Biography

Gareth Bate is an emerging artist living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He works in painting, installation, photography, video, performance, and online. The relationships between people and the environment, culture and nature, and a search for personal meaning are principle themes in Gareth's work. It addresses the spiritual in a naturalistic world view. His approach is intuitive, and emotionally driven with a strong interest in experimenting with materials. There is often a profound sense of longing.

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South Africa to Canada

Gareth was born in South Africa and lived in Johannesburg. He came to Canada with his mother, a quilt artist, when he was six. He is a Canadian Citizen and grew up in Oakville, Ontario. As a child Gareth drew constantly. His mother was very encouraging and kept every drawing he ever did.

Photo: Gareth age 4 in Cape Town, South Africa.

High School

In 2000 Gareth graduated from T. A. Blakelock High School in Oakville and won the Halton District Overall Excellence Award and The Art Scholarship. He left his mark on the school with two enormous murals.

France Exchange

At age 16 in 1997 Gareth went on a Rotary International Youth Exchange to Grenoble France for one year. He lived with different families and went to high school. While there he had the opportunity to travel extensively in Europe and learn French.

House of Commons Page Program

After high school in 2000 Gareth moved to Ottawa as one of 39 university students from across Canada chosen to participate in the House of Commons Page Program in parliament. The program was a first hand education in Canadian politics. He attended the University of Ottawa for one year before moving to Toronto. He received a University Entrance Scholarship. This experience contributed to Gareth's strong interest in politics and current issues.

Art Centre at Central Technical School, Toronto

In 2002 Gareth moved to Toronto where he discovered the adult art program at Central Tech. Gareth realized he wanted to devote himself to art and was strongly influenced by the emphasis on working from life and drawing. While there he won the Outstanding Student in the 3-Year Art Program Award two years in a row, and the Scott Gwilliams Award for Illustration. He led the fight to save the program from closing and founded the "Central Tech Art Alumni Network" to notify grads about exhibitions and events. He continues to organize bar nights, reunions etc. In 2008 Gareth was made an Honourary Staff Member.

Ontario College of Art & Design, Toronto

Gareth graduated in 2007 from Drawing and Painting Thesis with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Distinction. For his Plastic Painting Series Gareth won the 401 Richmond Career-Launcher Prize a 500 square foot studio for a year, the Ron Shuebrook Award for painting, Edmund Morris Scholarship for academics and the George A. Reid Award for art writing. His writing was published in "Line Break 2007: Winning Liberal Studies Essays" and in OCAD's Canvas Magazine.

Photos: Gareth Bate, 2008

401 Richmond
Career-Launcher Prize

Gareth was the winner of year long access to a beautiful 500 square foot studio at Toronto's 401 Richmond Street West. The building is a vibrant cultural hub filled with studios, galleries and offices for charities, architects and creative organizations. There he created the “Lament” series and video Penance. He was greatly inspired by the building's beautiful roof garden and courtyard. Luckily Gareth was able to stay in the building and move into Studio S17 in the basement.

Photos: Gareth Bate, 2008

Exhibitions

In October 2008 Gareth had his first solo public gallery exhibition at Glendon Gallery, York University. Gareth has also shown at Deleon White, Canadian Heritage Office, Katherine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects, The Gladstone Hotel, Gallery 44, Loop, Bau-Xi , Lonsdale, and Arcadia Gallery among others. He has participated in Scotia Bank Nuit Blanche, Contact Photography Festival, Queen West Art Crawl and Oakville’s World of Threads Festival. This January he was the Visual Artist / Set designer for Corps Intérieur with David Pressault Danse in Montreal.

Photos: Gareth Bate, 2009

Current Studio Practice,
Web Design & Teaching

Gareth is currently engaged in a new body of work about the cosmos and stormy fields titled Deep Field. He is working in his new studio in the basement of 401 Richmond St. W, Toronto.

In addition to working as an artist Gareth also does freelance web design and graphic design and teaches a painting class called "Paint the City!" at Central Tech's adult night school. At OCAD he worked as a teaching assistant and class assistant in Integrated Media and Painting courses.