Ken Danby

Danby was born and grew up in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. He began drawing and painting in high school. He enrolled at the Ontario College of Art in 1958. ==Career==

Early in his career, Danby experimented with abstract expressionism. He designed four coins for the 1976 Montreal Olympics. He also received the Jessie Dow Prize, the 125th Anniversary Commemorative Medal of Canada, the City of Sault Ste. Marie's Award of Merit and both the Queen Elizabeth II's Silver and Golden Jubilee Medals. In the 1980s, Danby painted a number of watercolours about the America's Cup and portrayed Canadian athletes at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. In 2001, he was received both the Order of Ontario and the Order of Canada. A school on Grange Road in Guelph, Ontario was named after Danby. Ken Danby Way in his home town of the Sault Ste. Marie includes the Public Library and fittingly, the Art Gallery of Algoma. He was inducted into the Sault's Walk of Fame in 2006. In 2016, the Art Gallery of Hamilton organized a retrospective of Danby's work, entitled Beyond the Crease. For approximately three decades until his death, Danby lived and painted in a rural property near Guelph, Ontario, and spent years restoring the historic Armstrong Mill; some of his art work features the property. From November 2016 to January 2017, the Guelph Civic Museum exhibited examples of Danby's work including his Wayne Gretzky portrait, The Great Farewell. == Death ==

On 23 September 2007, Danby collapsed while on a canoe trip in Algonquin Park near North Tea Lake with his wife Gillian Danby and friends. The party summoned help, but paramedics were unable to revive him. Danby is the second famous Canadian artist to die in Algonquin Park. Tom Thomson died on Canoe Lake at the park in July 1917. Canadian writer Blair Fraser also drowned in the park on the Petawawa River's Rollaway Rapids in May 1968. == Family ==

Many of Danby's early works were of scenes set on St. Joseph Island. It was there that Danby met his first wife, Judy Harcourt. The couple married in 1965. They purchased a home at Armstrong Mill near Guelph, Ontario, which provided Danby with subject matter from which to gain inspiration. The couple had three sons, who have appeared in Danby's work. The couple separated in 1980 and divorced in 1984. One of his sons from this marriage is actor Noah Danby. Danby's second wife was Gillian Rumble, to whom he was married until his death. == References ==