Born in the Netherlands and raised in southern Ontario, Edward Huner holds a BFA(’76) degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax Nova Scotia. Ed is an elected member of the Canadian Society of Canadian Artists and serves on their national board of directors. As a founding member of Professional Living Artists of Nova Scotia (PLANS), this group has instigated and organized a major exhibition of contemporary Nova Scotian realist painting for 2014 at the Dalhousie University Art Gallery.

Ed and his wife Barbara recently relocated to a new home and studios in the eastern shore community of Musquodoboit Harbour at Martinique Beach.

Edward Huner has been exhibiting his work for over thirty years in various solo and group shows in both public and private galleries. Ed’s work is represented in the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia Art Bank Collection as well as private collections in Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario and eastern USA

Advocacy

I have been a member of VANS for well over twenty years. I have served as a regional representative twice, vice chair and chair. I have participated on the Magazine’s Editorial Committee for Visual Arts News. I have helped organize a number of regional VANS Member Exhibitions and participated in all but one of the Far & Wide Exhibitions. In short, I think that I have been an active supporter of VANS. Why? Primarily as an advocate for the importance and recognition of the Nova Scotian cultural economy. Our economic contribution outweighs many provincial industries but has never been reflected in provincial budgetary support. I’m hard pressed to express any enjoyment as a VANS supporter. After more than two decades of advocacy I find little evidence of tangible change in the economic support for Nova Scotian artists. Nonetheless on a more positive note I have always been in awe (and continue to be) of the caliber and diversity of creative work being done throughout this province. Over the years VANS has provided me an opportunity to meet and exhibit my work alongside a great many of them.

A sense of place, mostly

Not having native connections to the province and having ‘chose’ Nova Scotia as a home, I still view the landscape and culture as an ‘experience’ to be eagerly studied and considered. Recently I have relocated my home and studio from a rural North Shore agricultural community to coastal Eastern Shore fishing community – a new sense of place is actively being worked on and explored both physically and in the studio.

The Market

As a figurative painter (male and female nudes in landscapes) the Nova Scotian market is less receptive to my subject matter than other locations. It has been difficult to break through the $3000 price barrier for an individual piece of work.

Realist v. Representational

Critically my work is regarded as ‘realist’, but most artists working in the traditional notion of realist genre would question this application. I regard my work as figurative and representational. I like to work with disparate placements of objects and environments. My spacial interests are more pre-renaissance where design trumps scale and form. The imagery is actual but based in memory rather than observation. Areas of the canvas are often left unfinished while others are highly rendered. My narratives are inconclusive.

Back into the ‘groove’

A few years of poor health has left my studio output greatly diminished. But I feel that I am slowly getting back into the ‘groove’ again. I have been exploring diptych compositions with portraits and landscapes.

Big PLANS for Nova Scotia realist painting

I am a founding member of Professional Living Artists of Nova Scotia (PLANS). As a group we have working to facilitate a major exhibition of contemporary Nova Scotia realist painting. We have been busy raising funding support. Tom Smart will curate the exhibition scheduled for 2014 at the Dalhousie University Art Gallery.