Barbara Astman


Barbara Astman, RCA, is a Canadian artist who specializes in a hybrid of photography and new media, often using her own body as object and subject, merging art and technology.

Early life

Astman was born in Rochester, New York, the second of three children of Bertha and George Astman She received her associate degree at the Rochester Institute of Technology's School for American Craftsmen. In 1970, she moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada to study at the Ontario College of Art and graduated with an associate degree.

Artistic career

Astman's practice is partly composed of public art installations in Canada and abroad, including an installation at the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1987. Recently, she completed a project for the new Canadian Embassy in Berlin, Germany consisting of a fritted glass tower wall. She joined the faculty of OCAD in 1975 and is a Professor in the Faculty of Art.

Early career

In the 1970s, she began exploring Polaroid technology and Xerography as a vehicle for art making. She moved to Toronto in 1970 to attend OCAD. Wanting to explore the city she found inspiration in Kensington Market, Spadina Avenue and Queen Street West. Her first successful solo show was held in 1973, at Toronto's Baldwin Street Gallery of Photography. Two years later, the Still Photography Division of the National Film Board of Canada now called the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa hosted her first museum show. Astman began the Colour Xerox Artist's Program at Visual Arts Ontario in 1977. She sat on the Board of Directors at the Art Gallery at Harbourfront from 1983-85. Since then, other board positions have included: the City of Toronto, Public Art Commission; the Curatorial Team for the International WaterWorks Exhibition in 1988. Her initial commercial venture was the creation of the album cover for the first Loverboy record for CBS Records.

Mid career

Liz Wylie curated Astman's mid-career retrospective, Barbara Astman: Person/Persona A 20 Year Survey Exhibition in 1995. It opened at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, and then toured three other Canadian museums. The Art Gallery of Ontario reopened in 2008, after a year's redevelopment by architect Frank Gehry. Astman and AGO Assistant Curator Georgiana Uhlyarik were chosen to co-curate an exhibit focusing on Joyce Weiland and early feminist practice.
Barbara Astman has been heavily inspired by stores, even creating her own as an art work: Dancing with Che: Enter Through the Gift Shop.Che Guevara's face appears on mugs, plates, and other novelty goods, though none are for sale.
She also works with fabrics and in 2013 Astman worked with designer Jeremy Liang to create a line of limited edition silk scarves based on her Newspaper Series for Jonathan and Olivia fashion boutique in Toronto.

Awards

In 2000 she was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy.

Public collections

Astman's work is held in the following permanent collections:
The Clementine Suite
Dancing With Che
Wonderland