The Maritime
Painted Saltbox Gallery
About The Artist
Peter Blais
Peter Blais
Peter Blais, born in Ottawa in 1949, graduated from Carleton University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1970. By the mid ‘70’s, he was establishing himself in Toronto as an emerging fibre artist – with solo shows at the Tradewinds fine craft gallery in Yorkville and at the St Lawrence Centre for the Performing Arts.
Peter Blais
Toronto Fibre Artist 1975 (Photo: Stephen Fine)
The Piper by Peter Blais
Harbourfront Show 1977 (Photo: Stephen Fine)
Harbourfront Show
Toronto 1977
In 1977 he was invited to participate in a group show featuring five other fibre artists at the newly opened Harbourfront Gallery on the Toronto waterfront. ‘Architectural Hangings’, curated by Anita Aarons, gallery director, also featured the work of Charlotte Lindgren, (Art Gallery of Nova Scotia collection), Helen Frances Gregor (permanent collection, National Gallery), Aiko Suzuki who had just completed the fibre installation for the main entrance to the new Toronto Metro Library, master weaver Tamara Jaworska and Susan Watson, architect and environmental designer. Blais was billed as ‘theatre designer and weaver of fantasies and collectively, the artists were described as master weavers and innovators from other disciplines. The show was opened by Toronto architect Raymond Moryama.
In partnership with Toronto photographer Stephen Fine, a gallery show titled ‘Lear: An Approach To Theatre Design’ was mounted at two Toronto galleries – Galerie Scollard in Yorkville and the Metro Library Gallery. That same year ‘Lear’ was also installed at the Brampton Library Gallery and at the Shaw Festival Theatre in Niagara to inaugurate their new art show series.
The previous year, 1976, Blais had been awarded a Canada Council Explorations grant to pursue new approaches to fibre and its application to theatre design. In 1977, he created the fibre costume designs for an ambitious production of King Lear, directed by John Wood and staged at the Neptune Theatre in Halifax. Subsequently, Blais was invited to be a guest instructor at the Nova Scotia College Of Art And Design.
The artist in one of his own creations 1976
(Photo: Stephen Fine)
King Lear, Neptune Theatre
Halifax (1977)
Director, John Wood
Costumes by Peter Blais
Denise Fergusson as Regan
(Photo: Stephen Fine)
King Lear, Neptune Theatre,
Halifax, 1977
Director, John Wood,
Costumes by Peter Blais
Richard Greenblatt as The Fool
(Photo: Stephen Fine)
LEAR
An Approach to Theatre Design
Gallery Showings 1977-1978
Peter Blais and Stephen Fine, Artists
Model: Faye Markowitz
Photo: Stephen Fine
King Lear, Neptune Theatre
Halifax (1977)
Director, John Wood
Costumes by Peter Blais
(L) Richard Greenblatt as The Fool
(R) Eric Donkin as King Lear
Designer, Peter Blais 1976
Model, Janet Doherty
Photo: Stephen Fine
King Lear, Neptune Theatre
Halifax (1977)
Director, John Wood
Costumes by Peter Blais
David Renton as Kent
(Photo: Stephen Fine)
By 1980, Blais’s fibre work had evolved to include polymers and resin and in 1981, he was given a solo show at the newly opened Ashcroft- Munro Gallery on Yorkville Avenue in Toronto.
Solo Show at the
Ashcroft-Munro Gallery, Toronto 1981
Theatre Critic, by Peter Blais
Ashcroft-Munro Gallery, Toronto 1981
The Gamblers, by Peter Blais
Ashcroft-Munro Gallery, Toronto 1981
During that decade Blais created a number of commissioned works in both fibre and fiberglass – most notably for the Ontario Science Centre, The City of Toronto, King World Productions of New York, the Hal Roach Studios of Toronto and the Ramada Inn, Toronto airport.
Peter Blais with Homunculus
built for the Ontario Science Centre 1984
From 1981 to 1995, Blais created a number of theatre designs for the Toronto premieres of the work of playwright George F. Walker – for both Factory Theatre and Livent productions. Blais’s designs now form part of the permanent theatre archive at the University of Guelph, Ontario.
Love and Anger, Toronto, 1992
written and directed by Geo. F. Walker
Designed by Peter Blais
Produced by Factory Theatre and Livent
Photos: Nir Barakeet
Escape From Happiness, Toronto, 1993
written and directed by Geo. F. Walker
Designed by Peter Blais
Produced by Factory Theatre
Photo: Nir Barakeet
In 1984 Blais was commissioned by the Crime Writers Of Canada to create the prototype design for the Arthur Ellis Book Award, given out each year for the best in Canadian crime writing.
The Arthur Ellis Book Award
Designed by Peter Blais
for the Crimewriters of Canada 1984
In addition to his work as a visual artist and stage designer, Blais has had a 35 year parallel career as an actor – in radio, theatre, film and television. He was twice nominated as Best Actor for the Dora Award in Toronto and in 1999, was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor in a continuing role in a television series. In 1998 he won the Best Actor Award at the Yorkton Film Festival for his role in The Wager.
Peter Blais and Nancy Beatty,
starring in a 9-month run of
Love & Anger by Geo. F Walker
produced by Factory Theatre & Livent 1992
Peter Blais and Sir Stanley Holloway
Shaw Festival, Niagara 1973
Gary Burghoff, Catherine Disher & Peter Blais
in The Nerd
Director, Kevin Dowling
Mirvish Productions 1986
Peter Blais as William
Criminals in Love by Geo. F. Walker
Factory Theatre, Toronto 1985
Dora nomination (Best Actor, 1985)
Martin Short, Peter Blais & Miles McNamara in
Fortune & Men's Eyes
Theatre Aquarius, Hamilton, Ontario
Photo: Robert Ragsdale
Maury Chaykin and Peter Blais
PSI Factor TV, Season 3, 1998
Nomination for Peter Blais
for Best Supporting Actor
in a continuing role in a TV Series
Canadian Screen Awards
Theatre of the Film Noir
London, England 1983 at the Tricycle Theatre
Written and Directed by Geo. F. Walker
Produced by Factory Theatre
Bottom: (L to R) Peter Blais, Susan Purdy,
Jim Henshaw
Top: (L to R) David Bolt, Dean Hawes
Photo: Peter Freund
Peter Blais in The Wager, 1998
Director, Aaron Woodley
Paulus Productions, Toronto
Best Actor, Peter Blais, Yorkton Film Festival
Peter Blais and Hardee T.Lineham
in Love and Anger
Toronto, 1992
Written and Directed by Geo. F. Walker
Designed by Peter Blais
Produced by Factory Theatre and Livent
Photo: Nir Barakeet
In 1997 Blais moved to Nova Scotia and established in partnership with Tom Alway, The Maritime Painted Saltbox Gallery.
Blais’s focus has switched to painting in acrylic on canvas. An artist owned and operated gallery, the Painted Saltbox features the studio work of artists Tom Alway and Peter Blais. The gallery is located in Petite Riviere, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia about an hour from Halifax.
New Vinyl Fence, by Peter Blais
Acrylic on Canvas, 1998
Low Ceiling at Peggy's, by Peter Blais
Acrylic on Canvas, 2014
Landfall, by Peter Blais
Acrylic on Canvas, 2017
Peter Blais & Tom Alway, owners and
artists standing in front of the
Painted Saltbox Gallery
The Maritime Painted Saltbox Fine Art Gallery
265 Petite Riviere Road, Petite Riviere, Nova Scotia B4V8W9
www.painted saltbox.com
(902) 693-1544 or toll free: 1-877 624-4513