60 Years of Sheridan Illustration – Trafalgar Gallery Exhibit
The 60 Years of Sheridan Illustration exhibition launches the celebration of the program’s 60th anniversary in 2027. Illustration was among the first 14 programs Sheridan launched at a Brampton high school in 1967.
The show offers a snapshot of Sheridan’s incredible alumni and their contributions to visual culture locally, nationally and internationally over the past six decades. Sheridan Illustration has evolved and responded to industry change, new technology and cultural transformation over the past 60 years. From paste-up, layout and airbrush, to fax machines, software and computers, to social media, motion and 3D, the program prepares its grads for ever-new challenges.
We are honoured to be sharing their stories, the incredible dedication to their craft, and the careers they have made for themselves.
Franklin the Turtle, Canadian Stamp, illustrated by Brenda Clark.
The exhibition features Canada’s most beloved children’s character, Franklin, illustrated by 1977 graduate and Order of Canada appointee Brenda Clark. Also featured are:
- 1986 graduate and Order of Canada inductee Kent Monkman, whose international art reputation and advocacy for his Indigenous heritage place him in the vanguard of Canadian culture
- 1993 graduate Nick Cross, a two-time Emmy winner
- 2000 graduate Chip Zdarsky, winner of four Eisner Awards
- 2005 graduate Jeff Lemire, who has had five of his works on the New York Times Best Seller list
Hurry Up, Franklin, illustrated by Brenda Clark.
Also earning international praise is 2009 graduate Dominique Fung, whose epic work includes a 125-foot painting exhibited at Rockefeller Center in New York in 2023. Connor Lucas graduated in 2021 and, less than a year later, was working on Star Trek: Discovery season 5 as a concept illustrator and designer.
The Colony; installation by Kent Monkman.
Sheridan Illustration grads have art directed English textbooks used in elementary schools. Their work also appears in:
- children’s books, graphic novels, posters, comics and magazines
- films and television shows on Netflix, CBC and Prime Video
- AAA and indie games
- coins and stamps, billboards, apparel, wall hangings and 3D models
This is illustration in all its creative exuberance.
The exhibition at the Trafalgar Campus Gallery features more than 100 works from 60 alumni. The gallery is at 1430 Trafalgar Road in Oakville and is open daily to visitors from November 23 to December 11.
Banner image: Polar bear on fire, under water; painting by Martin Wittfooth.
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