Gershon Iskowitz (1921-1988) was an abstract painter based in Toronto for much of his artistic career. Born in Kielce, Poland, he survived internment in Nazi concentration camps and lost his entire family in the Holocaust. Iskowitz studied art in Munich at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in 1947, soon transferring to private studies with Oskar Kokoschka. He moved to Toronto in 1949. His work developed from wartime imagery to a focus on landscapes (particularly inspired by practice in the Parry Sound area), eventually arriving at his mature abstract expressionist style in 1967. Iskowitz began exhibiting with Gallery Moos in 1964, a relationship which continued throughout his career. He taught at the New School (Toronto) from 1967-1970, and his informal mentoring of artists in Toronto is often noted. Iskowitz, along with Walter Redinger, represented Canada at the Venice Biennale in 1972. The artist established the Gershon Iskowitz Foundation in 1985, with the mandate of awarding the Gershon Iskowitz Prize to a mature practising artist; since 2007 the Foundation has partnered with the Art Gallery of Ontario to administer the Gershon Iskowitz Prize at the AGO.
Aaron Moulton was born on November 17, 1859 and he left for the Klondike in August 1897, leaving behind a wife and children. He arrived in Dawson City, Yukon on September 15, 1897 and spent the winter of 1897, and spring and early summer of 1898, mining before returning to Tacoma, Washington in July or August 1898.
A. (Alfred) Richard King first came to the territory in 1939 when he was attempting to establish a new bush airline in Alaska and the Yukon Territory. Unfortunately, King and his two partners lost their plane and equipment when they crashed in Teslin Lake while on their way to Alaska from the United States. They were rescued by residents of the First Nation village of Teslin, the only community on the lake. King returned to the states after spending 6 weeks in Teslin. After the war King graduated from Western Washington College and became an elementary school teacher in Washington. In 1949 he went to Saipan and taught for a year and then remained in the Trust Territory of the Pacific (Islands) for the next five years teaching and administering the development of the native elementary schools in the islands. He continued to develop his interest in applied anthropology and its relevance to educational administration and educational assistance programs. In 1964 he was granted a PhD degree at Stanford, his major fields of study were education and cultural anthropology. In 1963-1964 King spent a year as a fourth-grade teacher and participant-observer at Chooutla (Carcross) Residential School in Carcross, Yukon and this resulted in his doctoral dissertation. In 1967 he published "The School at Mopass: a problem of identity" which was based on his thesis. In 2005 he was living in Brentwood Bay, B.C. with his son Peter and grandsons. Dr. King died August 14, 2005.
The Gallagher and Whatmough families have histories that are closely intertwined. The Gallaghers migrated to Hamilton, Upper Canada in 1836, then lived in Rochester, New York for four years before settling in East Flamborough, Upper Canada. Two Whatmough men, Charles and Isaac, came to Upper Canada in 1858 and 1863, from the area around Manchester, England. Their parents and other family members seem to have moved back and forth between the two counties, with most settling in the Toronto/Burlington/Hamilton, Ontario area. The Gallaghers appear to have been farmers, in the main, while the Whatmoughs produced a number of architects and businessmen. Howard Gallagher (1897-1987) was active in the Flamborough and Waterdown Agricultural Society, Gordon Gallagher (1900-1985) was on the town planning committee which prepared Burlington’s first Official Plan, and served as deputy reeve and reeve of Burlington. Percy Gallagher (1901-1987) was a builder and developer who registered the White Oak Manor commercial and residential development survey, Plan 1124, in 1958. Charles T. Whatmough (1837-1885) opened a hardware business on King Street East in Toronto. Arthur Edwin Whatmough (1884-1971) was an architect who designed residential buildings in Toronto in the Arts and Crafts style until the Great Depression (1931). His son, Grant Alan Whatmough (1921-1999) was a naval architect and designer of private houses throughout southern Ontario. Isaac Abraham Whatmough (1842-1911), the second in his family to emigrate, worked in Toronto and Simcoe, where he joined the Norfolk Rifles, and spent some time in Chicago during the Civil War before returning to Toronto to work in his brother Charles’ hardware store.
Gallery Moos was opened by Walter Moos in May 1959 at the corner of Avenue Road and Davenport Road in Toronto. Early in 1963 it moved to Yorkville Avenue, becoming one of the first arrivals in what was to become a significant gallery district of the city, and subsequently prospered there for some 30 years. In July 1992 the gallery moved to its current location at 622 Richmond Street West.
The Master Print and Drawing Society of Ontario (MPDSO) is the first independent body of specialist collectors of prints and drawings in Canada. Founded in 1985 by Sidney Bregman and Katharine Lochnan, the Society first came into existence as the Master Print and Drawing Society, and operated as a non-profit educational association that provided special assistance to its members with problems unique to collecting. The Society is officially affiliated with the Art Gallery of Ontario, but is an independent organization belonging to its members, and through its Board of Directors determines its objectives, policies and activities, requirements for membership, selection of new members, and the composition of its executive. The executive consists of the President, Vice-President(s), Secretary/Treasurer, and Directors. The President has primary responsibility for determining the Society's activities, making arrangements for lectures, tours, and other special events. Since 1989, the MPDSO has been supported by the Fraser Elliot Foundation in fulfilling its mandate to represent the collective interests of its members in seeking out the expert advice of scholars, curators, and visiting lectures to contribute special assistance with collecting master prints and drawings from the 15th to the mid 20th century.
The Burlington Spectator was published as a section of the Hamilton Spectator [Ontario, Canada] between 8 September 1986 and February 1988. Its launch on 8 September 1986 followed the takeover and closing of the Burlington Gazette which had been published since 1896. Originally published six days a week, the Burlington section began to appear less frequently. Its office at 534 Brant Street was closed in 1988 and remaining staff moved to the Spectator offices in Hamilton.
Wilfrid Laurier University Women's Association (1960-1993) was a social group for female faculty and administrators as well as the wives of faculty members of Waterloo Lutheran University (now Wilfrid Laurier University) in Waterloo, Ontario. Its purpose was to welcome new members, develop social events and foster member participation in University and community affairs. The group was established under the name of Faculty Wives, which was changed to Waterloo Lutheran University Women's Association, and later to the Wilfrid Laurier University Women's Association.
APT Environment is an environmental organization in Elmira, Ontario, that is interested in the Chemtura Canada Company, formerly Uniroyal Chemical and Crompton Company. Since 1941 the plant has undergone various name and ownership changes. From 1966-2000 the plant operated as Uniroyal Chemical, from 2000-2006 as Crompton Company, and on July 1, 2006 formally changed its name to Chemtura Canada Company.