Richard Halliday

Born in 1939 in Vancouver BC, Richard Halliday earned his honours graduate diploma from the Vancouver School of Art (later, Emily Carr College) in 1963, afterward studying at the Institute San Miguel Allende in Mexico (1964) and Sir George Williams University in Montreal (BFA, 1976). He undertook graduate studies at Concordia University in Montreal (1977-78) and attended several of the Emma Lake Artists' Workshops at the University of Saskatchewan.

An educator for over 35 years, Halliday had significant influence on artmaking in the province, primarily in his role as art instructor at the Alberta College of Art and Design. His career began there in 1978 when the school was known as the Alberta College of Art and was part of The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. His teaching continued through the College's establishment as an independent art college in 1985, and until his retirement from teaching in 2002.

Concerned throughout his artmaking career with exploration of abstract form, Halliday's art underwent a number of transformations, ranging from hard-edged colour and black and white compositions to free-form, loosely painted arrangements of colour and line. Richard Halliday had numerous exhibitions of his works throughout Canada, and is represented in numerous public and private collections, including those of the Canada Council Art Bank, The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, The Nickle Art Museum, The Glenbow Museum and The MacKenzie Art Gallery. He was a member of the Artist Circle/Contemporary Arts Society in Calgary and also of the Royal Canadian Academy.