Glen Loates R.C.A. has spent his life paying a particular kind of attention to the natural world. He never attended art school.
His professional career began at eleven, when he designed the Canadian Cancer Society’s daffodil logo, used by the organization for several decades. In 1968 he won the Royal Philatelic Award for Canada’s first full-colour postage stamp, the Gray Jay. In 1974 he was elected to full membership in the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, the first wildlife painter invited to join.
In December 1982, he presented his life-size watercolour of a Bald Eagle personally to President Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office, a gift from the people of Canada to the people of the United States. Reagan called it “a breathtaking representation of America’s symbol.” He is the first Canadian artist to be represented at the White House. His originals have also been presented to His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and to Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
His work has been exhibited at the Royal Ontario Museum, the British Museum, the Alexander Koenig Museum in Bonn, and the McMichael Canadian Collection. Three major volumes document his career:
The Art of Glen Loates (1977),
Birds of North America (1979), and
A Brush with Life (1984).
He is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and the Explorers Club.
