​Ella May Walker (1892–1960), born Ella Jacoby in Minnesota and raised in Dundurn, Saskatchewan, was a versatile artist, musician, writer, and historian. She studied art in Chicago and music at Northwestern University before attending the University of Saskatchewan, where she met and married Osman J. Walker; both later earned degrees from McGill University. Moving to Edmonton in 1920, Ella became deeply involved in the city’s music, theatre, and art communities, teaching piano, playing organ for church and silent films, and participating in the Edmonton Art Club. Inspired by Group of Seven member Arthur Lismer in the 1930s, she explored painting, sculpture, and various media, often depicting Edmonton’s history through contemporary and historical scenes. She also wrote articles and a novel documenting the city’s past, promoted her work through exhibitions and lectures, and was appointed to the City Archives and Landmark Committee in 1948. After her death, her son donated her artwork and records to the City of Edmonton Archives, preserving her legacy as a chronicler of Edmonton’s cultural and artistic history.

​Edmée Moore (1908–1971), the only child of Pearl and Philip Moore, was born and raised in Banff, Alberta, where she spent her summers riding and participating in trail rides with the Trail Riders of the Canadian Rockies. In the 1920s and early 1930s, she spent winters in U.S. cities such as New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington D.C., and San Francisco, attending school, visiting galleries and museums, and keeping detailed diaries of her experiences. On February 7, 1942, she married Charlie Reid in the same church as her parents and remained in Banff for the rest of her life, passing away in 1971 and being buried in Banff Town Cemetery.

​Edith Fanny Kirk (1858-1953) was born in England and studied at prestigious art schools in England and France before immigrating to Canada in 1905, where she painted watercolours of Lethbridge, the prairies, and western National Parks while teaching others to create art. A woman of adventure, she also worked as a nurse’s helper and schoolteacher, traveled widely, and joined the Alpine Club of Canada at 60. The Galt Museum previously featured an exhibition that showcased her life through personal treasures, watercolours by Kirk and her students, and pieces by her mentors, accompanied by an audio tour detailing Aitkens’ journey in uncovering Kirk’s remarkable story.

​Dorothy Gwendolyn Henzell-Willis (1898–1988) was an expressive and unconventional Canadian artist who worked primarily in Edmonton before moving to Vancouver and later Europe. Active between the 1920s and 1940s, she was one of Edmonton’s best-known artists, exhibiting widely in galleries and museums across Canada. Largely self-taught, with additional studies at the Banff School of Fine Arts, Columbia University, and in California, she produced linocut prints of winter scenes and Indigenous villages, as well as boldly coloured, dreamlike expressionist paintings. Known for her eccentric style and interest in art as therapy, she taught through the University of British Columbia’s Extension Program and participated in major group exhibitions; her work is held in collections including the University of Alberta Art Gallery and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

​Colleen Anderson-Millard (1935-2015), born in Cardston, Alberta, was an artist and educator whose lifelong dedication to art began in childhood, including early studies at the Banff School of Fine Arts. She earned a Diploma in Fine Arts from the University of Alberta, a Bachelor of Education and Master of Arts from the University of Calgary, and pursued further study in New York, Saskatchewan, and Banff. Anderson-Millard taught widely at arts institutions and universities across Alberta and was active in numerous professional arts organizations. Her work was featured in more than fifty exhibitions and is held in major public and corporate collections, with paintings often expressing a spiritual dimension that became especially prominent in her mandala series begun in 1992 following a cancer diagnosis.

​Cathy Evins (1921-1992) was a painter born in Ireland who immigrated to Canada in 1945 and was based in Lethbridge, Alberta in 1971, with her work documented in the National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives. She also played a key role in the city’s cultural life: the Inn Purple coffeehouse featured a colourful geometric mural she designed on its main wall near the stage. Evins taught art classes at the Bowman Arts Centre on behalf of the Lethbridge Sketch Club and created artwork for Lethbridge Musical Theatre, while the venue itself became an artistic landmark. She was the artistic director of the Allied Arts Council from 1964 to 1968 and then became the curator of the Bowman Arts Centre.

​Catharine Robb Whyte (1906-1979) met fellow artist Peter Whyte in 1925 while studying art, and their shared values and creative interests led to marriage in 1930 and a life devoted to painting the Canadian Rockies. Settling in Banff, they built a home and studio and spent decades hiking and painting mountain landscapes together, influenced by contemporaries such as Carl Rungius and J. E. H. MacDonald, and developing a powerful, unified sense of place in their work. After Peter’s death in 1966, Catharine remained deeply engaged in community, conservation, and the arts, becoming a major patron of the Banff Centre and a lifelong supporter of Indigenous arts. In recognition of their artistic legacy, a museum built in 1968 around their collection evolved into the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, which Catharine supported until her death.

​Barbara Roe Hicklin (1918–2010) was a Canadian painter born in Toronto who spent her life moving between regions of Canada in pursuit of art. She studied in Toronto and New York, graduating from the New York Phoenix School of Design in 1946, and worked as a commercial artist and theatre set designer before settling in Edmonton in the late 1950s. There she embraced watercolour painting, joined the Alberta Society of Artists, and later became its first female president in 1975. Known for her travels across Canada—including repeated trips to the Yukon—Hicklin created landscape watercolours on the road and was elected to the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour in 1980.

​Barbara Mary Leighton (1909–1965), born Barbara Mary Harvey in Plymouth, England, was an accomplished Canadian artist, printmaker, and craft practitioner who played a foundational role in what is now the Leighton Art Centre. After moving to Alberta as a child, she studied art in Calgary, where she met and married artist A.C. Leighton in 1931. To support their family, Barbara created linoleum and woodcut prints of A.C.’s paintings under the name “Barleigh,” gaining national recognition and election to the Canadian Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers. She was also a member of the Alberta Society of Artists and taught the first batik classes at the Leighton Art Centre. Following A.C.’s death, she returned to formal study, earning a diploma in fibre and metal crafts, and later established a community art school at Ballyhamage, laying the groundwork for the Centre’s enduring legacy in art education.

​Audrey Dora Reed Brown (1925–2016) was born and raised in Cochrane, Alberta, where she became the town’s first female bank teller before her marriage in 1947. After moving to Edmonton and later Calgary, she balanced family life, volunteer work, and part-time employment while nurturing a lifelong commitment to art. Audrey studied at SAIT (now ACAD), the Ruskin School in Oxford, San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, Lakeland College, and through numerous workshops. A life member of the Alberta Society of Artists, she was also active in several Calgary art organizations, and her work was exhibited widely throughout Alberta and is held in notable public collections.