Barbara Klunder

Barbara Klunder was born in Toronto and attended the Ontario College of Art as a teenager. She lives and works on Toronto's Ward's Island.

From the back cover of a new publication which accompanies Klunder's exhibition is the following quote:

Barbara Klunder is an artist gifted in many genres and media, from book and magazine illustrations, 4 font designs, to paper-cuts, puppet-theatre and textile works.

Her work is in the permanent collections of the Royal Ontario Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Textile Museum of Canada, the University of Toronto Rare Book Collection, The Arts & Letters Club, and Toronto Archives.

Solo Exhibitions
2026
2025
2024
  • Small oil paintings, Toronto Island
2023
  • Talking Threads, Abbozzo Gallery, 401 Richmond, Toronto
2019
  • My Wardrobe, Verdi/InAbstracto, Toronto
2018
  • Tattoos for Gwendolyn MacEwen, DAVID KAYE GALLERY, Toronto
2015
  • Naked Truth, DAVID KAYE GALLERY, Toronto
  • Toronto Island Papercuts, Rectory Café, Ward’s Island, Toronto
2013
  • BulletProof Vests: papercut protection, DAVID KAYE GALLERY, Toronto
2012
  • LAURA SECORD: The Papercuts. The Textiles. The Book., Rodman Hall Arts Centre, St. Catharines, ON
2011
  • LAURA SECORD: The Papercuts. The Textiles. The Book., DAVID KAYE GALLERY, Toronto
2008
  • Barbara Klunder: A Retrospective Exhibition, First Canadian Place Gallery, Toronto
  • Deep Paper Cuts: recent work in washi, DAVID KAYE GALLERY, Toronto
2007
  • Other Goose: Recycled Rhymes for Our Fragile Times, DAVID KAYE GALLERY, Toronto
2006
  • Original Jazz Poster Art, Pages Bookstore Windows, Toronto
  • Woolstick Forest, Knit Café Window, Toronto
2005
  • String Theory: Carpets and Sweaters, past and present, Prime Gallery, Toronto
2004
  • Symbols: oil paintings of mystic symbols and nature, Prime Gallery, Toronto
2003
  • Twenty Recent Oil Paintings, Prime Gallery, Toronto
2002
  • Island Pictorial, Toronto Island, Toronto
2001
  • Lawn Toupee, Rogue Wave, Toronto
2000
  • Puppet Regime, Prime Gallery, Toronto
  • The Eight Mysteries, Reactor Gallery, Toronto
1999
  • Pay Attention, Ute Steibech Gallery, Lenox, MA
1998
  • 27 Downsized Purses, Canadian Craft Museum, Vancouver, BC
  • Hand-hooked Paintings, Prime Gallery, Toronto
1996
  • Twenty-Seven Downsized Purses, Prime Gallery, Toronto
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026
2023
  • Canadian Modern, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
2022
  • BirdSkirt and 3 embroidered dresses in 4Told show, Gabriola Arts & Heritage, Gabriola, BC
2021
  • Worms, Craft Ontario Gallery, Toronto
  • Worms, Gabriola Arts & Heritage, Gabriola, BC
2017
  • Big Print Project, Vancouver, BC
2012
  • Exuberance: The Garden, Craft Ontario Gallery, Toronto
2011
  • Let There be Light, Japanese Paper Place, Toronto
2009
  • PAINTERS OF THE GALLERY, DAVID KAYE GALLERY, Toronto
2003
  • Half Nature/Half Human, Textile Museum of Canada, Toronto
2003
  • Half Nature/Half Human, Zoo, Textile Museum of Canada, Toronto
2002
  • The Purse, UnCommon Objects, Harbourfront, Toronto
2001
  • Bodies of Water, Harbourfront, Toronto
2000
  • Om, Language in Craft, Canadian Craft Museum, Vancouver, BC
1999
  • Love is Blinds, York Quay Gallery, Toronto
  • Lessons in Life, SOFA Chicago, Chicago, IL
1998
  • Medicine Chest, Survivors With A Voice, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
Commissions, Projects & Related Professional Activities
2023
  • Visual Arts Award, Arts & Letters Club, Toronto
2015
  • Freedom to Read poster for the Writer’s Trust of Canada
  • Women’s Blues Revue , 27th BK poster for the Toronto Blues Society's 30th anniversary
2010
  • AfroFest Music Festival poster and T-shirt design
  • Word on the Street poster for the annual national book event
  • Ashkenaz Festival poster from a papercut
2009
  • Les Usherwood Award, The Advertising & Design Club of Canada. A Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest possible award given out in the industry
  • The Animals’ Day: An Island Alphabet, written + illustrated book, published by Groundwood/House of Anansi, Toronto
2007
  • Other Goose: Recycled Rhymes for Our Fragile Times, written + illustrated book, published by Groundwood/House of Anansi, Toronto
2003
  • Garage Quilt Exterior Mural, Toronto Interior mural Zoo, Textile Museum of Canada, Toronto
  • Twig Garden, Finalist in Chicago's "Art Gardens/Museums" competition Interior Design, Colour Designation, Signage, Logo and Ads, both the BamBoo and the Bambu Club, Toronto
2002
  • The Window Project, twelve paper-sculpture installations, Queen Mother Café, Toronto
  • Gold, The Play, Clay & Paper Theatre, Costumes, Set Design and Poster, Toronto
2001
  • Lilith Unfair, Clay & Paper Theatre, Costumes, Set Design, and Poster, Toronto
  • OttoFont, second designed typeface, distributed by FontShop, Berlin, Germany
1999
  • Metamorphosis, embroidered book for the Dalai Lama, a gift from Rick Ray Documentary Films, Los Angeles, CA
1995
  • BKlunder Script, first designed typeface, distributed by FontShop, Berlin, Germany
1978
  • The Canadian Poster Book: 100 years of the Poster in Canada, Robert Stacey curator, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
  • Numerous theatre, music and event posters over the years for Tarragon Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille; Toronto and Vancouver Jazz Festivals; Harbourfront; Laurie Anderson; Rolling Stones and other musicians, cd covers and logos. Many environmental, human rights, and good-cause fundraising posters and t-shirt designs.
Collections
2022
  • 27 BK textile items, including hand-knit sweaters, hand-hooked rugs, fabric designs and t-shirts, ROM permanent collection, Toronto
2008
  • Flying Ant, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON