Spring Hurlbut

{{short description|Canadian artist (born 1952)}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Spring Hurlbut | honorific_suffix = | image =  | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1952|04|11}} | birth_place = Toronto | death_date =  | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | nationality = | education = | alma_mater = OCAD University, NSCAD University | known_for = | notable_works = | style = | movement = | spouse = | awards =  | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website = {{URL|https://www.springhurlbut.com/}} | module = }} '''Spring Hurlbut''' (born 11 April 1952) is a Canadian artist, known for work that deals with the relationship between sculpture and architecture, and with themes of mortality.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web|url=https://www.gallery.ca/en/see/collections/artist.php?iartistid=2580|title=Spring Hurlbut|website=www.gallery.ca|access-date=2016-05-04}}</ref> She lives and works in Toronto.<ref name=canadianart>{{Cite web|url=http://canadianart.ca/artists/spring-hurlbut/|title=Spring Hurlbut - Canadian Art|website=Canadian Art|language=en-US|access-date=2016-05-04}}</ref>

== Education == Hurlbut studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design, now known as OCAD University from 1971 to 1973 and the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD University) from 1973 to 1975.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/spring-hurlbut/|title=Spring Hurlbut|last=SELINE|first=JANICE|website=The Canadian Encyclopedia|access-date=2016-05-04}}</ref>

== Works == Early in her career, Hurlbut created on-site work using plaster that dispelled the 'common assumption that our built environment simply exists'.<ref name=":12"/> Beginning in her studio in 1977, Hurlbut made a number of wall works. A hand plastered wall work ''The Wall'' was made in the Art Gallery of Ontario in 1981<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mercerunion.org/exhibitions/artists-summer-studio-projects-a-column-on-location/|title=Mercer Union {{!}} ARTIST SUMMER STUDIO PROJECT: A COLUMN ON LOCATION|website=www.mercerunion.org|access-date=2016-05-16}}</ref> and the Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart in 1983.<ref name=":12"/><ref name="dewdney19902">{{Cite book|title=Spring Hurlbut.|last2=Dewdney|first2=Christopher|last3=Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver|first3=B.C.)|date=1990|publisher=Contemporary Art Gallery|isbn=978-0-920751-27-5|location=Vancouver|last1=Hurlbut|first1=Spring}}</ref> The installation ''Three Tree Columns'' was featured at the Toronto Sculpture Garden in 1986 and on the campus of York University in 1989. Its components included actual tree trunks with Doric bases and capitals made from steel.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Spring Hurlbut's Three Columns|last=Richards|first=Larry|publisher=Art Gallery of York University|year=1989|location=Toronto|id=AGO: PAMP. 730.971 H93 T63.9 c.2}}</ref> In her later work, she investigated the origins of classical Greek architecture. ''Ovo and Claw Entablature'' (1990) is an example of such work. ''The Final Sleep/Le Dernier Sommeil'' was an installation created from Artifacts in the Royal Ontario Museum in 2001<ref>{{Cite book|title=Spring Hurlbut - the final sleep, le dernier sommeil [catalogue of an exhibition held at the Royal Ontario Museum, 28 April - 19 August 2001]|last1=Hurlbut|first1=Spring|last2=Baluk|first2=Ulana|last3=McLuhan|first3=Elizabeth|last4=Royal Ontario Museum|date=2001-01-01|publisher=Royal Ontario Museum|isbn=0888544367|location=Toronto, Ontario|oclc=723502754|language=en}}</ref>

In the mid 90s Hurlbut began to photograph cremated ashes. Several of those works, ''Mary #3'' (2006), ''Peewee #2'' (2007) and ''Scarlett #1'' (2005) are in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada. ''Airborne'', a slow-motion video work from 2008 is a reflection on mortality. It documents the release of human ashes entrusted to the artist by relatives of the deceased, including her own father.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://canadianart.ca/exhibitions/spring-hurlbut-airborne/|title=Spring Hurlbut: Airborne - Canadian Art|website=Canadian Art|language=en-US|access-date=2016-05-04}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ryerson.ca/ric/exhibitions/Hurlbut.html|title=Spring Hurlbut - RIC - Exhibitions - Ryerson University|website=www.ryerson.ca|access-date=2016-05-04}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://canadianart.ca/features/spring-hurlbut/|title=Spring Hurlbut: Deadfall Dialogues - Canadian Art|website=Canadian Art|language=en-US|access-date=2016-05-04}}</ref>

Hurlbut and her partner, the photographer Arnaud Maggs, were the subject of the film ''Spring & Arnaud'', which premiered at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in April 2013.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2013/04/23/hot_docs_gem_spring_arnaud_blends_art_with_love_story_knelman.html|title=Hot Docs gem Spring & Arnaud blends art with love story: Knelman {{!}} Toronto Star|newspaper=The Toronto Star|date=23 April 2013|access-date=2016-05-04|last1=Knelman|first1=Martin}}</ref> In the 1990s, Hurlbut and Maggs divided their time between Toronto and France, spending their summers exploring French flea markets and finding objects to incorporate into their works, which explored similar themes of time, life and death, and loss.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cibola |first=Anne |url=https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/arnaud-maggs/biography/ |title=Arnaud Maggs: Life & Work |publisher=Art Canada Institute |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-4871-0276-0 |location=Toronto |language=English}}</ref>

Hurlbut's work is in the permanent collection of the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal and the National Gallery of Canada.<ref name=canadianart /><ref name=":12" />

Hurlbut was awarded the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts in 2018.<ref>{{cite web |title=Spring Hurlbut |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNEL6W76qXE |website=www.youtube.com |publisher=Governor General's Awards |access-date=17 August 2022}}</ref>

==Bibliography== * {{Cite book| publisher = Contemporary Art Gallery| isbn = 978-0-920751-27-5| last1 = Hurlbut| first1 = Spring| last2 = Dewdney| first2 = Christopher| last3 = Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver| first3 = B.C.)| title = Spring Hurlbut.| location = Vancouver| date = 1990}} * {{Cite book| publisher = Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery = Galerie d'art Leonard & Bina Ellen| isbn = 978-2-920394-40-7| last1 = Hurlbut| first1 = Spring| last2 = Antaki| first2 = Karen| last3 = Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery| title = Spring Hurlbut, l'ascension.| location = Montréal| date = 1996}} * {{Cite book| publisher = Power Plant| isbn = 978-0-921047-85-8| last1 = Dompierre| first1 = Louise| last2 = Hurlbut| first2 = Spring| last3 = Power Plant (Art gallery)| title = Spring Hurlbut: la somnolence| location = Toronto, Ont., Canada| date = 1995}} * {{Cite book| publisher = [National Gallery of Canada = Musée des beaux-arts du Canada]| last1 = Hurlbut| first1 = Spring| last2 = National Gallery of Canada| title = In conjunction with Sacrificial Ornament: recent works by Spring Hurlbut.| location = [Ottawa]| date = 1992}} * {{Cite book| publisher = Royal Ontario Museum| isbn = 978-0-88854-436-0| last1 = Hurlbut| first1 = Spring| last2 = Baluk| first2 = Ulana| last3 = McLuhan| first3 = Elizabeth| last4 = Royal Ontario Museum| title = Spring Hurlbut - the final sleep, le dernier sommeil [catalogue of an exhibition held at the Royal Ontario Museum, 28 April - 19 August 2001]| location = Toronto, Ontario| date = 2001}} * {{Cite book| publisher = The Art Gallery| isbn = 978-0-919876-74-3| last = Art Gallery of Ontario| title = Spring Hurlbut, Ron Martin, John Massey, Becky Singleton: June 5-July 19, 1981, Art Gallery of Ontario.| location = Toronto, Canada| date = 1981}}

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurlbut, Spring}} Category:Living people Category:Canadian women artists Category:1952 births Category:Canadian sculptors Category:Artists from Toronto Category:Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts winners