This body of work features historical female Alberta artists. As a long-time resident and female artist in Alberta, I have felt the challenges that women face in the art world today, with an understanding that in the past the challenges were even greater. Researching archives opens the doors to the history of the women artists that contributed to the growth of arts in Alberta.
I studied Art & Design in the mid-1980s where women artists were not really discussed and, when I enrolled in art history classes during the pandemic, I was surprised to learn that there is still not much information about female artists in the curriculum. There is even less information about female artists specific to Alberta.
In 2008, I attended an exhibition of work by Margaret Shelton at the Collectors' Gallery in Inglewood where I was fascinated to see her orange bike and paint box. She had painted her bike using house paint to make it more visible on the roads, would pack her art supplies and tent to cycle from the Drumheller Valley to the Rocky Mountains where she would create watercolour paintings and woodcut prints. She was a school teacher who used scholarship money to study at the Banff Centre under professional artists such as A.C. Leighton, Walter Phillips and more. She is one of the many inspiring Alberta women artists who created in spite of the challenges they faced.
Beginning the project during my Artist Residency with the Alberta Society of Artists in 2024, which was founded by A.C. Leighton, I have been exploring the use of full-sized watercolour sheets coated with a medium for durability. My goal was to incorporate figurative work along with the work or belongings of each artist. Like Georgia O’Keeffe intended with her paintings of flowers, I want to invite the viewer to stop and learn about these important women.
Finally, I want to thank the Archivists at the Galt Museum, Whyte Museum and Paul D. Fleck Library and Archives at the Banff Centre for their assistance along with numerous others who reached out to share stories and photographs once they heard about this project.
To learn more about Margaret Shelton, please visit MargaretShelton.ca here, Galleries West magazine here and the Collectors' Gallery here.
I studied Art & Design in the mid-1980s where women artists were not really discussed and, when I enrolled in art history classes during the pandemic, I was surprised to learn that there is still not much information about female artists in the curriculum. There is even less information about female artists specific to Alberta.
In 2008, I attended an exhibition of work by Margaret Shelton at the Collectors' Gallery in Inglewood where I was fascinated to see her orange bike and paint box. She had painted her bike using house paint to make it more visible on the roads, would pack her art supplies and tent to cycle from the Drumheller Valley to the Rocky Mountains where she would create watercolour paintings and woodcut prints. She was a school teacher who used scholarship money to study at the Banff Centre under professional artists such as A.C. Leighton, Walter Phillips and more. She is one of the many inspiring Alberta women artists who created in spite of the challenges they faced.
Beginning the project during my Artist Residency with the Alberta Society of Artists in 2024, which was founded by A.C. Leighton, I have been exploring the use of full-sized watercolour sheets coated with a medium for durability. My goal was to incorporate figurative work along with the work or belongings of each artist. Like Georgia O’Keeffe intended with her paintings of flowers, I want to invite the viewer to stop and learn about these important women.
Finally, I want to thank the Archivists at the Galt Museum, Whyte Museum and Paul D. Fleck Library and Archives at the Banff Centre for their assistance along with numerous others who reached out to share stories and photographs once they heard about this project.
To learn more about Margaret Shelton, please visit MargaretShelton.ca here, Galleries West magazine here and the Collectors' Gallery here.
CBC: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/women-artists-alberta-1.7284254
CityView: https://www.airdriecityview.com/local-news/airdrie-artist-veronica-funk-honouring-women-through-painting-9439261
AIR 106.1: www.airdriecityview.com/local-news/airdrie-artist-veronica-funk-honouring-women-through-painting-9439261
CityView: https://www.airdriecityview.com/local-news/airdrie-artist-veronica-funk-honouring-women-through-painting-9439261
AIR 106.1: www.airdriecityview.com/local-news/airdrie-artist-veronica-funk-honouring-women-through-painting-9439261
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Photographs by Shallon Cunningham
The Mission of the Alberta Society of Artists is to have an active membership of professional visual artists, which will strive for excellence, and shall through exhibition, education and communication, increase public awareness and appreciation of the visual arts.
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ARTIST RESIDENCY:
Thursday to Saturday, 10am to 3pm September 7 to October 26, 2024 EVERYONE IS WELCOME CLOSING RECEPTION: DATE: Saturday, October 26, 1-3pm LOCATION: ASA Gallery 2nd Floor, Crossroads Market 222-1235 26 Avenue SE Calgary, AB |
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GALT MUSEUM: I recently had an appointment with Bobbie Fox in the Archives Department of the Galt Museum in Lethbridge. I have a few other appointments scheduled this summer to begin research into historical female artists in Alberta (early 1900s). The most amazing thing I found were handwritten papers by Edith Fanny Kirk that were prepared for presentations in the 1930s: How to Look at Pictures, The Evolution of Art and Essentials in the Understanding of Pictures. It was the most exciting thing to hold these documents in my hand, to know there was a woman who was open-minded in discussing the value of art. I can't wait to learn more.
WHYTE MUSEUM: After 25+ years, I finally the opportunity to tour Catharine Robb Whyte's home in Banff and it was amazing to see her books, collections and art supplies. I spent a few hours in the museum, looking at the clothing and other objects of hers along with Mary Vaux and Mary Schaffer Warren. I also stumbled upon Edmee Brewster Moore, who studied in San Francisco but, I believe only painted as a hobby afterward, which is unfortunate as it was lovely to see her sketchbooks. Such huge gratitude for the assistance of the Director Archives & Special Collections, Elizabeth Kundert-Cameron,
BANFF CENTRE: It was lovely to spend a week at the Banff Centre...a dream, really. I was so thankful to the Archivist of the Paul D. Fleck Library & Archives, Paul Hickling, as he was able to locate really clear photographs of Janet Middleton and Annora Brown along with handwritten letters. There is something so special about being able to see and hold something so personal. It was a real treat to be able to look through some of the University of Alberta archives while I was there.
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Margaret Shelton (1915-1984) was best known for her delicate watercolours and intricate woodcut and lino prints. In summer, she loaded her orange painted bike with art supplies and a canvas tent to cycle from the Drumheller Valley to Banff in order to live and create in the Rocky Mountains. |
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Annora Brown (1899-1987) studied the people and flora around Fort MacLeod. She was eventually hired by the Glenbow Foundation to document wildflowers from Waterton Lakes National Park to Banff National Park. Some of these wildflowers are now extinct. |
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Edith Fanny Kirk (1858-1953) was a painter who lived in Lethbridge and focused on the surrounding prairie and mountain landscapes. She was influential in setting up the Lethbridge Sketch Club in 1936, a group that still continues today as the Lethbridge Artists' Club. |
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Frances Boyce Olynyk (1923-Present) set out from St. Albert in 1947 to capture the construction of the Alaska Highway. After its completion, she spent two years sketching in the north, painting cabins to pay the bills. Fifty years later, after teaching and raising four children, she returned to the north to paint the Arctic. |
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Janet Holly Middleton (1922-2018) studied in Winnipeg, Calgary and the Banff School of Arts along with various countries in Europe and Asia. She taught at the University of Guelph and was commissioned to paint dignitaries by the Government of Alberta. |
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Mary Parris (1914-1988) was an active member of the Edmonton Sketch Club in the 1920s and 1930s. She studied at the University of Alberta and Banff School of Fine Arts and is know for her abstract watercolour and acrylic paintings. |
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Mary Schaffer Warren (1861-1939) travelled annually from Pennsylvania to the Rocky Mountains to document wildflowers with her botanist husband (20 years her senior). After his death, she returned to Alberta and became the first woman hired by the Canadian government to survey the area around Maligne Lake. In 1912, she moved to Banff and married a local guide (20 years her junior). |
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Catharine Robb Whyte (1906-1979) first visited Banff as a 10-years-old and was known for her impressionistic, light-filled work in landscape. In 1968, she was instrumental in founding the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff. |
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Mary Vaux (1860-1940) A Quaker from Pennsylvania, she began illustrating wildflowers on family trips to the Rocky Mountains in Canada. She became the first woman to ascend Mount Stephhen, over 10,000 feet. In 1925, the Smithsonian Institute published 400 of her illustrations in a book titled North American Wildflowers. |
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Barbara Leighton (1909-1986) worked in a variety of media, including printmaking, metal and textiles after attending the Alberta College of Art in her fifties (after the death of her husband). With the goal of making arts accessible to everyone, in 1970 she opened her home, the Leighton Art Centre, which still offers workshops for all ages as well as exhibition space for artists. |
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