Terry Graff is a full-time professional artist, the recipient of major commissions, acquisitions, grants, and awards. His work has been presented regionally, nationally, and internationally, and includes mixed media drawings, paintings, collages, assemblages, sculpture, kinetic works, and multi-media installations.

Born in Cambridge (Galt), Ontario, Canada, Graff studied Fine Art at the Doon School of Fine Arts, Doon, Ontario, and Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology, London, Ontario. He received a B.A. in Fine Art from the University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, and a B.Ed in Visual Arts from the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario. He also studied art history, philosophy of art, media arts, and art education at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, received a postgraduate diploma in Fine Art (M.F.A. equivalent) from the Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, the Netherlands, and holds a M.A. in Art Education from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia (Thesis: Art and Ecological Vision).

Along with an extensive history of exhibitions and accomplishments as a visual artist, Graff has also had a distinguished career as a curator, art educator, art writer, arts administrator, and gallery director. He has served as director of four public art galleries in four different provinces of Canada: the Beaverbrook Art Gallery (New Brunswick), the Mendel Art Gallery (Saskatchewan), Rodman Hall Arts Centre (Ontario), and Confederation Centre Art Gallery (PEI), and also of the artist-run Struts Gallery in Sackville, New Brunswick. He has curated over 200 exhibitions, authored numerous articles, catalogues, and books on both contemporary and historical art, taught visual arts as a high school art teacher in both Ontario and New Brunswick, served as Education Curator for the Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, and taught drawing and sculpture at Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick.

As a tireless advocate for the importance of art in people’s lives and as an essential ingredient for the health and well-being of communities, Graff has provided public service in the arts as a volunteer, a consultant, and an arts juror at regional and national levels, supported countless artists in a variety of capacities, and has served on numerous boards and committees across Canada, including the Acquisitions Committee for the Samuel E. Weir Foundation RiverBrink, Queenston, Ontario; the Culture Committee for the City of St. Catharines and the St. Catharines Art Collection Committee, St. Catharines, Ontario; the Advisory Committee for Graphic Arts Program at Niagara College, Welland, Ontario; the Cultural Advisory Committee for the City of Fredericton, New Brunswick; and the New Brunswick artist-run centres Gallery Connexion, Fredericton, and Struts Gallery, Sackviile (to name a few), and has served as Chair of several boards, including ArtsAtlantic Magazine, the Friends of the Mi’kmaq, and the Museums Association of Saskatchewan.

In recognition of his various cultural contributions across Canada, he has received many awards and honours, including the Fanshawe College Distinguished Alumni Award; The Commemorative Medal for the Centennial of Saskatchewan (Official Honour of the Crown recognizing individuals who have made a significant contribution to the Province of Saskatchewan); the Christina Sabat Award for Art Criticism in Atlantic Canada sponsored by the Sheila Hugh MacKay Foundation; and two eagle feathers from the Mi’kmaq First Nation for his work in promoting the art of First Nations artists.