ABOUT
MIKE EFFORD (b. 1953, Montreal Canada) received his diploma in fine art studies at Humber College in 1977, and studied painting, sculpture, design and computer graphics at night for over 20 years at Ontario College of Art & Design, Centennial College, Ryerson University, and Toronto School of Art.
In 1977 he began a multi-faceted creative career spanning over 40 years in graphic design, coin design, illustration and 3D computer animation. He has created commemorative coins and trade dollars, corporate jewellery, technical illustration, retail advertising and, for the last 26 years of his commercial career, 3D animation in his own freelance business.
End clients he has worked for over the years have included municipal and provincial governments in Ontario, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia, Sears Canada, Canadian Tire, Home Hardware, People’s Jewelers, Elizabeth Grant International, Crown Life Insurance, Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, General Motors, Toyota, Nissan, Coca Cola, Second Cup, the Royal Ontario Museum, Trillium Health Centre, William Osler Health System, Ontario Power Generation, Thales, Cognos, Proctor & Gamble, Merck, and many more.
During the last decade of his 3D animation business he created animated video productions to market many green technology innovations such as UV water purification, algae based water reactors, oil recycling technologies, sterilization technologies, automated agriculture, and portable shipping container-based windmills.
He has served on advisory boards for Sheridan College and Conestoga College in Ontario.
From 2015 to 2018 he created digital landscape art and giclee art prints, using the same digital tools he used in his commercial animation studio practice. In 2019, after winding down his animation business, he returned to Toronto School of Art, where he had taken life drawing classes on Sundays for many years prior, to study painting with artists Joe Fleming, Celia Neubauer and Tina Poplawski.
In 2021 he moved from Toronto to Cobourg, Ontario, where he has established a new, larger fine art studio. His fine art explorations have expanded to include abstract painting and mixed media sculpture. He has exhibited extensively at juried art shows across Ontario.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
January 2024
Art Gallery of Northumberland | 45th annual juried exhibition
December 2023
Artist Space Gallery | 2nd Annual Landscapes Art Exhibition
October 2023
Toronto School of Art gallery | Emerging Expressions
October 2023
Grey Cube Gallery Online | Patterns
September 2023
Alton Mill Art Centre, Alton Ontario | Headwaters Art Festival
August 2023
Art Room Contemporary Gallery online | Blue
July 2022
Neilson Park Creative Centre main gallery, Toronto | “Impact 2022”
April 2022
Leslie Grove Gallery, Toronto | “Our World: the Wonder and the Worry”
December 2021
Art Gallery of Northumberland | 43rd annual juried exhibition
February 2017
Etobicoke Art Group | Member’s Choice Show
November 2016
Los Angeles Center for Digital Art | International Juried Art Show “Snap to Grid”
March 2015
Neilson Park Creative Centre main gallery | Foot Square Show