Charles Torville was born in Bournemouth, Hampshire England, he was the son of Rose Blanchard Torville and stableman father Robert Torville. His parents separated in 1897 and Charles was sent to an orphanage in London and there received a brief education.
In 1899 Charles was able to emigrate to Halifax and in 1910 took up a homestead in the Milestone district in Saskatchewan where he worked and wrote his poetry and songs, one can easily imagine him filling in empty winter evenings with words, seeking to find the magical combination that would bring him fame and fortune through songs and poetry. Charles Torville had many interests in life and searched for personal truth through mystic and secret societies such as the Order of the Eagle and the Lily and the Mystic Brotherhood University.
Charles wrote and published three volumes of poetry including "Song of my Soul" in 1965. He retired to Regina in 1966.
Upon his death he bequeathed $50,000 to the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus, which was used to establish the Torville Honour Scholarship, presented annually to a student majoring in English.
John Wallace Thornicroft was born in London Ontario on June 21, 1910 and came to Regina in the 1920s. He joined the Regina Conservatory Junior Orchestra as a young man and since 1927 has been affiliated with the Regina Symphony Orchestra in several different capacities. From 1960 to 1963 John was a first violin section player for the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra and for the Port Huron, International Symphony Orchestra from 1964 to 1967. He returned to Regina for his first appointment with the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus in 1968 when he was hired as an Administrative Assistant in the Department of Fine Arts. John also taught violin at the Regina Conservatory (of Music) and played violin for the Regina Symphony Orchestra where he was concert-master and conductor/director from 1955 to 1958.
Anthony Thorn is the pseudonym of Arthur Goldman, the son of Leon and Dorothy Goldman, born in Regina in 1927. He is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan (BA, 1947) and pursued graduate studies in English literature at the University of Chicago.
Thorn began to paint in 1948. His first studies in painting were in Regina with Kenneth Lochhead followed by studies in figure drawing at the Chicago Art Institute, studies in oil painting techniques with Frederic Taubes at the Banff Centre, studies in stained glass design at the Centre d’Art Sacré, Paris, and drawing at the Academie de la Grande Chaumière, Paris. In 1955 Thorn was apprentice to the muralist David Alfaro Siquéiros in Mexico and studied in acrylic technique with Jose Gutierrez. In later years he studied watercolor and sumi painting with Mataichiro Isoda in Kyoto, Japan, and metal-smithing in Corfu, Greece.
His work has been exhibited with galleries across Canada but also in France, Mexico, the Canary Islands and the United States. About 40 of his works are in corporate and public collections in Canada. Notably in the collections of the Saskatchewan Arts Board and the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and the Greater Victoria Public Library; they consist of paintings and carved works in gold leaf, ivory and other precious materials. Eight of his works in public collections have been honored with the designation “of outstanding significance and national importance” by the Canadian Cultural Review Board.
As an educator, along with various teaching in Toronto, Thunder Bay and Victoria art classes, his main academic teaching was as a Lecturer in Fine Arts at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay (1977 to 1979) and an Instructor in painting for the Department of Extension of the University of Victoria (1981 to 1984) He wrote as an art reviewer and critic for the publication Toronto Citizen (1971 to 1972)
Anthony Thorn lived in Victoria, British Columbia until his death in July 2014.
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