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Kathryn (Kate) Anne Davis was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1951. She attended Bradley University from 1969 to 1973 where she graduated with an undergraduate degree in art history. From 1974 to 1976 Davis attended the University of Chicago for graduate studies in art history, with a focus on contemporary art. From 1977 to 1980 Davis attended the University of New Mexico. After finishing her graduate studies she moved to Canada in 1981 and in 1982 she got job as Registrar at the Edmonton Art Gallery. She later advanced to the role of Photography/Curatorial Manager. It was here that she realized her calling as a museum administrator and started her successful and fulfilling life long career.

Davis moved to Calgary in 1986 after accepting the Director of Programs job at the Glenbow Museum. In 1993 Davis moved to Manitoba where she worked as the Deputy Director at the Winnipeg Gallery. In 1997, Davis became the Director of the Mackenzie Art Gallery in Regina. During her twelve years working there, Davis transformed the traditional art gallery into an institution not only of excellence and high quality, but also a gallery with strong community and local cultural connections. An example of this is the artist-led programs directed at youth in the inner cities and reserves.

From 2000 to 2004 Davis served as the President of the Canadian Art Museum Directors Organization (CAMDO). Davis was a board member for the Canadian Museum Association and for the International Council of Museums. Davis also belonged to many professional committees and juries related to the art community.

Davis received several honours for her work; the highest was being inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Museums Association in 2009. She also received many awards over her life including: the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal (2002), the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal (2005), City of Regina’s Mayor's Award for Business and the Arts (2006) and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Museums Association of Saskatchewan (2010).

Davis retired from the Mackenzie Art Gallery in 2008. In 2009 Davis took a special assignment at the Art Gallery of Ontario, hoping change in career would bring her personal growth. However, Davis became ill with a progressive cancer and died in October 21, 2010.

Nationally and internationally acclaimed artist, Joe Fafard, was born to French-Canadian parents in the small agricultural community of Ste. Marthe, Saskatchewan. He attended the University of Manitoba (BFA 1966) and Pennsylvania State University (MFA 1968).

He taught at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina College from 1968 to 1974 and was visiting lecturer at the University of California at Davis in 1980-1981. Joe Fafard was a distinguished full time artist and sculptor who resided on an acreage near Lumsden, Saskatchewan.

Fafard was one of Canada’s leading professional visual artists and has exhibitions of a wide variety of work in galleries and museums across the country and around the world, including the United States, Great Britain, France and Japan. He was widely recognized as being at the forefront of his art, and his outstanding contributions to the arts have significantly raised the profile of both Saskatchewan and Canada on the national stage.

He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1981; awarded the Architectural Institute of Canada Allied Arts Award in 1987; received an Honorary Degree from the University of Regina in 1989, and from the University of Manitoba in 2007; received the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2002; received the National Prix Montfort in 2003; received the Lieutenant Governor’s Saskatchewan Centennial Medal for the Arts in 2005; was named CTV Citizen of the Year in 2006; and most recently received the Saskatchewan Arts Board Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.

In the early 1970’s, much of his sculpture used clay as a medium. In 1985, he shifted to bronze as his chief sculptural medium, successfully establishing a foundry in Pense.

His insight and humour characterize his portraits of neighbors, farm animals, and famous artists that he came to respect as he learned his craft. His work in bronze is displayed across Canada and his ‘cows’ have become one of his trademarks.

David Gilhooly was born in Auburn, California, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree (1965) and a Master of Arts degree (1967) from the University of California at Davis. There he studied principally with the sculptor Robert Arneson.

Gilhooly studied at the studio, TB-9 where he was one of the founders of “The Funk Ceramic Movement”. Davis is 80 miles east of San Francisco so their movement is often associated with the San Francisco Bay Area. Others in the movement include Margaret Dodd, Chris Unterseher, Peter Vandenberge and of course, Robert Arneson. He is now a well-known sculptor and printmaker, who is especially recognized for his ceramic sculpture of animals, food, planets and the “FrogWorld”. In 1982 Gilhooly started exploring plexiglas as an art media and in 1995 he officially gave up clay and the plexiglas work to work on what he calls shadow boxes, assemblages of found objects. As the 21st Century began, he also began doing assemblage of jigsaw puzzles and most recently large paintings which incorporate assemblage element. He has also been working extensively with collage that are then turned into prints.

Gilhooly’s teaching career has included the University of California at Davis, in 1975 and 1976; York University in Ontario, Canada from 1971 to 1977; San Jose State College in San Jose, California in 1967 to 1969 and the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus from 1969 to 1971. It was during this time that he influenced and was influenced by Saskatchewan artists, Vic Cicansky, Joe Fafard, Russ Yuristy and David Thauberger.

His works of art have exhibited throughout the world, and from the east coast of Canada to the west coast, he is featured in many publications and his work is held in both private and corporate ad collections.

David Gilhooly passed away in 2013.

Kenneth Lochhead was born in Ottawa in 1926. His major art training came from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia (1945-1949). At the same time, Lochhead studied at the Barnes Foundation, Merlon, Pa., from 1946 to 1948. Several scholarships allowed him to study in England, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and western Canada. After several short assignments, Lochhead was hired by the University of Saskatchewan, Regina College, in 1950 to direct the School of Art. He was also charged by Dean Riddell to develop what became the Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery.

Under Lochhead's guidance, both the School and the Gallery flourished, attracting vibrant personalities and generating excitement. At this time Lochhead developed a distinctive style, producing such notable works as "The Kite" (1952), "The Dignitary" and "The Bonspiel" (1954). As well, he began to win major commissions, completing an enormous wall mural at Gander Airport in Newfoundland in 1957-58.

It was Lochhead's influence on the Emma Lake Artists' Workshops, however, that attracted the most attention to the prairie region. With the summer series led by such New York artists as Herman Cherry, Barnett Newman, Kenneth Noland, and Jules Olitski, international attention was suddenly focused to the north.

With Art McKay, Ron Bloore, Ted Godwin, and Doug Morton, Lochhead displayed his paintings at the National Gallery of Canada in 1961 in the show "Five Painters from Regina". In 1964, however, he was the first to leave Regina, accepting a teaching position with the University of Manitoba. He did not stay there, but went on to York University in Toronto and finally to the University of Ottawa.

John Nugent was born in Montreal on January 5, 1921, and studied at St. John’s University (Collegeville, Minnesota). Nugent taught at the University of Regina from 1970 to 1985.

In 1948, he moved to Lumsden, Saskatchewan and in the 1960’s he began accepting liturgical commissions. While expressive, his simple forms were being met with some resistance from parishioners as well as church officials.

After a trip to New York in 1961, where Nugent visited the studio of an American sculptor named David Smith, Nugent’s work was influenced toward welded steel abstractions.

Examples of controversy induced by Nugent’s work include commissions by then Premier Ross Thatcher and also the Canadian Grain Commission. Nugent had proposed an abstract monument of Louis Riel, which was rejected in favor of a more detailed, representational approach. Nugent then submitted a heroic nude figure but was forced to add clothing. This figure was unveiled in 1968 and was removed from the Saskatchewan Legislature grounds in 1991. Nugent’s #1 Northern (1976) was also removed in 1978 from its site in from of Winnipeg’s Canadian Grain Commission building, but was restored in 1997.

The Banff Centre, the National Capital Commission in Ottawa, and the CBC Broadcast Centre in Regina, all have commissions by Nugent and in 1983 a major retrospective, “John Nugent: Modernism in Isolation” was organized by the MacKenzie Art Gallery.

In the 1990s this artist refocused his attention from sculpture to photography and his photography is also found in collections of the MacKenzie Art Gallery, the Robert McLaughlin Gallery (Oshawa), Saskatchewan Arts Board, the University of Regina, Winnipeg Art Gallery and many others. His studio has been designated as Provincial Heritage Property in recognition of his reputation as an important Saskatchewan artist and also as an astute example of modernist architecture designed by renowned architect Clifford Wiens.

John Nugent died in March 2014.

Wilfrid Donat Perreault was born in Albertville, a small French community in northern Saskatchewan, on October 6th, 1947. While growing up, he received private art lessons from noted Saskatchewan artist Ernest Lindner. His art career began in 1964 with the Eagle Pencil Company art scholarship from the Canadian Society for Education Through Art. His interest was on representational paintings but the Saskatchewan art scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s was more focused on abstraction, so he entered university to focus on abstract sculpture. His teachers included Otto Rogers and Bill Epp, also influential Saskatchewan artists. In 1970, he graduated with a Bachelor of Art with Honours in Art from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. In 1971, he received a Bachelor of Education After Degree, again from the University of Saskatchewan, and he moved to Regina to teach at Archbishop M.C. O’Neill High School.

He began painting the back alleys of his new city while teaching until officially retiring in 2003. All the while, he produced hundreds of pieces of art, from sculptures, to water colour paintings, acrylic paintings, and original silk screen prints. He has taught several art classes for the public and sat on numerous judicial and curatorial committees for art shows and galas. He regularly donates paintings to local charities and fundraisers, highlighting the connection he feels to his community.

His art is not just of local interest, however. His paintings and prints are found in collections all over the country, as well as internationally. Most notably, his work can be found among collections owned by Goldman Sachs and Co., New York; Petro Canada, Calgary; Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton; Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Toronto; and Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon; among many others. He has exhibited his artwork at numerous galleries in solo exhibitions in Regina, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Winnipeg, but has also presented as part of group exhibitions in Ireland, Toronto, Seattle, Los Angeles, Morocco, San Francisco, Chicago, and many others. Over his career, he has received many awards, including the Queen’s Jubilee Medal (2003), a Silver Medal while representing Canada at ler Jeux De La Francophonie in Maroc, Africa (1989), and the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2016. Perreault was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and in 2003 retired from teaching.

Perreault married Sandra Thorpe on August 15th, 1969 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and raised a family in Regina. Their daughter, Meagan Perreault, purchased the Susan Whitney Art Gallery from Susan Whitney and renamed the space the Nouveau Gallery. Although he spends most of his time in the studio, he is an avid fan of twilight golf, stating that he goes to the studio to play and the golf course to work. Although he has been an artist for over 60 years, Perreault continues to love his work because painting brings him joy.

David was born in Holdfast, Saskatchewan in 1948 and studied with David Gilhooly in ceramics at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus, where “funk” artist David Gilhooly served as an early mentor to him as well as other artists of the region.

David Thauberger received a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in 1971 from the California State University at Sacramento and a Masters degree in Art in 1972.

He earned a Masters degree in Fine Arts at the University of Montana in 1973, and then returned to Saskatchewan where his importance as an Canadian artist grew.

Thauberger worked primarily with ceramics until 1975 when he switched to painting. He took instruction from “untutored artists” or "folk artists" and through his work as a consultant with the Saskatchewan Arts Board from 1974 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985 he became aware of the work of many of these artists in the province. He was able to research them and purchased their work, he began curating exhibitions and contributing to documentaries and art books about them.

He admires community life, and the values that folk art often represents, believing that through perceptions of place and tradition truly authentic art work is created.

Thauberger’s work is found in numerous public, private and corporate collections, he has exhibited his work throughout North America and is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts. Thauberger’s many awards and grants include his appointment as a member of the Order of Canada in 2008 and in 2009 being awarded the Lieutenant Governors award for Saskatchewan Artist Award. David Thauberger has also served on the board of the Canada Council for the Arts.

He currently lives and works in Regina, Saskatchewan

Mark Wihak was born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan. He made his first short film The Ballad of Don Quinn, which was cited by Cinemascope Magazine as one of the top-ten Canadian short films of the 1990s. His experimental documentary, (stories from) The Land of Cain won the short film prize at the Vancouver International Film Festival and he has gone on to make films in a variety of approaches: Dramatic, broadcast documentaries and film-based installation. He is a faculty member in the Department of Media Production and Studies at the University of Regina.

Norman MacKenzie was born in Sarnia, Ontario on January 7, 1869, and died in Regina, Saskatchewan on January 2, 1936. His parents were John Alexander MacKenzie and Helen (Crawford) MacKenzie. He married Clara Erma McMorran, daughter of Harry McMorran, of Port Huron, Michigan, in 1909. They had no children. He moved to Regina in 1891 and lived there until his death. He was educated at various private schools in Ontario and at Upper Canada College, Toronto. He graduated from Osgoode Hall, Toronto, and read law with Charles Millar of Toronto before being called to the Ontario bar in 1891, the same year that he enrolled as a barrister in the Northwest Territories. He had a law practice in Regina in partnership with George W. Brown. Later he was senior partner of the law firm of MacKenzie, Thom, Bastedo, Ward and McDougall. He was made King’s Council (K.C.) in 1907 and became official solicitor for Saskatchewan and Alberta the same year. He was Public Administrator in the Northwest Territories (later Saskatchewan) from 1898 to 1910 and was official guardian in the Territories (and later Saskatchewan) from 1898 – 1929. He was also a dedicated collector of art. His personal collection was valued at $100.000 (Cdn) at the time of his death. It included painting, etchings and similar works by both local and international artists, as well as archaeological specimens such as Babylonian and Assyrian clay tablets, which be bequeathed to the University of Saskatchewan, Regina College. He was at various times a director of the Canada Permanent Mortgage Corporation, and of the National Art Gallery, Chairman of the Saskatchewan Boxing Commission, Director of the Regina Flying Club, member of the Board of Governors of Regina College, director of the Regina Agricultural Exhibition Association, on the executive of the Saskatchewan Anti-Tuberculosis League, President of the Saskatchewan Art Association, a founding member of the Antipaw Shooting Club in the Qu’Appelle Valley and a bencher of the Law Society from its founding in 1898 to 1919 (and its first secretary).

Lorne Arthur Beug was born in Regina in 1948. He studied Social Science at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus, earning his Bachelor's degree in Anthropology and Psychology with Great Distinction in 1967. It was only after working for a time at the Weyburn Psychiatric Hospital as a clinical psychology intern that he committed himself to art. In 1972-73 Lorne studied ceramics at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus with Joe Fafard and Marilyn Levine, and in 1977 he received a Canada Council Art grant which enabled him to study “Outsider” art in Europe. He then moved to Vancouver and taught ceramics at the Burnaby Art Centre and at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design through their Outreach Program.

In 1982-83, Beug became a student again, this time studying computer programming at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. He then attended the Explorations Symposium at the Banff School of Fine Arts in 1983 before returning to Regina to work as a multi-media artist, fully utilizing his experience and educational background in his work with ceramic tiles, assemblage sculptures and his photo-collages, often large-scale and with an architectural theme. His walk-in collage, (an installation), was titled, Museum and A Tent for the Exploration of a Dark Continent, and toured nationally. Beug has also produced digitally printed artists’ books, one of which is included in the new Library of Alexandria in Egypt. He has also co-authored Regina’s Secret Spaces: Love and Lore of Local Geography, with Anne Campbell and Jeannie Mah.

Beug’s work is widely collected across Canada, and he has had over 20 solo exhibitions and participated in over 40 group exhibitions with his contemporaries. Beug has been commissioned for numerous installations for public spaces: among them, the City of Regina Field House, where “Patterned Ground” was installed in 1987; the ceramic floor tiling in the University of Regina’s Riddell Center, installed in 1996; and the terrazzo floor designs for the University’s residences, Paskwāw and Wakpá Towers were installed in 2003. In 2006 the Cathedral Village Freehouse also commissioned Beug for a unique addition for their restaurant, he designed and installed the Freehouse bar that was used by patrons for a decade before new ownership chose to extensively renovate the space in 2016 and replaced Beug’s commission.

Beug continues to create new work and explore new ideas as influenced by his own collecting habits and through his work in collage. His assemblages include incorporating objects into cupboards and cabinets, he has recently engaged in the creation of a series of model ecosystems presented under glass domes. These contain simple abstracted components of gardens with flowers and insects that are automated and interact with each other in sometimes complex and unpredictable ways.