Born in Toronto in 1938, Ron Bolt has continued the longstanding tradition of landscape painting in Canada. He is fascinated by coastal and river waterways—wildernesses that he describes as sacred. He sees these wild places as a living record, a perceptible memory of our cultural heritage, and a defining characteristic of our nation.

 

In the early years, Bolt was profoundly influenced by abstraction and adopted a minimal approach to his subject matter. Eventually with a return to oil paint and two remote residencies—in Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland and in the Mojave Desert—a subtle change in his work occurred, leading him to create very complex compositions, richer colour and more expressive brushwork.

 

Later, Bolt accompanied a fourteen-day Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society expedition down the Snake River in the Yukon. This arduous and dangerous voyage challenged him physically, emotionally, and intellectually. The ultimate effect of this experience was to reinforce Bolt as a “northern” and “romantic” painter, following and reinventing a Canadian tradition.

 

Over his long career, he has had over seventy solo exhibitions in Canada, and he has participated in numerous group exhibitions in the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Japan, and China. Commissions include two murals, three books and numerous corporate and private installations. His paintings, prints and limited-edition books are in the collections of museums, public galleries, and major libraries in Canada and internationally.