Rudolf Bikkers is a printmaker, painter, and professor of Printmaking at the Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) in Toronto. He was born in Hilversum, the Netherlands. His arts education involved both the visual arts and music. He received his MFA from the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht, with that period of study (1960 - 1966) overlapping ten years (1956 - 1966) of studying the cello in both Hilversum and Maastricht.
In 1966, Bikkers emigrated to Canada and, very soon after, began teaching drawing at the HB Beal High School in London, Ontario (1967 - 69). He continued to reside in London until 1983 and jointly pursued his own art, a teaching career, and a printmaking business career. From 1969 to 1977, Bikkers was the Head of the Printmaking Department of Fanshawe College and then, for 1977-78, was Professor of Printmaking at the University of Western Ontario (UWO).
Towards the end of the Fanshawe College period, in 1975, he established a master-print workshop - Editions Canada Inc. - which he continued as a full-time business (along with his own printmaking and painting ) after leaving UWO until 1983, when he accepted an appointment to OCAD (or what was then OCA – the Ontario College of Art) and moved to Toronto. For the next decade, Bikkers was Head of the Printmaking Department at OCAD, and then, from 1993 to present, continued on as Professor of Printmaking.
Rudolf Bikkers is one of the few remaining all-round master printmakers in Canada and, in lithography, is master of masters. His artistry and printing skills – whether his own prints or the print series he has published for major artists (such as Karel Appel and Paul Jenkins) through Editions Canada – are admired worldwide.
Bikkers' career has been marked by periodic projects that connect his love and knowledge of music with his visual arts creativity. His most recent such project, My Muses, a Visual Offering, is a bound set of 20 triptychs inspired by great music. Each 47 x 108 cm. triptych comprises a portrait of a composer, an interpretation of the music, and a text related to the composer and/or Bikkers' relationship with him/her. The set of 20 has been bound in a cloth-and-leather cover, which is provided with a customized box for archival storage and protection. This artist's book is in a limited edition of 100. The composers with whom Bikkers engages are: Bach, Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Handel, Telemann, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Schumann, Dvorak, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Britten, Popper, Schnittke, Gubaidulina, Peterson and Schafer. Three performers are included as well: Starker, Kuerti and Israelievitch.
Bikkers exhibits at Craig Scott Gallery from April 10 to May 4, 2008, with a series of works that have been underway for several years. For some images of, and information on, works to appear in this solo show called Morphogenetics, go to EXHIBITIONS (see menu bar above).
Education
MFA, Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, the Netherlands (1960-1966)
Study of the violincello, Hilversum and Maastricht (1956-1966)
Honours
2002 Golden Jubilee Medal (Queen Elizabeth II)
2000 Elected to Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA)
1997 Honourable Mention, Ernst & Young Printmaking Competition.
1994 Inscribed in the BOOK OF LIFE at Youth Aliyah in Israel.
1990 A.J. Casson Award, Toronto.
1978 Ontario Arts Council grant.
1976 Hon. Mention, Editions 1, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto.
