Persona

Proch, Don

Canadian artist Don Proch was born in Inglis, Manitoba in 1944. Of Ukrainian heritage, he was raised on his grandparent's farm at Grandview, Manitoba until the age of eight, when he moved back to Inglis with his father, Dymetro. He enrolled in engineering at the University of Manitoba at the age of sixteen but quit, dissatisfied. His father persuaded him to return to the University, but this time Proch enrolled in the School of Art, where he studied under George Swinton and Ivan Eyre. He submitted a three-dimensional multi-media assemblage entitled "Asessippi Tread" in 1970 to the Winnipeg Biennial, and launched a successful art career that combines very fine drawing with three-dimensional sculpture. He formed a company of friends and family under the tongue-in-cheek name "Opthalmia Company of Inglis" shortly after his official artistic debut. It included Bill Lobchuk (printer and boss of the Grand Western Canadian Screen Shop), Kelly Clark, and Gord Bonnell, among others. Proch also worked solo with the Grand Western Canadian Screen Shop to produce prints of his drawings. In 1976 his work was chosen to be shown at Place Bonaventure in Montreal for the all-Canadian Olympic show. He completed a large mural for the Winnipeg Convention Centre in 1977, and has since had his work exhibited throughout North America, from the National Gallery of Canada to the Maney Collection in New York.