In 1952, painter Alexandra Luke organized the first Canadian exhibition of abstract painting to be assembled on a national scale in Canada. In the brochure for the show, titled Canadian Abstract Exhibition, she wrote, “Painting should not stop with the already discovered beauty but continue searching.”
Through the museum studies internship program, I am both entrusted with the responsibility and granted the opportunity to co-curate an exhibition for the Helen Christou Gallery.
An unknown local artist between 1913 and 1921 created this painting of an aerial view of the city of Lethbridge.
The work spent most of its early life hanging in the Arlington Hotel, a downtown establishment that operated under a variety of owners and titles from 1910 to 2007, when it was demolished.
In 1971, the hotel’s proprietors, John and Walter Mysyk, presented the painting to the newly founded University of Lethbridge as a gift from the Ukrainian Canadian Association of Lethbridge.
Iain Baxter& is known as one of Canada’s foremost conceptual artists. Born in England in 1936, Baxter&’s family moved to Canada a year later, and he spent most of his early career in Vancouver. From 1966-78, Baxter& and artist Ingrid Baxter formed the art collective N.E. Thing Co., which explored the boundaries between corporate advertising, mechanized production and fine art.
Gathie Falk was born in Alexander, Man. in 1928. Raised Mennonite, Falk spent her childhood drawing, and attended Saturday morning art classes at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
Falk trained to become an elementary teacher, and it was in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia that she began to
seriously pursue painting and ceramics.
When Art Gallery Director Dr. Josie Mills asked me if I wanted to write something for the Lasting Images page of the Legend on the occasion of my retirement, I gladly grasped the opportunity to showcase my favourite works of art in the University’s Art Collection.
Kathleen Daly (1898-1994) and George Pepper (1903-1962) met while studying art at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, and married in 1929.
Based in Toronto for most of their creative careers, Daly and Pepper travelled and painted together extensively. Both are well known for their depictions of the people and lifestyle of Canada’s northernmost territories, where they lived among their subjects throughout the 1960s.
Mary Shannon Will was born in Ithaca, New York, and studied at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and the University of Iowa. Upon moving to Canada, Will taught at the Emily Carr College of Art & Design in Vancouver.
Will is known for her diverse artistic practice, working in a variety of media including printmaking, painting and ceramics. Today, the artist divides her life and work between Calgary and New Mexico.
art + people = x
Dr. Mike Mahon
For the last two years, the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery has been working on a conservation project to inventory and assess the 9,000-plus works on paper in the collection. In addition, over 100 works from the collection have received specialized conservation treatment. Recent funding from a Museums Assistance Program grant will allow the gallery to continue this project.
