Tom Willock
As a photographer with a history in the Waterton area, Tom's black and white photographs offer a view over time of change within the park. Yet, they step beyond that immediate image and provide a visuality that is timeless. Tom achieves integrity by the continuity of his thought and strong technical expertise, from setting up the composition, taking the photograph, to working through the process in the darkroom. His work is considered 'straight' photography, which belies its constructed nature. His interaction with the landscape, sometimes over a number of years, to attain his perspective of that landscape instills a timeless element, more often felt by the viewer than consciously articulated. Tom's photography is elegant, still, and offers glimpses at the eternal.
My sense of myself is inseparable from the land. My photographs have no purpose, no intention, beyond the truthful expression of my own inner vision, reflections of human experience and the natural landscape. A quality of art is its simultaneous expression of particular and universal. For each of us, the expressive print will hold its own particular meaning and beauty.
A native of southern Alberta, Tom Willock has been photographing the land of Southern Alberta for close to forty years, over thirty years in medium and large format. A graduate of the University of Alberta and Carleton University, Ottawa, he began his career in natural history and photography at the National Museum of Natural Sciences, Ottawa. His landscape and wildlife photographs have been widely published in both Europe and North America.
Tom was Director of the Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery from 1978 to 1998. While there he did extensive darkroom work with the photographic archives housed at the museum and all of the photography required for museum exhibition catalogues, publications and books. He was active on the Museums Alberta Board (he served on the Editorial Board, as Treasurer and as President between 1994 and 1999). He was a private museum consultant and he is a founding-trustee of the Alberta Heritage Foundation Board. Tom is author of the natural history book A Prairie Coulee (Lone Pine Press, 1991) and has written numerous articles on museums, photography, and natural history.
Public and Corporate Collections
Alberta Foundation for the Arts Collection
Glenbow Museum, Calgary
National Collection of Nature Photographs, National Museum of Natural History, Ottawa
National Audubon Society Collection
Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff National Park
Hawk Communications, New Brunswick
City of Medicine Hat Collection
Medical Clinic, Cochrane
Medicine Hat College Collection
Esplanade (Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery) Permanent Collection
KPMG, Boston, Mass.
Grassland Naturalists, Medicine Hat
Waterton Natural History Association, Waterton Lakes National Park
Private Collections
Canada, Europe, Japan, Cayman Islands, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States
Education
Workshops with John Sexton (California) and Freeman Paterson, RCA (New Brunswick)
1965/69, Master of Science, Carleton University, Ottawa
1964/65, Special Student, Zoology, University of Alberta, Edmonton
1961/64, Bachelor of Science, General Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton
Selected Photographic Exhibitions
2010, "The Desert, The Mountain and The Cloud Continued" Lebel Mansion Gallery, Pincher Creek, AB
2010, Summer Salon, Scott Gallery, Edmonton
2008, Selected Works, Four by Five Gallery, Calgary, AB
2006,
Exposure 2006-Waterton Lakes National Park, Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, AB
The Desert, The Mountain and The Cloud," University of Alberta, Extension Gallery, Edmonton, AB
Landscape as Muse-291 Film Company: Tom Willock, Douglas Haynes, Peter von Tiesenhausen, group exhibit, Willock and Sax Gallery
The Desert, The Mountain and The Cloud," Scott Gallery, Edmonton, AB
Featured Artist, Lethbridge Gallery Walk, Galt Museum, Lethbridge, AB
2005, Recent Work, solo exhibition, Willock and Sax Gallery
2004, Camera in Hand: Picturesque Images of Alberta, group, exhibition, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Travelling Exhibition Program
2003, Boundary Markers, Solo Exhibition, Scott Gallery, Edmonton, AB
2002, Solo Exhibition, Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden, Lethbridge, AB
2000, Solo Exhibition, Willock and Sax Gallery, Waterton Lakes National Park
1999, Gallery Artist Exhibition, Scott Gallery, Edmonton, AB
1998, Two-person Show, Medicine Hat Cultural Centre
1995, Solo Exhibition, Canadian Art Galleries, Calgary, AB
1994,
Solo Exhibition, Dynes Gallery, Medicine Hat, AB
Group Exhibition, Waterton Heritage Centre Gallery, Waterton Lakes National Park
1982, Group Exhibition, Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery
Illustrated Lectures
1997, “Kia ora Aotearoa”: Welcome to New Zealand, Grassland Naturalists, Medicine Hat, AB
1996, Museums in New Zealand, Alberta Museums Association Conference, Banff, AB.
1991, A Prairie Place, Waterton Natural History Association, Waterton Lakes National Park
1991, Museums: Community Makers, Medicine Hat Kiwanis Club
1990, A Prairie Place, Historical Society of Medicine Hat & District
1990, Preserving Community Heritage, Milk River Chamber of Commerce
1990, Prairie Perspectives: A Century of Change, Grassland Naturalists
1990, A Land Use Perspective, Prairie Conservation Coordinating Committee, World Wildlife Fund Canada
1985, Wildlife Photography in Southern Alberta, Medicine Hat Camera Club
1984, The Photographer’s Eye, Lethbridge Camera Club
1984, The Fine Art Print, Lethbridge Camera Club
1977, Natural History and Landscapes of Southern Alberta, Lethbridge Photo Club Annual Banquet
1975, Speaking of Natural History, Federation of Alberta Naturalists
1975, The Growth of Humility, Camera Canada College, National Association of Photographic Art, Banff, AB.
1970, A Day from Mountain to Prairie, National Gallery, Ottawa
Films
2006, Landscape as Muse – Waterton Lakes National Park, 291 Film Company & Bravo TV. Screened through Bravo TV, SCN (Saskatchewan Community Network), Knowledge TV, AVRO Broadcasting (Netherlands).
Publications
“The Cabin”, Legacy, Alberta’s Cultural Heritage Magazine, Spring 2007:6-7.
“Medicine Hat South”, Legacy, Alberta’s Cultural Heritage Magazine, Winter 2000:31-32.
“Elements of Wilderness”, Alberta Museums Review, Summer 1997. Vol. 23, issue 2:35-37 + cover.
A Prairie Coulee. Edmonton: Lone Pine Publishers, 1990.
“Natural History of the Allerston-Masinasin Area”, Allerston History, 1990.
“Kishinena”, Nature Canada, July/September 1973.
“Shortgrass Sentinels”, Animals, September 1972.
The Ecology and Zoogeography of Fishes in the Missouri (Milk River) Drainage of Alberta. Mimeo. M.Sc. Thesis, Carleton University, 1969.
“The Water-Dripping Owl”, Animals, August 1969.
“Distributional List of Fishes in the Missouri Drainage of Canada”, National Museum of Natural Sciences Brief, 1969 J. Fish. Res. Bd. Canada 26:1439-1449.
“New Alberta Records of the Silvery and Brassy Minnows, Stonecat and Sauger, with a Preliminary List of Fishes of the Milk River in Alberta”, Canadian Field-Naturalist, 1969 Vol. 82:18-23
Selected contributions to published books as follows:
Life of the Far North; The Mountain Barrier; The Nature of Mammals; Owls of the World; The Rockies; Fishes of Alberta; A Guide to the Freshwater Sport Fishes of Canada; Into the Wilderness (National Geographic); Andy Russell for “Andy Russell 1915-2006” by Sid Marty in Legacy Magazine Winter 2005; photography & editing for 1992 exhibition catalogue Come Walk With Me: A Luke Lindoe Retrospective; cover for Tony Rees 1995 non-fiction Hope’s Last Home, Travels in Milk River Country; cover for Margaret Atwood 1979 novel Life Before Man; numerous other photo stories, articles and book reviews.