Don Mabie, also known as Chuck Stake, is a Canadian artist based in Nakusp, British Columbia. Mabie has been performing, drawing, assembling, trading and mailing art since the early 1970s.
Biography
Born in 1947 in Calgary, Alberta, Mabie graduated from the Alberta College of Art, Calgary, in Fine Art Painting in 1969, continuing to do post-graduate work at the Instituto Allende, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico in 1970. He lived in Toronto from 1970 until 1974, during which time he spent six months touring Europe. He returned to Calgary in 1974 and lived there until 2006, when he moved to Nakusp, British Columbia. Mabie has been drawing, performing, assembling, trading and mailing art since the early 1970s. He has had more than 20 solo exhibitions in Canada and Europe, and has participated in numerous group exhibitions and performance events across Canada, in the United States, Mexico, Europe and Japan. As a member of the international performance collaborative The Nomads he performed at the arts festival documenta 8 in Kassel, Germany in 1987. He has also performed in Zürich, Switzerland; at the INTER DADA Festival in San Francisco, USA; and on numerous occasions in Calgary at the Glenbow Museum, Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Nickle Arts Museum, Muttart Gallery, Truck, Ten Foot Henry's, The Night Gallery and The New Gallery. He is credited with presenting the first performance work in Calgary in 1968. Mabie has been an active participant in the international mail-art network since 1971 and has organized around 25 mail-art exhibitions, as well as participating in hundreds of mail-art exhibitions and publications. Mabie adopted the name Chuck Stake in 1972 when he became involved with Correspondence/MailArt and founded Chuck Stake Enterprizes in Toronto. He uses this name for most of his art activities including Artist Trading Cards. He has focused his attention on Artist Trading Cards since 1997 and contributed to the foundation of an Artist's Trading Card network in Calgary. In 2002 Mabie took The First International Biennial of Artist Trading Cards to South Australia, touring the area in February 2003 and presenting a series of ATC Lectures/Workshops. In 2000 he was nominated for the Canada Council for the ArtsGovernor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts. In May 2001, Mabie was a recipient of the Alberta College of Art & Design Board of Governors' Award of Excellence for his lifetime contribution to the arts in Alberta. In June 2002, he received one of the 75 Anniversary Alberta College of Art & Design Alumni Awards of Distinction by Alberta Lieutenant GovernorLois Hole. In August 2006, Mabie had a solo exhibition entitled "ART and LIFE" at the Kootenay Gallery of Art, History and Science in Castlegar, British Columbia. In January 2007, he participated in HIT OR MISS: An Exhibition of Contemporary Drawing, a group exhibition at the Triangle Gallery of Visual Arts in Calgary. Mabie was a co-founder of The Parachute Centre for Cultural Affairs in Calgary, spent ten years operating The New Gallery ; he published Image and Information; he has taught at the Department of Art at the University of Calgary and currently at the Alberta College of Art and Design; he has initiated an artist's trading cards network; he has had a number of exhibitions including a retrospective at Illingworth Kerr Gallery in Calgary, Alberta. Mabie has presented lectures at various institutions, including: Ontario College of Art, University of Manitoba, University of Saskatchewan, University of Lethbridge, Edmonton Art Gallery, Glenbow Museum, University of Calgary, Alberta College of Art & Design, Medicine Hat Museum, Dallas Public Library and The Kootenay Gallery of Art, History and Science. He works are included in numerous private and public collections in Canada, the United States and Europe.
