) for the inaugural exhibition at the new Koffler Gallery (Toronto, 2013).{{cite web |title=Faculty |url=https://www2.ocadu.ca/bio/barbara-astman |website=ocadu.ca |publisher=OCAD |access-date=2 June 2023}}

Astman has served on numerous boards and advisory committees, including the Art Gallery of Ontario's Board of Trustees (2009–2013) and as the chair of the Art Advisory Committee, Koffler Gallery, Toronto and vice president, board of directors, prefix (ICA) Institute of Contemporary Art, Toronto.

In addition, she has co-curated an installation titled The Emergence of Feminism: Changing the Course of Art, featuring work by Joyce Wieland, Suzy Lake and Lisa Steele (AGO, 2008).Murray, Joan; Canadian Art in the Twentieth Century, Dundurn Press, 1999, pp168–170

In 2000, she was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts {{cite web |url=http://www.rca-arc.ca/en/about_members/results.asp |title=Royal Canadian Academy of Arts - Académie royale des arts du Canada |access-date=16 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100804051014/http://www.rca-arc.ca/en/about_members/results.asp |archive-date=4 August 2010}} In 2024, she was awarded a Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts.{{cite web |title=Winners |url=https://en.ggarts.ca/barbara-astman |website=en.ggarts.ca |publisher=Governor General of Canada |access-date=7 March 2024}}

Astman is represented in important public, corporate and private collections in Canada and abroad including the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Deutche Bank, New York, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

The following permanent collections, among others, hold her work:

• Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Kingston, ON{{cite web |title=Collection |url=https://agnes.queensu.ca/explore/collections/search-the-collection/?kw=barbara+astman&c=&dr=200+-+2020&maker=&title=&medium=&credit= |website=agnes.queensu.ca |publisher=Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston |access-date=25 June 2021}}
• Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, ON{{Cite web|url=https://www.artgalleryofhamilton.com/collections/contemporary-collection/|title=Contemporary Collection|website=Art Gallery of Hamilton|language=en-US|access-date=4 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306044454/https://www.artgalleryofhamilton.com/collections/contemporary-collection/|archive-date=6 March 2019|url-status=live}}
• Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON{{Cite web|url=https://ago.ca/collection/browse?related_artists%5B26322%5D=26322|title=The Collection {{!}} Art Gallery of Ontario|website=Art Gallery of Ontario|language=en|access-date=8 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180309061306/https://ago.ca/collection/browse?related_artists%5B26322%5D=26322|archive-date=9 March 2018|url-status=live}}
• Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris{{cite web |title=Barbara Astman |url=https://www2.ocadu.ca/bio/barbara-astman |website=ocadu.ca |date=15 February 2017 |publisher=OCAD |access-date=25 June 2021}}
• Burnaby Art Gallery, Burnaby, British Columbia{{Cite web|url=https://collections.burnabyartgallery.ca/ListDetail?q=src:library&p=82&ps=1&sort=creator_sort+asc|title=Barbara Astman: personal persona : a 20-year survey | Art Gallery Collections|website=collections.burnabyartgallery.ca}}
• The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, ON{{cite web |last1=Astman |first1=Barbara|title=Works in the Collection |url=https://rmg.minisisinc.com/m3online/scripts/mwimain.dll/41/1/0?SEARCH&SHOWSINGLE=Y&ERRMSG=[M3ONLINE]error.html |website=rmg.minisisinc.com |publisher=Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa |accessdate=13 June 2020}}
• George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York{{Cite web|title=Collections|url=https://collections.eastman.org/people/3168/barbara-astman/objects|access-date=4 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306043809/https://collections.eastman.org/search/barbara%20astman|archive-date=6 March 2019|url-status=live}}
• McIntosh Gallery, University of Western Ontario, London, ON{{cite web |title=Collection |url=https://mcintoshgallery.ca/Resources/collection.html |website=mcintoshgallery.ca |publisher=Mcintosh Gallery, London, Ontario |access-date=25 June 2021}}
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston{{cite web | url=https://emuseum.mfah.org/objects/69113/untitled-9?ctx=995c606531e832a6c258ec3f8e33b954a7b6cf73&idx=0 | title=Untitled #9 | All Works | the MFAH Collections}}
• National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa{{Cite web|url=https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/barbara-astman|title=Barbara Astman|website=gallery.ca}}
• The University of Toronto Art Museum{{Cite web|url=http://collections.artmuseum.utoronto.ca:8080/objects/8906/barbara-astman;jsessionid=29E05714DF366A567DF657E0E88EAC4C?ctx=cac7ad71-b7c9-412a-b0fa-d89cad4da588&idx=237|title=Barbara Astman | Works | eMuseum | UofT Art Museum}}
• Oklahoma City Museum of Art{{Cite web|url=https://www.okcmoa.com/visit/events/the-art-of-light/|title=The Art of Light|date=19 March 2020}}
• Victoria and Albert Museum, London
• Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, MB{{cite web |title=Collection |url=https://www.wag.ca/art/collections/search/?search_type=advanced&collection=&title=&artist=barbara+astman&medium=&type=&country=&accession=&date= |website=wag.ca |publisher=Winnipeg Art Gallery |access-date=25 June 2021}}

Canadian Art magazine featured a profile of Astman's career in the Spring 2014 issue.

The Clementine Suite

:"...a celebration of the human spirit."Dault, Julia; National Post, Jan. 12, 2006

Dancing With Che

:"...echoes across more than a century of technological innovation and evolution of the medium".Liss, David and Rubenstein, Bonnie, Exhibition Curators, Still Revolution: Suspended in Time, the Museum for Contemporary Canadian Art, May, 2009

:"Audacious, humorous, improbable."Wylie, Liz; Canadian Art, Fall 2003, Volume 20, No. 3, p. 139

Wonderland

:"Intimate, personal, and quietly enthralling."Whyte, Murray, Toronto Star, Wonderland Nov. 16, 2009. http://thestar.blogs.com/untitled/2009/11/barbara-astmans-wonderland-at-jane-corkin.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725135946/http://thestar.blogs.com/untitled/2009/11/barbara-astmans-wonderland-at-jane-corkin.html |date=25 July 2011}}.

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.ccca.ca/artists/artist_info.html?languagePref=en&link_id=170&artist=Barbara+Astman CCCA Artist Database]
• [https://atom.ago.ca/index.php/astman-barbara Finding aid to Barbara Astman archives at Art Gallery of Ontario]
• {{YouTube|N9Up5neUneU|Interview}}

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Category:1950 births

Category:Artists from Rochester, New York

Category:Canadian mixed media artists

Category:Canadian contemporary artists

Category:Canadian multimedia artists

Category:Canadian photographers

Category:Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts

Category:Living people

Category:OCAD University alumni

Category:Academic staff of OCAD University

Category:20th-century Canadian women artists

Category:21st-century Canadian women artists

Category:20th-century Canadian artists

Category:21st-century Canadian artists

Category:Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts winners