ARTH 440 – Curatorial Strategies Project

Jack Sures Wall Planter, c. 1967 Stoneware with fiberglass
University of Regina President’s Art Collection; Gift of Dr. Morris C. Shumiatcher, O.C., S.O.M., Q.C. and Dr. Jacqui Clay Shumiatcher, S.O.M., C.M., 2016; sc.2016.48
© Jack Sures. Reproduced with the permission of the artist.

Jack Sures (1934–2018) was born in Brandon, Manitoba. His formal education involved a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Manitoba in 1957, and Master’s degree in Painting and Printmaking from Michigan State University in 1959. Sures travelled around Europe and the Middle East, continually learning as he went, before he returned to Canada to set up his own ceramics studio in Winnipeg. In 1965, Sures moved to Regina to set up the Ceramics and Printmaking program at the University of Saskatchewan’s Regina Campus. Only four years later, he was made Department Chair of Visual Arts (1969-1971), and when Sures retired in 1998, he was given Professor Emeritus status. Sures’ ceramics are in the collections of the MacKenzie Art Gallery (Regina, SK); SK Arts (Regina, SK); Pécs National Museum (Pécs, Hungary); Canada Council Art Bank (Ottawa, ON); Winnipeg Art Gallery (Winnipeg, MB); Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal, QC); Canadian Guild of Crafts (Montreal, QC); and Remai Modern (Saskatoon, SK). He also won the extremely prestigious Saidye Bronfman award in 2018.

This Jack Sures ceramic and fiberglass wall hanging is the epitome of Rocky Winter because of its texture, colour, and 3-dimensional uniqueness. It is the stop and start, the anchor, to this room. There is one other work in this project that is 3-dimensional which compliments the Sures, though it has a different feel.

Drew Josvanger

Ivan C. Lonechild Untitled (Loon with Young), 2007
Paint on canvas
University of Regina President’s Art Collection; Gift of the Estates of Beverly and Glen Straker, 2025; pc.2025. © Ivan C. Lonechild.

Ivan Clark Lonechild was a painter and printmaker, focusing on themes of birds, animals, water, plants, and the land. His work is a unique mixture of realism and the Woodland School of Art Style. The Woodland School of Art is an Indigenous contemporary art Movement developed in the 1960s by Norval Morrisseau and his contemporaries. Lonechild was born in 1971 in Carlyle, Saskatchewan, and is Cree from White Bear First Nations. His three brothers—Michael, John, and Ken—also became successful painters, and they are all represented in the President’s Art Collection. Sadly, Ivan Lonechild passed away at the age of 54 in November, 2025, in Regina, Saskatchewan. and passed away in November, 2025 (age 54), in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Ivan Lonechild’s depiction of loons on a winter’s lake evokes anxiety, as the adult loon shrieks out a call into the empty air. This piece also starts the carrying line throughout the room – movement left. Onward into the next image of winter.

Drew Josvanger

Greg Hardy
Melting Snow, 1993
Oil on linen
University of Regina President’s Art Collection; Gift of David Kim Jones, 2025; pc.2025.09
© Greg Hardy. Reproduced with the permission of the artist.

Greg Hardy was born in Saskatoon Saskatchewan. Educated at Toronto Metropolitan University (Toronto, ON), from 1970 to 1972 in Media Studies, he is a self-taught painter. His landscape style includes strong use of colour and a bold painterly touch. Hardy is a prolific landscape painter who has been actively exhibiting in both public and commercial galleries since the 1970s. Most recently, he has had solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Alberta (Edmonton, AB); Mann Art Gallery (Prince Albert, SK); and Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery (Moose Jaw, SK); while also participating in numerous group exhibitions across Canada. His paintings are in private, corporate and public collections including Canada Council Art Bank (Ottawa, ON); Remai Modern (Saskatoon, SK); MacKenzie Art Gallery (Regina, SK); Art Gallery of Alberta (Edmonton, AB); Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, SaskTel, and Shell Oil.

The focal point of the wall, there is no denying that this Grey Hardy sets the emotional tone and colour pallet for the Rocky Winter wall. The image of dead grass and exposed gravel reminds us of the sounds we hear under our boots when we walk. The obvious line between land and sky carries the eye again as we move on to spring.

Drew Josvanger

Heike Fink Lichen Rock, 2023
Needle-felted wool and lichen
University of Regina President’s Art Collection; Gift of David Kim Jones, 2025; pc.2025.06 © Heike Fink. Reproduced with the permission of the artist.

Heike Fink is a felting artist, originally from Germany, now living in Prud’Homme, SK. She is self-taught and began working with the techniques of wet, needle, and nuno felting in 2004. Since then, Fink has honed her knowledge and skills primarily through experimentation. Fink is known for her felted animal, rocks, abstract, and figurative sculptural work, as well as a variety of functional items including silk scarves. She draws most of her inspiration from nature, and the abundance of nature is one reason why she moved to Canada. Fink’s three dimensional felt art has been exhibited at various craft shows and in galleries across Canada, the USA and Germany. She has won several awards for her work including the award for Excellence at Dimensions 2017 (Saskatchewan Craft Council).

Heike Fink’s 3-D work using real lichen (moss) as well as felt fibers makes spring seem tangible. This piece has colour and texture. Its small size makes it unique among the rest and draws the viewer in closer to embrace the Muddy Spring. As well, it is a circle all on its own, inside the larger circle that is time passing through the room.

Drew Josvanger

Sarah Anne Johnson
Untitled (Tree Planters at Waterfall), 2010
Colour photograph
University of Regina President’s Art Collection; Gift of Wayne Baerwaldt, 2024; pc.2024.41
© Sarah Anne Johnson. Reproduced with the permission of the artist.

Sarah Anne Johnson was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where she is still based today. She studied Fine Arts at the University of Manitoba and completed her Graduate studies at the Yale School of Art in 2004. Her art is photo-based, incorporating themes of nature and people in nature. Her final Yale exhibition was titled Tree Planting, and depicted Johnson’s experience tree planting in Northern Manitoba. All 64 colour photographs were purchased by The Solomon R Guggenheim Museum (New York) for their permanent collection. Since then, Johnson has received many awards and grants, including the Grange Prize (now the AMIA Prize) in 2008, Canada Council Major Grant in 2008, and has been shortlisted for the Sobey Art Award in 2011 and 2015. Johnson has participated in The Arctic Circle Residency (Norway), was an artist in residence at Emily Carr University (Vancouver), and residency leader at the Banff Centre (Alberta).

This Sarah Anne Johnson photograph encapsulates everything about the Saskatchewan rainy season. In the image we see that vivid green of new growth, hear the sound of rain drizzling and feet sloshing through puddles, and smell the dirt. Perhaps spring isn’t always perfectly pleasant – literally and symbolically it can be a muddled, muddy time – but it brings hopeful energy.

Drew Josvanger

William Philpott
Saskatchewan Grid Road Allowance – Late November, 2013
Oil on canvas
University of Regina President’s Art Collection; Gift of William Philpott, 2025; pc.2025.20
© William Philpott. Reproduced with the permission of the artist.

William (Bill) Fred Philpott was born in Central Butte, Saskatchewan. He received a diploma in Visual Communications in 1983 from Medicine Hat College, Alberta. As well, he returned to post-secondary studies in 2002 to earn a certificate in “Fundamentals of Art,” from the Art Instruction School (Minneapolis, Minnesota). Philpott’s landscapes explore the prairies, particularly those of southern Saskatchewan. His works incorporate abstract techniques such as expressive brush strokes and dripping marks that are left to dry. Philpott has explained: “I don’t go after the fine details. I want to capture the mood, the character of a place.” Philpott’s paintings have been exhibited in solo exhibitions in Swift Current, Moose Jaw, and Morse and in numerous group exhibitions across Saskatchewan. His work is represented in the Medicine Hat College Collection (Medicine Hat, AB); SK Arts Permanent Collection (Regina, SK); and in many private collections.

Lastly, William (Bill) Philpott depicts a Saskatchewan landscape in late November, when the two halves of our story are caught together at the same time. This work is an example of both the rocky and the muddy,the literal and symbolic, preparing to endure and preparing to change. The colours are dull but the whipping wind and tall grass are anything but dull. The vertical line made by the dirt track compels you to turn back around to the winter’s wall and begin the year’s cycle again.

Drew Josvanger