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James Napier McCrorie was born in Montreal in 1936. At McGill University Jim studied sociology and came to Saskatchewan to work with the Saskatchewan Farmers Union. He completed a Ph.D. degree through the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1964 and the next year he joined the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus.

Social activism and teaching were important issues to Jim, issues such as North Sea oil development, Scotland's Roderick MacFarquar, rural development and sustainability. The Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, a part of the International Brigades involved in Spain’s Civil War 1936 to 1939, and the 1935 On-to-Ottawa Trek were also of special interest to McCrorie.

McCrorie became Director of the Canadian Plains Research Center in the 1980's and retired in 1996. He passed away in 2013 and was the author of, or contributed to, many publications.

Arthur (Art) McKay was born on September 11, 1926, in Nipawin, Saskatchewan. He studied in Calgary at the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art from 1946 to 1948 and later studied at the Academie de La Grande Chaumiere in Paris, France, at Columbia University in New York and at the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania.

Returning to Canada, Art McKay was hired as a Special Lecturer in Art with the School of Fine Arts at Regina by Ken Lochhead. He became Associate Professor of Art in 1956 and served as the Director of the School of Art from 1964 to1967.

McKay spent a term teaching art at the Nova Scotia College of Art in 1967-68, and taught at the University of Regina as an Associate Professor until his retirement in 1987.

He attended and helped plan the Emma Lake Artists’ Workshops in 1955 (with Jack Shadbolt), 1957 (with Wil Barnet), and 1959 (Barnett Newman).

McKay is known as one of the Regina Five who exhibited at the National Gallery in 1961. These five artists were considered to be leaders of the Canadian abstract art movement. McKay’s work has been shown all across Canada and in the United States, he was included in the Los Angeles exhibition organized by the New York art critic, Clement Greenberg entitled "Post-Painterly Abstraction" in 1964. Only three Canadians were to be included in this show.

McKay is most noted for his "mandalas" (scraped enamel using circular and rectangular formats creating highly contemplative images which reflect his interest in Zen Buddhism).

Margaret Messer was born in Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan and moved with her family to Saskatoon where she attended public and high school. She graduated from Nutana Collegiate and the University of Saskatchewan receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1939 and a Bachelor of Education degree in 1942.

She did graduate work throughout Canada, the United States and Europe and obtained a Masters of Arts degree in Fine Art Education from Columbia University in New York 1958.

For 23 years Margaret was involved in many of the dramatic and musical productions put on at Balfour Technical School in Regina where she taught commercial art and played a major role in the organization and opening of its present art department.

In 1966 she was appointed Assistant Professor of art education at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus. Margaret remained with the Faculty of Education until 1973.

Messer was actively involved in several organizations. She was a chartered member of the Canadian College of Teachers, an honorary member of the Saskatchewan Technical Teachers Association and the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation, a member of the Canadian Society for Education through Art, the University's Women's Club and the National Art Education Association (USA). She was also past president and secretary for the Regina Local of the Saskatchewan Society for Education through Art and the first woman president of the Saskatchewan Historical Society.

In 1986 Margaret Messer designed many of the stained glass windows for St. Matthew's Anglican Church located in Regina and while she was interested in history and of Saskatchewan artists as well as the settlement of the province she wrote several articles which were published in the Regina Leader Post, she also illustrated many books and journals including historical books, instructional books on sewing, children's colouring books and also science workbooks.

Kenneth Ronald Mitchell was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and has lived in Regina since 1969.

In 1958-59 he enrolled at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (School of Journalism) but failed the course, upon which he obtained a job at the Regina Leader-Post. He worked for some time as a journalist and proofreader at Regina, Toronto, and London England, before returning to Regina in 1965. He then took up studies at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus, earning earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1965 and a Masters of Arts in 1967.

Mitchell taught Introductory English, Canadian Literature and Creative Writing workshops in the Department of English at the University of Regina; he has also conducted senior and Honours classes in Modern Canadian Literature and Creative Writing. He retired in 2005 as Professor Emeritus.

Besides his professorship in the Department of English at the University of Regina, he has been appointed Visiting Professor, University of Victoria 1975-76; Instructor, Banff School of Fine Arts 1977, 1978 and 1980; Scottish-Canadian Exchange Fellow, University of Edinburgh, Scotland 1979-80; Foreign Expert, University of Nanking, China 1980-81; and Foreign Expert, Foreign Affairs College, Beijing, China 1986-87; he was also Director of Creative Writing at the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts from 1970 to 1975.

Ken Mitchell’s stage play Heroes was produced over 50 times in Canada, the United States, England, Germany, New Zealand, Turkey and Scotland. Other poems, plays, stories and articles have been published in at least 40 collections and anthologies. Published works include Wandering Rafferty, The Meadowlark Connection, Cruel Tears, Sinclair Ross: a Reader’s Guide, Ken Mitchell Country, The Shipbuilder, The Plainsman, and Stones of the Dalai Lama. Film scripts have also been produced for The Hounds of Notre Dame, The Shipbuilder, The Giant, and The Dream Seekers.

Ken Mitchell was founding chairman for professional associations such as the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild 1969 to 1971; Grain 1973 and the Saskatchewan Writers’ Colony 1978. He was a member of the National Council, Writers’ Union of Canada, 1974-75; Edinburgh Playwright’s Workshop 1980 and Saskatchewan Playwright Centre 1982; Mexico-Canada Writers’ Colloquium, Guanajuato, Mexico 1982; National Board, Guild of Canadian Playwrights, 1982 – 1984; National Board, Playwrights Canada, 1983 – 1984; he later served as Vice-president, Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild 1987 – 1989, and as President in 2004-2005.

Douglas Morton is one of the senior academic art administrators in Canada. Born in 1926 in Winnipeg, he studied art at the Winnipeg School of Art (1946-47), the University of Southern California, Los Angeles (1947-48), the Academie Jullan, L'Ecole des Beaux Arts and the Studio of Andre L'Hote in Paris, France (1949), and the Camberwell School of Art and the studio of Martin Bloch in London, England (1950-51). His professional artistic career continued in 1951-53 as curator for the Calgary Allied Arts Centre. Although involved in the business world as vice-president and manager of MacKay-Morton Ltd in Regina from 1954 to 1967, Morton took an active interest in art.

In 1961 Morton exhibited with Ken Lochhead, Art McKay, Ron Bloore, and Ted Godwin at the National Gallery of Canada in the show "Five Painters from Regina". He joined the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus in 1967 as Director of Visual Arts and Associate Professor of Art. He left Regina few years later to take up a position at York University in Toronto. From 1969 to 1980, he held a variety of posts, including Associate Dean and Director of the Graduate M.F.A. Programme (1973-76), Acting Chairperson, Department of Visual Arts (1978), and Vice-chairperson of Senate (1979). Morton was also Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Victoria 1980-85, and President, Alberta College of Art, 1985-87.

Throughout his academic administrative career, Morton developed a reputation for effective management and the formulation of innovative and creative fine arts programs.