Born in
Change Islands,
Newfoundland, Gerald Squires moved with his family to
Toronto,
Ontario at the age of twelve. In Toronto, he attended
Danforth Technical School, where his natural artistic talent was encouraged. He later took night classes at the
Ontario College of Art & Design. Upon graduating from Danforth, Squires supported his art practice by apprenticing as a stained glass artist, and later worked as an editorial artist with the
Toronto Telegram for several years. He exhibited his work in Toronto in solo shows such as
St. Francis of Assisi and Related Subjects,
The Canticles of St. John of the Cross, and
The Wanderer Series. Squires was also a founding member of the
Robert McLaughlin Art Gallery in
Oshawa, Ontario. In 1969, Squires quit his job at the Telegram and returned to Newfoundland. In 1971 he settled in an abandoned lighthouse in
Ferryland, where he lived with his wife and two daughters. In Ferryland, Squires was an artist in residence and teacher for
Memorial University of Newfoundland, and established a steel sculpture studio, Headland Studios, with fellow artist
Stewart Montgomerie. Work from this period includes
Studies in Steel,
Portraits, and
The Ferryland Downs Series. Squires lived and worked in
Holyrood, Newfoundland from 1983 onward. In the early 1980s, he created several major works for Mary Queen of the World Church, a process chronicled in the film
The Newfoundland Passion by Arnold Bennett. In 1984, he received the Ted Drover Award for Achievement in the Visual Arts from the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council. He was made a member of the
Order of Canada in 1999, and in 2003 received the
Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal. He was made a member of the
Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Squires continued to produce paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures, and exhibits widely. Notable recent shows include
Gerald Squires: Journey, a 40-year
retrospective at the
Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador (1998), and
Interior Light at the Emma Butler Gallery (2005). "
I Heard the Birch Tree Whisper in the Night", a one-hour documentary film capturing Squires' life and completion of his final painting, was aired on CBC television in 2017. The film is directed by Newfoundland author and filmmaker,
Kenneth J. Harvey. ==Notes==