Thaddeus Holownia (BA 1972) recalls his time as an undergraduate student at the University of Windsor as the beginning of his art career.

A visual artist, educator, letterpress printer, and publisher, he was honoured earlier this month with the Governor General’s Award for Artistic Achievement from the Canada Council for the Arts.

“It was through the mentorship of Professor Bill Law in fine arts and Professor Stuart Selby in communication arts that I gained the confidence to follow my creative voice,” Holownia says. “Windsor was where I was inspired to create my first body of work entitled Headlighting — portraits of people with their cars. It was truly a special time.”

Holownia is best known as a landscape photographer whose works have been the subject of numerous exhibitions, including The Nature of Nature, The Photographs of Thaddeus Holownia 1976–2016, at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia; The Terra Nova Suite, a 25-year survey of his work in Newfoundland and Labrador at the provincial gallery The Rooms in St. John’s; and 24 Tree Studies for Henry David Thoreau at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton.

His 1998 mid-career retrospective exhibition, Extended Vision: Photographs by Thaddeus Holownia 1978–1997, organized by the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, travelled across Canada and to the Centro de la Imagen in Mexico City.

A photograph from Thaddeus Hołownia’s series Jolicure Pond.

In nominating him for the Governor General’s Award, Mireille Eagan, curator of contemporary art at The Rooms, and John Leroux, manager of collections and exhibitions for the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, cited his distinctive interpretation of time, place, and the natural environment.

“Hołownia’s photography goes beyond mere documentation, offering a contemplative reflection on the environment and its evolution over time. It is a profound dedication to place and the act of looking,” they wrote. “His work, marked by technical excellence and emotional depth, captures the beauty and complexity of our world and encourages a deeper reflection on our place within it.”

After a 41-year teaching and administrative career in the Department of Fine Arts at Mount Allison University in Sackville New Brunswick, Holownia retired in 2018 and now spends his time at his studio in Jolicure, New Brunswick.

The Governor General’s Award carries with it a $25,000 prize and a bronze medallion.

It is just the latest honour for Holownia, a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Fulbright fellow, and an elected member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. In 2015, he received the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for High Achievement in the Visual Arts from artsNB and the Order of New Brunswick.

Watch a video portrait of Holownia: