Toni Onley; Canada's "flying artist" (plane crash)
Hyfler/Rosner
Canada's most famous painters, died on Sunday when the small
plane he was piloting crashed into the Fraser River in
southwestern British Columbia, police said on Monday.
Works by the 75-year-old artist, best known for his water
color landscapes of Canada's West Coast, hang in London's
Tate Gallery, the National Gallery of Canada and in the
Library of Congress in Washington D.C.
Often referred to as Canada's "flying artist" because of his
penchant for flying his plane to remote regions to paint,
Onley was born on the Isle of Man but emigrated to Canada
with his family when he was 19. He lived in Vancouver.
His work:
http://www.lloydgallery.com/onley/onley.html
Hyfler/Rosner
B.C. artist Toni Onley dies in plane crash
Steve Mertl
Global BC, CP
Monday, March 01, 2004
VANCOUVER (CP) - Toni Onley, a famed West Coast painter who
combined his art with a love of flying, has died after
crashing his floatplane into the Fraser River.
Onley was identified by police Monday as the pilot of the
plane that crashed at Maple Ridge, east of Vancouver, on
Sunday.
Witnesses said the LA4 Buccaneer was practising landings and
takeoffs before it crashed.
An eyewitness said the plane landed briefly on the water
before losing control and sinking rapidly.
Fisherman George Hunter said he saw the accident from his
boat only about 150 metres away.
"He landed and took off again, then all of a sudden smashed
down onto the water," said Hunter. "It just stayed upright,
and sank in 10 seconds.
"It's pretty traumatic, to know somebody is drowning
underneath your boat."
Police divers went into the river Monday to search for the
plane, which went down in about 10 metres of water.
It was 20 years ago that Onley escaped death when he crashed
his light plane onto a B.C. glacier, breaking his leg. He
and a passenger spent a terrifying night awaiting rescue.
Onley, 75, was a renowned watercolourist, an Order of Canada
recipient known for his moody, expressionist landscapes of
the West Coast.
"His contribution was to create this kind of very good
technique of British watercolour that he has in fact
transformed for his own end," said Denise Leclerc, associate
curator of modern Canadian art at the National Gallery of
Canada in Ottawa.
"Because he had a plane, a little floatplane, he was able to
travel to all these places where the majority of people
don't have access.
"He was showing us very evocative, minimal, Oriental,
elegant views of places that we can only dream of going some
day."
Born in Douglas, Isle of Man, England, Norman Antony (Toni)
Onley first studied under local landscape water colourist
John Nicholson and at the Douglas School of Fine Arts.
He came to Canada in 1948, first living in Brantford, Ont.,
and working at a variety of jobs to support his first wife
and two daughters. He would marry three times.
On his web site, Onley says he was influenced by British
painters John Cotman and Peter DeWint and initially painted
traditional landscapes.
His early recognition as a painter came in 1955, when he won
an award at the Western Ontario Annual show of young
artists. Later, he exhibited at the Royal Canadian Academy
and the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colours.
Following the death of his wife Mary, Onley moved with his
children to Penticton, B.C., joining his parents who had
retired there.
He taught weekend art classes for children and adults on
weeknights, working as a surveyor, draftsman and commercial
artist to support his family while he developed his art.
In 1957, he won a scholarship to a Mexican art school, where
he studied mural painting and fresco and vinylite mediums.
Onley said he was influenced there by American artist
abstract impressionist James Pinto.
After three years in Mexico, Onley returned to Canada in the
late 1950s and held a string of exhibitions.
His collage paintings won critical recognition and he used a
Royal Canadian Academy award to fund further study in
England. His award-winning painting Polar No. 1 was
presented to London's Tate Gallery for a 1963 exhibition.
In 1961, Onley did a 90-square-metre mural for Vancouver's
Queen Elizabeth Theatre and was one of seven artists chosen
to represent Canada at the Paris biennial exhibition.
Onley took up flying in the 1960s, which enabled him to
travel to various remote locations. He often sketched from
the air before landing to work on a painting.
Onley, a prolific artist whose work is widely collected,
received the Order of Canada in 1999. His art made him
wealthy, allowing him to buy a plane and a Rolls-Royce.
He also got into a row with Revenue Canada in the 1980s, at
one point threatening to burn his unsold work on Vancouver's
Wreck Beach because he wasn't allowed to deduct expenses for
ongoing art projects against his income. He would later
approve of changes made to the tax code that helped artists.
"It's very beneficial for the income of the poor artists,"
said Leclerc. "He was able to do that because he had the
clout and the nerve to do it."
Last year, a exhibition of his watercolours was shown on his
native Isle of Man and he also designed a series of stamps
for the island featuring his work.
Onley had two daughters, Jennifer and Lynn, from his first
marriage and a son, James, from his second marriage to
Gloria Knight.
Mack Twamley
"Hyfler/Rosner" <rel...@rcn.com> wrote in message > Monday, March 01, 2004
> VANCOUVER (CP) - Toni Onley, a famed West Coast painter who
> combined his art with a love of flying, has died after
> crashing his floatplane into the Fraser River.
> It was 20 years ago that Onley escaped death when he crashed
> his light plane onto a B.C. glacier, breaking his leg. He
> and a passenger spent a terrifying night awaiting rescue.
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He may have been a fine artist, but a slow learner when it comes to airplane
accidents.