top of page

Out of the Picture

Jon McKee

Out of the Picture

1994

About the Artist

Jon McKee was born in Northern Ireland in 1943 and immigrated to Canada in 1957. He graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design and began a career in various art forms both in the commercial and freelance world. His first exhibition was held at the Pollock Gallery, Toronto in 1967 and he exhibited at many galleries in eastern Canada in the 1970's through to the 1990's. During these times Mr. McKee described himself as a; cartoonist, teacher, illustrator, animator, sculptor, stone carver and guest speaker. As an illustrator Jon's commercial work was featured in many national magazines and newspapers including; Toronto Daily Star, Globe and Mail, Montreal Star, MacLean's, Harpers and Books in Canada. While as a teacher in the 1960's to the 1980's Jon worked at Toronto Secondary Schools, Ontario of College of Art, Toronto Public School's, Ontario Arts Council, and the Creative Artists in the Schools Project. His speaking engagements were undertaken at Dundas Art College, Dundas, Ontario, University of Toronto, St. Michaels College, Durham Art Gallery, Durham, Ontario, The University of Guelph and the Toronto Teachers Federation. Jon currently lives in Toronto as a retired gentleman of the arts.

Comments on the Work

The work in the collection "Out of the Picture, 1994" was completed when Jon was working towards an exhibition at the Durham Art Gallery, Ontario in the early 1990"s. As he stated "the piece is one of a number of works exploring landscape, exploring three dimensions, and exploring the tyranny of the frame. The exhibition was entitled "Canoes/Fish." The work is three dimensions focusing on a fisherman in a canoe catching a Speckled Trout on a fly and in the ensuing fight the fish literally is jumping out of the picture. Constructed on a wood panel, surrounded by a frame of birch bark limbs the painted scene illustrates a fisherman sitting in a blue prospector type canoe near a rocky shore and a tree lined forest whilst fighting his catch. The water surface is slightly agitated and in the battle the fish with a fly hooked into its lower jaw has jumped leaving a large splash and exiting the picture surface entirely. As Jon mentioned he was exploring the three dimensions and the tyranny of the frame and this mixed media work does exactly that. The trout looks larger than the canoe and would no doubt made a memorable fish tale. "Out of the Picture, 1994" is a humorous, three dimension, folksy addition to the McCreath Canoe Collection.

bottom of page