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Above: 50th birthday topographical study; right: contribution to the Artropolis 2001 Self-Portrait Exhibition |
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I, Michael Kluckner, am a writer and artist. My early books on the history of Canadian cities, heritage, planning issues and art, include Vancouver The Way It Was, Vanishing Vancouver, Paving Paradise, and British Columbia in Watercolour. They won numerous awards, including the Duthie Prize, the Vancouver Book Prize, the Toronto Book Prize (short list), the Hallmark Society (Victoria) Award of Merit, and the Heritage Canada Medal of Achievement. All of them are out of print but can be obtained on used book websites such as abebooks.com, or found in libraries throughout Canada.
Books in the 1990s included Michael Kluckner's Vancouver, a collection of paintings, and The Pullet Surprise: A Year on an Urban Farm, which reflected on our move from the city to the country. My 1998 book, Canada, A Journey of Discovery explored the places and countryside that made up my childhood image of Canada. I followed up The Pullet with a farm-noir sequel, a tale of mind over mutton, entitled Wise Acres, published in the fall of 2000. Vanishing British Columbia, which developed on this website, was published by UBC Press in 2005. Vancouver Remembered was published in 2006 by Whitecap Books and completed the cycle of books I began on BC more than 20 years ago.
In 1991 I was the founding president of the Heritage Vancouver Society, and served as president of the Langley Heritage Society from 1993 to 1998. From 1996 until 2001, I was the British Columbia member of the board of governors of the Heritage Canada Foundation, and served as chair from 1998-2000. I also sat on the board of the Heritage Society of British Columbia during that period. I chaired the Vancouver Heritage Foundation in 2002-3. I received the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002 for the contributions made, through books and volunteer efforts, to increasing awareness of Canada's heritage and culture.
I lived from 1993 to 2006 on a farm in rural Langley, British Columbia, where I raised sheep and chickens and helped my wife maintain her large cottage garden. My wife, Christine Allen, is the author of Roses for the Pacific Northwest (1999, Steller Press), Gardens of Vancouver (1999, Raincoast Books), and Climbing Up (2002, Steller Press), and is regular contributor to gardening magazines including "Garden Wise." In August, 2006, we briefly resumed an urban existence, living in an apartment in the South Granville area of Vancouver.
At the end of November, 2006, we moved to Australia. We are currently living in Katoomba, NSW. My artistic reasons for making the move include a desire to start over with a new landscape: the page of Australia paintings shows the beginnings. An ongoing interest, more linked to the writing I've done and the small watercolours that illustrated it, is painting and drawing in a sketchbook as I travel: the travel index page links to these wanderings.
A worthwhile link for exploring Canadian artists and writers is Culture.ca
Teaching/lecturing and . . . ?
I give many lectures throughout the year, usually talking about ongoing projects, especially Vanishing British Columbia, the history of Vancouver, etc. From 2003-5 I conducted a week-long seminar for the Université Laval in Percé, Québec on sketchbooks and travel watercolours. I conducted similar workshops at Island Mountain Arts in Wells, BC, in 2006 and 2007.
Killara Farm, Langley, British Columbia, Canada (watercolour for Harrowsmith magazine, 2002)
Christine's garden at Killara Farm in June, 2004
