About the Artist John Greer

John Greer has exhibited his work since 1967 extensively in Canada, USA, Korea and Europe. He taught sculpture for 26 years as full Professor at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In this position his thinking and teaching has shaped and influenced contemporary sculpture and three-dimensional art practice in Canada.

His most recent solo exhibitions were “APPRÉHENSION - APPREHENSION” at Galerie Samuel Lallouz in Montreal, PQ, “Reflecting on Culture” in Halifax, NS and “Alluding to Illusion” in Dallas, TX, USA.
He is the recipient of numerous awards and grants and in 2009 he received the prestigious Governor General’s Award in Visual Arts in recognition of his lifetime achievement and significant contribution to contemporary Canadian visual art.

John has realized a number of public commissions, among others “Gathering, 2001”, adjacent to the National Museum in Yongsan Park in Seoul, Korea and “Reflection, 2001”, the memorial to Canadian Aid Workers in Ottawa, Canada. His work “Origins, 1995” is permanently installed in the Ondaatje courtyard of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. He has works in major national and international collections.

In 2009 John installed the piece “Humble Ending” in La Serpara, a sculpture garden North of Rome. In 2011 he installed the work “The Sirens” in a private park in Switzerland, and another large-scale installation “The Cradle” will be completed in the spring of 2012 in the same private location.

Over the past 25 years, John has been spending regularly extended work periods in Pietrasanta, Italy. He maintains a studio in West Dublin, Nova Scotia.

John Greer prefers sculpture as his language and tries to engage the viewer in being a human, thinking object among objects, a being “of” the world, a cultural object.

West Dublin, NS
January 2012

Artist Statement

CV [PDF]

Last Update: January 2012