Artist

Noel Harding

Noel Harding is an international artist whose work can be found in numerous collections, including: The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Le Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels; and the Hara Museum, Tokyo. Harding's work has been featured in more than 70 solo shows and it has been included in over 100 group exhibitions. In 1982, he was the youngest artist ever to be honoured by a major retrospective of his work at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Harding's "Anti-Heroes" exhibition (February 95) represented the first major Canadian solo exhibit to be organized within Russia. The location of the Central House of Artists is regarded as the preeminent contemporary exhibition centre in Russia. Prior to being mounted in Moscow, "Anti-Heroes" exhibited at the Mucsarnok Museum, Palace of Exhibitions, Budapest, Hungary, as part of the Budapest Spring Festivals and also at the National Gallery of Slovakia, Bratislava, Slovakia.

Harding's "The Potato Eaters" (1990), a three-part monumental sculpture featuring living trees, was selected to represent Canada in an international competition for monumental sculpture as part of the Cultural Olympiad at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.

In 1994, Harding initiated discussions with a plastics company executive about using plastics as a medium in art. This led to discussions with the Environment and Plastics Institute of Canada (EPIC), now part of the Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA). Harding was selected as the artist responsible for testing the idea of developing large scale plastics sculptures to be placed in public locations in metropolitan areas across Canada. Positive plastics industry support led to the Plastics + Art initiative, of which the "Artist in Residence" program is a prime component. It was designed to align the plastics industry with the Canadian arts community starting with projects by five artists in five cities across the country.

Harding was selected to pilot the program as Artist-in-Residence for the Toronto project. As such, he proposed the concept for "the Elevated Wetlands", that brings together plastics, art and nature. This proposal was accepted by CPIA in July 1995. support for the research and development phase of the project was raised among corporate and university sponsors. A prototype was built and field tested in the summer of 1996. After extensive research, production began a year later in Taylor Creek Park and was completed in the fall of 1998. The official inauguration was held October 1, 1998.
For further information and related activities surrounding "the
Elevated Wetlands", please visit www.elevatedwetlands.com

Artist Code: 041

Videography

Birth's Child

1973, 03:00 minutes, B&W, English

Critical Writing

First-generation Video
by Carole Corbeil. The Globe and Mail, June 14, 1988.
Hot Art In A Cool Medium
by Brian D. Johnson and Mark Budgen. Maclean's, Mar. 3, 1986.
First-generation video
by Carole Corbeil. The Globe and Mail, June 14, 1986.
Introduction
by Renee Baert. Vintage Video: Early Canadian Video Art to 1974, 1986. Toronto: Artculture Resource Centre, 1986.
Video In Canada: In Search of Authority
by Renee Baert. From Sea to Shining Sea, 1986. Toronto: The Power Plant, 1986.
Letters
by Renee Baert et al. Parallelogramme, 1986, v. 11, no. 3.
Winnipeg Perspective 1985 Video
by Shirley Madill. The Winnipeg Perspective, 1985. Winnipeg: The Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1985.
Consolidation and Resistance:: Video in Toronto, An Overview
by Elke Town. Canadian Video Art, 1985. S.N, 1985.
Prime Time Video: Breaking Ground: Video in Toronto, An Overview
by Renya Onasick and Peter Lynch. Prime Time Video, 1984. Saskatoon: Mendel Art Gallery, 1984.
Is it prime time yet?: Video in Toronto, An Overview
by Robin F White. Prime Time Video, 1984. Saskatoon: Mendel Art Gallery, 1984.
Making Airwaves: Video in Toronto, An Overview
by Bruce W Ferguson. Prime Time Video, 1984. Saskatoon: Mendel Art Gallery, 1984.
Under 5
by Karen Knights. Video Guide, Oct. 1984, v. 6, no. 5.
Video Culture for the Masses
by James Marck. Now, Oct. 27, 1983, v. 3, no. 8.
Video culture bridges gap between art, culture: Canadian artists...
by Adrian Iwachiw. Excalibur, Nov. 1983, v. 18, no. 10.
Colour Video/Vulgar Potential
by Peggy Gale. Parachute, Sept. Winter 1982, no. 25.
Sophisticated N.Y. Video Artists Babes From High-Tech Toyland
by John Bentley Mays. Globe, Feb. 19, 1982.
Prime Time Video bears the look of acceptance
by Liam Lacey. The Globe and Mail, Sept. 17, 1982.
Harding's Fish and Salads; An Ironic Commentary
by John Bentley Mays. The Globe and Mail, June 12, 1981.
The Exhibition
by David Nasby. Realism: Structure & Illusion Towards a Definition of Representational Art, 1981. Burlington: Burlington Cultural Centre, 1981.
11e Biennale De Paris: Les Canadiens
by Unknown. Parachute, Fall 1980, no. 20.
Noel Harding
by Jane Perdu. Parachute, Fall 1980, no. 20.
Video show off to promising start
by John Bentley Mays. The Globe and Mail, Mar. 19, 1980.
I Am Here, This Is Real
by Peggy Gale. Autobiography: Film/Video/Photography, 1978. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1978.
Temporal Realities: Eric Cameron and Noel Harding
by Peggy Gale. Parachute, Spring 1978, no. 10.
The 1978 Canadian Video Open
by Lisa Steele. Centerfold, Apr. 1978, v. 2, no. 4.
Video Art 78
by Steve Partridge and David Hall. Video Art 78, May 6 Spring, 1978.
Structural Videotape in Canada
by Eric Cameron. Video Art: An Anthology, 1976. Toronto: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976.
Postface: Video Music Film
by Brian Dyson et al. Centerfold, Sept. 1976, v. 1, no. 2.
La vidéographie dans un contexte d'art
by Eric Cameron. Vie des arts, Fall 1975, v. 20, no. 80.
Videoscape
by Marty Dunn et al. Toronto Ontario: Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), 1974.