David Thauberger

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David Thauberger (born 1948 in Holdfast, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian painter whose work blends pop culture, postcard imagery, folk art, and ideas about utopian cities. He creates simple, humorous images of prairie life and architecture, often drawing on sources like postcards, television, and magazines. He is married to Veronica Pawliw.

Education and early career
Thauberger earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Saskatchewan in 1971, studying ceramics with David Gilhooly. He received a Master of Arts from California State University, Sacramento in 1972 and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Montana in 1973. Although he had little formal painting training, he turned his interest in folk art into painting in the late 1970s.

Career highlights
A 1988 survey of his work at the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina raised his profile. In 2015, the Mendel Art Gallery and MacKenzie Art Gallery organized a major touring show, “David Thauberger: Road Trips and Other Diversions.” In 2023, he presented Endless Summer at Slate Fine Art Gallery in Regina.

Public commissions and collections
Thauberger has designed Canada Post stamps (1982 and 1992), created a mural for a Cineplex Odeon theater in Richmond, Virginia (1987), and painted a mural inside a Via Rail Canada train (1988). His work is in major collections such as the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. His papers are held at the University of Regina library.

Honors and contributions
He was named a Member of the Order of Canada in 2008 for being “a pillar of prairie folk art.” He received the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2012, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012, and the Lieutenant Governor’s Saskatchewan Artist Award in 2009. He is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and has served on boards including the Canadian Commission for UNESCO and the Canada Council for the Arts.