Banff National Park Gallery of Fine Art and Photography

Tom Willock, Biography

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.

Along with his photography, Tom is developing photography workshops. Tom, with his wife Susan, owns and operates the Willock & Sax Ltd. Gallery in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta.

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 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

2008, Selected Works, Four by Five Gallery, Calgary, AB

2006, Exposure 2006-Waterton Lakes National Park, Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, AB

2006, "The Desert, The Mountain and The Cloud," University of Alberta, Extension Gallery, Edmonton, AB

2006, Landscape as Muse-291 Film Company: Tom Willock, Douglas Haynes, Peter von Tiesenhausen, group exhibit, Willock and Sax Gallery

2006, "The Desert, The Mountain and The Cloud," Scott Gallery, Edmonton, AB

2006, 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

1994, Group Exhibition, Waterton Heritage Centre Gallery, Waterton Lakes National Park

1982, Group Exhibition, Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery

Related Experience

1999 to present, co-owner, Willock & Sax Ltd. Gallery, Banff, Alberta (previously of Waterton Lakes National Park)

1978 to 1998, Director, Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery, Medicine Hat, AB.

1970 to 2007, professional photographer and photojournalist, contracted throughout Southern Alberta.

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).

Grants

Alberta Foundation for the Arts Project Grant - 2006

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.

Tom Willock courtesy of Dr. Neville Poy, M.D.