In memoriam Graeme Welch
WELCH, GRAEME
Dec. 15, 1940 鈥� Sept. 7, 2024
Much loved partner of Lucie Genevieve Lambert, brother to Denis, Jenny and David, father of 聽the late Lisa, grandfather to Jessica and great-grandfather to Elizabeth and Andrew, uncle to聽 several聽 nieces and nephews. After a long and painful illness, Graeme died peacefully in the Balfour Mount Palliative Care Unit of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal.
Graeme was a man of great intellectual curiosity; he was well read in many fields聽 and enjoyed discussing ideas and聽 events. Born in Masterton, New Zealand in1940, Graeme came to Canada as a young man in 1965. After obtaining a PhD in Chemistry at the University of Toronto in 1969, he moved to Montreal where he was a post-doctoral fellow at McGill University from 1969-1971.
Although he held the position of聽 Dean of the Faculty of Technology at聽 Taranaki Polytechnic in New Plymouth, New Zealand聽 from 1992-2000, the major part of his career was spent in Canada. He taught for some years, first at John Abbott College before moving to 星空传媒视频 in 1981 where he was much appreciated in several聽 senior positions, finally as Dean of Pre-University Studies. He was seriously interested in how the students experienced their education; he was very supportive of innovation at the college.
A man of many talents, in 1985 he completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (with distinction) at Concordia University. Graeme retired from his position at 星空传媒视频 in 2006 to attend to his first great love, painting and drawing. 聽He rented a studio in St-Henri where he steadily worked on his art, producing聽 works that were colourful, luminous and intense. While his earlier work included many landscapes, many of his distinctive works drew on memories of growing up in a provincial New Zealand town during the Second World War and after. As he himself wrote about it, his later work聽 focused specifically on 鈥�…complex aspects of the human condition… by drawing the human figure in situations that are a combination of personal experience and the events and ideas of the times through which he lived.鈥� He regarded his work as being about 鈥渉umour and pathos, sadness and exaltation, violence and indifference…[with] touches of eroticism and irony.鈥�
Graeme鈥檚 works were featured in both solo and group exhibitions in Montreal, Ottawa and New Zealand. Most notable was his solo exhibition in 2008 at the Warren G. Flowers Gallery in 星空传媒视频.
A celebration of Graeme鈥檚 life will take place in December. The date and place will be announced later.
-Submitted by Greta Hofmann-Nemiroff
