THIERRY DELVA

My work is idea driven and manifests itself predominantly through the medium of Sculpture. In the process of realizing my ideas into matter, I concentrate on things that are in and of the world. I rely on the choice of materials which in turn are in service to the ideas that are central to each piece. In other words, materials and ideas are in concert with each other. In order to accomplish these symbiotic relationships, I use a materials that range from the traditional such as stone, plaster, cast iron, bronze to the unconventional such as morticians wound filler, television sets, refrigerators, decoys.

I am interested in how, ordinary objects whether made, readymade or assisted readymade, when introduced to a sympathetic context, can attempt to aid the work to resonate.

Thierry Delva was born and raised near Ghent in the heart of East Flanders, Belgium. In 1977 he immigrated to Canada. He first settled in Brandon, Manitoba and moved to Halifax in 1982 to attend the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.

Delva received both his BFA Degree (1985) and MFA Degree (1993) from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. In between degrees, he trained as a restoration stone mason and in 1990 he received his journeman’s papers from the Nova Scotia Department of Advanced Education. He is an elected member of the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts (RCA).

Delva’s work has been shown widely both nationally and internationally. Some examples include: the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the National Gallery of Canada, Museum London, Art Gallery of Windsor, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, S.L. Simpson Gallery, Harbourfront Centre, the Art Gallery of Alberta, Real Art Ways (Hartford), Joseloff Gallery (Hartford), Bass Museum of Art (Miami Beach), Memling Museum (Bruges, Belgium). Additionally, he has been the recipient of several grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and Arts Nova Scotia. He has work in the permanent collections of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Bank of Nova Scotia, the University of Lethbridge, Dalhousie Art Gallery.

The teaching career of Thierry Delva spanned 32 years and took place predominantly at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design/NSCAD University. He initially taught at NSCAD on contract but became full time, tenured faculty in 2006 in Fine Arts, Sculpture. He also taught at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in Newfoundland and Fanshawe College in Ontario. He retired from teaching December 2021.

Delva has guest lectured on his work at, among others, Trinity College, Hartford; Wimbledon College of Art, London; University of Lethbridge; University of San Diego; St. Thomas University; University of Waterloo; York University.

Thierry Delva resides in Prospect, Nova Scotia.