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David Carlin, an only child, was born in 1940 in Toronto, Ontario, as David Frederick Carlin. He was raised in Toronto and Wasaga Beach, Ontario.

In 1960, he graduated with honours from Lakeshore Teacher's College in Toronto and in 1969, he graduated, with honours from the Ontario College of Education, University of Toronto, with Fine Arts Certification. He was a teacher for the North York Board of Education from 1960 to 1963, and the Schneider School of Fine Art (Toronto) and the City of Oshawa Recreation Department in 1969. In North Bay, Ontario, he founded and taught figure drawing at Cambrian College from 1969 to 1972, and was a teacher for the Nipissing Board of Education Extension Services North Bay from 1969 to 1972; Widdifield Secondary School from 1969 to 1997, and North Bay Parks and Recreation from 1972 to 1975. He was the associate teacher for the Faculty of Education at Nipissing University in North Bay from 1995 to 1997. After retiring from secondary school teaching in 1997, he taught in the Artsperience program at Canadore College in North Bay, and he was the education and studio director at White Water Gallery in North Bay from 1998 to 2002.

At the Ontario College of Art (now the Ontario College of Art and Design), David studied drawing under John Newman and Dainis Miezajs in 1962; mural painting under Gustav Weisman, as well as drawing, painting and printmaking under Frederick Hagan, from 1963 to 1967. He graduated with honours as an Associate of the college in 1967. At Canadore College, he studied pottery and ceramic studies under Keith Campbell from 1997 to 2003, graduating with honours. In addition to studying art, David studied history in 1984-85 at Nipissing University in North Bay, graduating with honours, and human anatomy at the University of Toronto from 1963 to1966.

David married Sheila Elspeth McRae, a classmate from the Ontario College of Art, in May 1968, with whom he had three daughters, one of whom died at childbirth. David and Sheila lived in Cuernavaca and Taxco, Mexico in 1968; Callander, Ontario and Huntsville, Ontario in 1969; and Callander from 1969 to 1972. Sheila died in October 1972, after which David moved with his daughters to nearby Astorville. He met Judith Evelyn Saunders in 1990. He moved from Astorville in 2003, when he and Judith lived on the south shore of Lake Nipissing from 1993 to 2002. They moved to North Bay in 2002, where they currently reside. They have traveled to Cuba together since 1991, spending up to five months of the year in Havana. David married Judith in May 1997.

He served on the board of White Water Gallery in 1982, from 1990 to 1991 and 1997 to 2004.

Solo exhibitions of his work include: Songs From Chaos: Symbiosis (2004, Temiskaming Art Gallery, Haileybury, Ontario, and 2004, W. K. P. Kennedy Gallery, North Bay, Ontario), Songs from Chaos: Protogenesis, Myth and the New Age (2003, Timmins Museum and National Exhibition Centre, Ontario), Songs From Chaos: Protogenesis and the New Age (2002, White Water Gallery, North Bay, Ontario), Northern Spirits: Northern Haunts (1996, Art in Public Places, Capitol Centre, North Bay and 1994, Michelle the Framemaker Gallery, North Bay), Recent Works (1985, The Rosenberg Building, North Bay) and Convocation Exhibition (1968, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario).

He curated Two Nations, Works on Paper with Niurka Mejias, a group exhibition organized by White Water Gallery and the Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, Havana which traveled throughout Ontario and Cuba from 2000 to 2003, and also From Propaganda to Design, featuring North Bay artist, Sacha Kean Valiquette and Cuban artist, Santos Toledo Arguidin, for the W. K. P. Kennedy Gallery in July 2006.

In 2004, he was artist in residence at the W. K. P. Kennedy Gallery in North Bay, Ontario.

He received exhibition assistance grants from the Ontario Arts Council in 2002, 2000 and 1993.

David's works are in private, public and corporate collections, including Taller Experimental de Grafica (Havana, Cuba) and the Government of Ontario; the MacLaren Art Centre (Barrie, Ontario), the Ontario College of Art and Design (Toronto, Ontario), Redpath Group (North Bay, Ontario), Temiskaming Art Gallery (Haileybury, Ontario), Timmins Museum and National Exhibition Centre (South Porcupine, Ontario), and W. K. P. Kennedy Gallery (North Bay, Ontario), and the collection of Stephen Lewis.

(The biographical information featured here was written in consultation with the artist in 2006.)

Profile:

David Carlin almost became a pilot rather than an artist. He reached the rank of Warrant Officer in the Royal Canadian Air Cadets but when he got prescription glasses, his dreams for the future changed. His fascination with fast forms of transportation persisted, however, in his love of rally racing.

It seems probable that the undeveloped roads surrounding his childhood home in Wasaga Beach attracted him to rally racing. He won 14 awards altogether in auto sports and rallies, competing at both the provincial and national level. After retiring from the sport, his love of cars can still be seen; he is currently preparing for a group exhibition about automobiles, evident in the toy cars and automotive parts in his studio, with fellow North Bay artists, Dermot Wilson and Lori-Grace Johnson. Also in his basement studio are theatrical heads with maniacal expressions from his 'Songs from Chaos' series. They seem to guard his beloved potter's wheel that he acquired in 2005, which allows Carlin to further the skills he developed at Canadore College, studying ceramics and pottery under Keith Campbell from 1997 to 2003.

Carlin developed an appreciation for art in high school, and after teacher's college, he pursued it seriously. After graduating from the Ontario College of Art, he traveled with his wife and fellow classmate, Sheila McRae, to Mexico, where he studied mural painting in Cuernavaca. They also exhibited together, both in the Traveling Scholarship Candidates Exhibition after graduation, and in a two-person exhibition at the North Bay Public Library. After Sheila's death, Carlin remained in the North Bay area, where they had moved together, focusing on teaching and raising his daughters.

Carlin's retirement from teaching has kept him busy, volunteering with local galleries, creating art, and traveling with his wife, Judith Saunders. Every year, they travel to Cuba, where David works on painting and printmaking at the Taller Experimental de Grafica in Old Havana. His connections in the Cuban arts community have lead to curatorial opportunities, exhibition exchanges, and a much beloved lifestyle of siestas, coffee with friends, and broken Spanish. As Judith says, as long as Carlin has a pen and a piece of paper, he can communicate with Cubans, usually causing them to burst into peels of laughter with his quirky sketches.

(By Heather Saunders, based on correspondence in July, 2006).

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David Carlin
2006

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David Carlin, Songs from Chaos: Symbiosis (installation view)
2004
W. K. P. Kennedy Gallery, North Bay, Ontario, Canada

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David Carlin, Artist residency
1994
W. K. P. Kennedy Gallery, North Bay, Ontario, Canada

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David Carlin, Artist statement
1994