Biographies > Robert-Ralph Carmichael

We have all had a copy of a Robert-Ralph Carmichael work in our hands, as he designed the loon scene on the Canadian one dollar coin, the famous ‘Loonie’. If you are in Echo Bay where he lives, you will see a much larger version along the highway, erected in Robert’s honour. As well as a designer of coins and medals, Robert is a muralist and well-known painter. Nature and a concern for the environment are very much at the heart of all of his work, as is his love of northern Ontario. Robert himself writes, “The major themes in my work deal with the human condition, our relationship to the environment, and our relationships to each other.” He says that his ideas, images and symbols come together in an intuitive manner.

The White Urn in the TAG collection is a painting of light, form and subtle colours. It is a still life inside whose use of light pulls the outside into the room.

Robert has exhibited throughout Canada including the National Gallery in Ottawa, the Beaverbrook Gallery in Fredericton, Glenbow Institute in Calgary, the Tom Thomson Owen Sound. His work is in many private and corporate collections such as Inco and Shaw Industries as well as numerous public institutions including the University of Calgary, the Province of Ontario, the city of Sault Ste Marie and the Temiskaming Art Gallery. He is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Carleton University, and has received an honorary doctorate from Algoma/Laurentian University. He shares his art by teaching courses including the Cobalt Artists’ Colony.