The work of multimedia artist Peter von Tiesenhausen has evolved from landscape painting to installation, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, and complex multifaceted collaborations that can involve video, performance, and events. His work deals with the concepts of time, life, voyage, death, spirit, nature, and humanity. Sustainability is a recurring theme, as well as attempts to understand time and substance from different perspectives. Tiesenhausen often involves the community in which he is working, utilizing materials found there. The land near Demmitt, Alberta, where Tiesenhausen lives actually constitutes his primary and ongoing artwork. In 1995 he claimed copyright over the land, and has successfully defended it against incursions of multinational corporate interests.
Tiesenhausen holds a BFA in Painting from ACAD. Exhibiting and lecturing across Canada, Europe, the US, and Mexico, he has had over 50 solo and group shows. His work has been the subject of three national television documentaries, including the award-winning film, Elemental (2000) by “Adrienne Clarkson Presents.” He has created several permanent and ephemeral public artworks, and is represented in many public and private collections. Tiesenhausen received a Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist award in 2015. Recent activity: The Watchers / 20 Years Later, Jarvis Hall Gallery (2016); CO2 residency, Demitt (2016); Watershed +, City of Calgary (2016); Stasis, “Prairie Dance Circuit” collaboration with Helen Husak, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina (2016). Selected solo exhibitions: Ever Widening Rings, Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton (2015); From Our Collection: Wall of Water, Glenbow (2015); Peter von Teisenhausen: Ether and Procession, Art Gallery of Grande Prairie (2015). Selected group exhibitions: 90 X 90: Celebrating Art in Alberta, Art Gallery of Alberta (2014); Platform, Stockholm (2014); Portraiture, Whyte Museum (2014).
