Reppepper's Blog: June 2019

Douglas George Livingston, poet and visual artist, passed away at 4:05 am Friday May 17, 2019 at age 74 at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.

Doug was born June 23, 1944 in Fort William, Ontario to George Burritt and Astrid Margrethe (Herrem) Livingston. He graduated from Fort William Collegiate and then attended Ontario College of Art.

Douglas was one of the original founding members of the award winning Definitely Superior Artist-Run Centre+ Gallery for the contemporary arts in Thunder Bay, incorporated in 1988. He served on the Board of Directors and became an honorary lifetime member for his contribution to the gallery and the contemporary arts in the region.

A highly prolific and critically acclaimed artist, seen by his peers as a true renaissance artist for his time, a well-educated and sophisticated polymath of talent in many fields of visual and literary art, history and philosophy. Douglas was an individual of unquenchable curiosity and had a feverishly inventive imagination. He was diversely talented in all he pursued, also revolutionized his own distinct artistic style in a form of visual poetry.

Douglas amassed critical historical/philosophical knowledge and experience in his extensive personal life studies, and consistently pushed the edge of the contemporary arts, becoming one of the more progressive artists to come out of Northwestern Ontario, an artist who has affected and created, an artist who has inspired. Through DefSup and other community avenues, Douglas participated in hundreds of professional visual art exhibitions throughout his life (curated, open member shows, solo/juried formats), as well as literary spoken word performances (Random Acts of Poetry & Open House Nights), performance art (The Empty Space collective) and recently, Beatnik poetry/jazz performances (w/ Robin Ranger & Terry Egan). He penned poetry that was widely published in an extensive collection of books, zines and literary journals, such as Cinders, the Whiskey Jack series, Out of Context and The Long Poem Registry. The anthologies were published by DefSup and several other vital community literary collectives and organizations; including, un/ speak/able/press which published his recent solo poetry books, Core Literary Collective, the Poetry Workshop, Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop, the Writer's Circle at Waverley Library and more. Douglas is acknowledged as a very accomplished rare artistic and literary talent, respected for his contribution of works to society, impacting the vitality of the contemporary arts in Canada.

Always recovering from deep anguish, Douglas, the artist, worked daily to express “what does a feeling look like – the isolations, the nauseas, the despairs” (D. Livingston, 2003.)

Five books of Douglas' poetry were published, A Butterfly Rides Her Horse (1982), The Perplexed Room (2003), Myoclonus (2012), Kata Hodos (2014) and Black Grass Canticles (2018).

Douglas was preceded in death by his parents and his brother John. He is survived by his brother Bill, sister in law Sandra, niece Lisa and nephews Bruce and Barry. He will also be missed by several cousins, an extended family and a host of longtime friends who meant so much to him.

A celebration of Douglas' life will be held on Wednesday June 12, 2019 at the Finlandia Hall at 314 Bay Street from 7:00pm – 10:00pm.

In lieu of flowers, you may donate to Definitely Superior Art Gallery. Email: defsup@tbaytel.net

“We are so lightly here. It is in love that we are made. In love, we disappear.”

Leonard Cohen