Rhian Brynjolson — visual artist, author, book illustrator, art educator

Rhian is a visual artist who has worked with the River on the Run artist collective, making and performing art to raise awareness of environmental concerns affecting the Lake Winnipeg watershed and boreal forest. Her most recent work is an art-science collaboration with Global Water Futures. Her work is dedicated to social and environmental justice.

Rhian is the author of Teaching Art: a Complete Guide for the Classroom, and has illustrated more than a dozen children’s books.

Rhian lives in Whiteshell Provincial Park, Manitoba, within Treaty 3, and acknowledges the traditional territory of the Anishinabe. We are all treaty people. We have a responsibility to work towards reconciliation and make reparations..

Teaching

Rhian Brynjolson has worked as an instructor at the Winnipeg Art Gallery Studio Programs, as a visiting artist for the Manitoba Arts Council’s Artist in the Schools Program, and an art specialist with Frontier School Division. Rhian was a teacher in the Winnipeg School Division, teaching Art and Integrated Curriculum in an inner-city elementary school, and high school Art and English in a women’s shelter. She was awarded Canadian Art Teacher of the Year in 2014.

Education

Bachelor of Education, Art and English, Dean’s Honour List, University of Manitoba, 2003
Fine Arts Diploma, University of Manitoba, 1988
Bachelor of Arts, University of Winnipeg, Economics, 1984

Exhibitions

Virtual Water Gallery, art-science collaboration sponsored by Global Water Futures, www.VirtualWaterGallery.com , spring 2021, to the present. Live exhibit at ArtsPlace, Canmore, AB, May, 2022.

Places at the Water Table, group exhibit, MHC Gallery, Winnipeg, March-April, 2022.

Mother Nature as a Lover: Repair and Maintenance, group exhibit, MHC Gallery, Winnipeg, January - March, 2020.

Boreal Shores Art Tour, open studio, 2019 and 2023.

Talking Water, group exhibit, MHC Gallery, Winnipeg, November, 2013.

River On the Run, Lake Winnipeg, performance, West End Cultural Centre, 2012.

River on the Run, Lake Winnipeg, group exhibit, Gimli, 2011.

In Transit, Outworks Gallery, group exhibit, 2008.

Goose Girl, solo exhibit, Millennium Library, Winnipeg, 2008.

Playgrounds, exhibit integrating children’s artwork and voices, MHC Gallery, Winnipeg, 2007.

Neighbourhoods, group exhibit, Graffiti Gallery, Winnipeg, 2006.

Convergence, group exhibit, Oseredok Gallery, 2006.

The Art of Books, solo exhibit, Manitoba Children’s Museum, 1996.

Publications

Writing

Teaching Art: A Complete Guide for the Classroom, Portage & Main Press, 2009.

Art & Illustration for the Classroom: A Guide for Teachers and Parents, Peguis Publishers, 1998 (Mary Scorer Best Book by a Manitoba Publisher Award, 1999).

Illustration

The Gifts of the Little People (William Dumas). 2022. HighWater Press.

Amo’s Sapotawan (William Dumas). 2022. HighWater Press.

The Girl in the Clock (Gerry Wolfram). 2022. RackaTackaSacka Books.

Mary au parka rouge (Peter Eyvinson, l’auteur. Traduit par Buors, Mona). 2016. Pemmican Publications.

Goose Girl (McLellan, Joe and McLellan, Matrine authors). 2007. Pemmican Publications.

Nanabosho and the Woodpecker (Joe McLellan, author). 1995. Pemmican Publications.

Nanabosho: How the Turtle Got Its Shell (Joe McLellan, author). 1994. Pemmican Publications.

Nanabosho, Soaring Eagle, and the Great Sturgeon (Joe McLellan, author). 1993. Pemmican Publications.

Nanabosho Dances (Joe McLellan, author). 1991. Pemmican Publications.

Red Parka Mary (Peter Eyvindson, author). 1999. Pemmican Publications.

Sir Thomas A. Cat. (Peter Eyvindson, author). 1998. Pemmican Publications.

The Night Rebecca Stayed Too Late. (Peter Eyvindson, author). 1994. Pemmican Publications.

The Missing Sun. (Peter Eyvindson, author). 1993. Pemmican Publications.

The Yesterday Stone. (Peter Eyvindson, author). 1992. Pemmican Publications.

Jen and the Great One. (Peter Eyvindson, author). 1990. Pemmican Publications.

I Love to Play Hockey. (Dale Klassen, author). 1994. Pemmican Publications.

(*5 Titles received Canadian Book Centre Choice Awards)

Writing and Illustration

Foster Baby. 1997. Pemmican Publications.

Animated shorts. 1994 to 1997. Sesame Street.

Collaborations

The Virtual Water Gallery, a collaborative exhibition of scientists, engineers and visual artists, coordinated by the University of Saskatchewan and funded by Global Water Futures. This exhibition featured artists who communicated scientific theories related to the study of hydrology and climate change.

River on the Run Artist Collective, with Sam Baardman, Bob Haverluck, Deborah Schnitzer, and a dozen Manitoba artists from a range of disciplines. River on the Run creates art, photography, music, poetry, stories, installations, and events that investigate the troubled relationship between humans and the world we inhabit.

Volunteer Work

Arts Co-operative working group, Neechi Commons, 2012 – 2013

MAWA (Manitoba Artists for Women’s Art), board member, 2010 – 2012

Whiteshell Community Club, grant writing, 2018 - present

Workshops and Presentations

Artist-in-Residence, Canadian Water Resources Association Conference, Canmore, AB, 2022.

Webinar, Cold Matters, Creatively United (co-presenter on art and climate change), creativelyunited.org/cold-matters-climate-artist-series , April 29, 2021.

Juror, Manitoba Arts Council, 2019.

Drawing workshops, ArtsJunktion, March 2014 and 2015.

Inner City Art Conference, Winnipeg, keynote address, 2013.

MAAE SAGE Conference presenter, 1995 – 2015.

Manitoba Arts Alliance, Winnipeg, keynote address, 2010.

BCTELA Conference, Vancouver, 2010.

Learning Together Conference, presenter, 2004 – 2006.

WPL Readings, 1999 - 2003.

Winnipeg Folk Festival performance with Sheldon Oberman, 2000.

Art City, workshops, 2000.

CSEA Conference presenter, Halifax, 1999.

CANSCAIP Regional Conference presenter, Saskatoon, 1999.