Operated by the Calgary Contemporary Arts Society

July 8 – August 25, 2010

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Images of Land:
Margaret Shelton and Clifford Robinson

Curated by Anne Ewen, art curator and museum advisor, this survey exhibition examines the artistic diversity and creative ability of Margaret Shelton (1915-1984) and Clifford Robinson (1916-1992), two of the most important senior Calgary-based artists and major proponents of Modernism in Alberta print art.

Shelton and Robinson were part of the early group of Calgary artists in the 1930s and 1940s, who initiated print activities in that city. Their impressive corpus of work is entwined by the scenery they understood and ultimately portrayed: laborers, farmers and families, old farming and industrial equipment, barns and houses, churches, mountains and rural vistas, and the media thy used: wood block, linocut, oil and watercolour paint, and drawing. At one point, Shelton also worked with leather to supplement her livelihood while later in his career, Robinson explored the intricacies of batik. Both were influenced by Alfred C. Leighton, Walter Phillips, Henry G. Glyde and Charles Comfort, and were acquainted with many influential artists who lived in the region.

By pairing Margaret Shelton and Clifford Robinson in one exhibition, the curator brings together for the first time a large body of work by two prolific artists of this province. The exhibition also traces the international influences of European 20th century Modernism in some of Shelton’s and Robinson’s work, and the impact their works have made on the younger generation of Alberta print artists.

The exhibition showcases wood blocks, linocuts, drawings, watercolours, batiks, and other works on paper – many of which have never been exhibited before – drawn mainly from the collections of the Glenbow Museum, City of Calgary Civic Art Collection, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, and private lenders.

Jacek Malec
Director / Curator
Triangle Gallery of Visual Arts

List of Images (left to right, top to bottom):

1. Margaret Shelton, Bow Fall, Banff, 1941; linocut on paper. Collection of Whyte Museum, Banff, Alberta. Image copyright of the Estate of Margaret Shelton.
2. Margaret Shelton, House in Banff, 1937; linocut on paper. Collection of the Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta. Image copyright by the Estate of Margaret Shelton.
3. Margaret Shelton, The Last Peak at Exshaw, 1975; woodcut on paper; ed. 32/50. Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Edmonton, Alberta. Image copyright by the Estate of Margaret Shelton.
4. Clifford Robinson, Untitled, n.d.; watercolour on paper. Collection of Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Edmonton, Alberta. Image copyright by the Estate of Clifford Robinson.
5. Clifford Robinson, Old Office Buildings, n.d.; oil on canvas. Collection of Ron Robinson, Calgary, Alberta. Image copyright by the Estate of Clifford Robinson.
6. Clifford Robinson, Upper Hot Springs, Banff, 1979; colour woodcut on paper; ed. 59/200. Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Edmonton, Alberta. Image copyright by the Estate of Margaret Shelton.