Tosczak, George

 
George Tosczak was born in Gravelburg, Saskatchewan in 1934. He grew up during the “dust bowl” on a farm near Woodrow, Saskatchewan with his six siblings. In 1954, Tosczak joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. Over his 24 year-long career Tosczak was part of the first United Nations Emergency Force (peacekeeping) in El Arish, Egypt, and served with NATO in Grostenquin, France. He returned to Canada with his wife in 1966 after the birth of their son. In Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, Tosczak began painting prairie landscapes with abandoned buildings and objects under expansive skies. In 1975, Tosczak was transferred to C.F.B. Edmonton. Coinciding with his move to Alberta, Tosczak moved on to large acrylic and egg tempera landscapes. By the late 1980s/early 1990s, Tosczak took a more narrative approach to his paintings. He began to paint small characters into the landscape who act out stories from the artist’s past, present, and imagination. Many of these paintings are accompanied by a short journal entry describing the action contained within the frame of the canvas. During his career as an artist, Tosczak painted in excess of two thousand canvases. George Tosczak is retired and lives in Edmonton.