08/29/2026
The MJM&AG is deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Saskatchewan artist, David Thauberger. David was a highly esteemed member of our provincial and national arts communities, whose contributions to Canadian art are outstanding and significant. Over his illustrious career, David contributed to Canadian art history and contemporary art, first in ceramics and then painting. He championed Saskatchewan art over many decades as an artist, mentor, collector, collaborator and even curator and arts administrator, influencing generations of artists. We have been fortunate to call David and his wife Veronica friends of MJMAG, who have been generous supporters of our gallery and permanent collection.
We extend our deepest condolences to Ronnie, the Thauberger family, their friends and members of the arts community. David will be greatly missed.
Born in Holdfast, SK, and based in Regina, SK, David was an internationally exhibited painter, printmaker and ceramicist, with work in numerous collections across Canada and worldwide.
David Thauberger was a student at the University of Saskatchewan (Regina Campus, BFA 1971) in the late 1960s/early 1970s, while Jack Sures, Joe Fafard, Russ Yuristy, Victor Cicansky and California artist David Gilhooly were on faculty. He credited Gilhooly as an early mentor, inspiring him to create art that was rooted in his own life experience, and thereby pursue graduate studies in ceramics, first at California State University in Sacramento (MA, 1972) and then the University of Montana in Missoula (MFA, 1973), before returning to Saskatchewan. Beginning his art practice in clay, Thauberger turned his focus to painting in the 1980s, driven to explore representations of Prairie experience through its iconic imagery and architecture.
David’s many awards include the Saskatchewan Order of Merit, the Order of Canada, the Lieutenant Governor's Saskatchewan Artist Award, the Queen's Diamond Medal and a Canada 150 Award, and he was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. His major retrospective touring exhibition, David Thauberger: Road Trips and Other Diversions was organized by the MacKenzie Art Gallery and Mendel Art Gallery in 2015, accompanied by the film David Thauberger: The Vernacular Man by Jan Nowina-Zarzycki.
This video link for the touring exhibition A Prairie Vernacular includes an interview with David Thauberger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlEyC3bRQC4&t=1s&pp=ygUabWptYWcgYSBwcmFpcmllIHZlcm5hY3VsYXI%3D
