Thelma Pepper (1920-2020)
Thelma Pepper is well known for her portrait photography as well as for her composite panoramic landscapes. Intimacy is an essential element in Pepper’s portraits. She only photographs people after she has spent weeks and often months getting to know them. This gives her portraits a particularly candid quality. As one of her peers commented, there is a distinct lack of tension in her portraits, her subjects are always comfortable and at ease.
Pepper’s landscape photography evolved directly from her portrait work. As she came to know her portrait subjects, she often travelled to the small towns from which they had come to photograph both the sites themselves, and the experiences of those people revisiting them after many years. The series of abandoned farmyards and run-down farmhouses featured in “Decades of Voices” lead Pepper to embark on her “Places of Belonging” series, which began as an exploration of the towns along Highway 41 that are slowly disappearing or already gone. This series ultimately came to include several portraits as well. The photographs remain as records of a vanishing (and in some cases, already vanished) prairie lifestyle, and changing landscape.
It is interesting that throughout Pepper’s career, one constantly recurring
theme has been the interconnected relationship between people and places. For
Pepper, geography is one of the foundational elements in the development of
a personal identity. Originally from the East Coast, she maintains somewhat
of an outsider’s perspective on Saskatchewan and its people, even though
she has lived here for over half a century. Ultimately, it is this objectivity
- this ability to see beyond the surface of things to uncover the beauty and
significance in the seemingly mundane or ordinary - that makes her photographs
so engaging.
Thelma Pepper passed away in Saskatoon, December 1, 2020.
Curriculum Vitae
Born: 1920, Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia
Died: 2020, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Education:
1943, B.Sc. Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia.
1945, M.Sc., Botany, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec
Exhibitions & Collections
2014 - Highway 41 Revisited The Gallery/Art Placement
Inc., Saskatoon
2009 - Untie the Spirit: Shellbrook - Rosthern - Yorkton
2008 - Untie the Spirit: Red Deer, Alberta - Esterhazy
- Shaunavon - Bengough - Estevan - Weyburn - Kipling - Melfort - Hudson Bay
- Quill Lake
2007 - Untie the Spirit: Fort Qu'Appelle - Melville - Kindersley
- Battlefords - Biggar - Outlook - Prince Albert - La Ronge
2006 - Untie the Spirit: Sherbrooke Community Centre
1996 - Spaces of Belong-A Journey along Highway 41: Mendel
Art Gallery: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
1995 - Decades of Voices-Permanent Collection: Kenderdine
Art Gallery: University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon
1995 - Decades of Voices: Inverness Museum and Art Gallery:
Inverness, Scotland
1995 - Spaces of Belonging - A Journey along Highway 41: The
Little Gallery: Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
1994-95 - Search, Image and Identity: Voicing Our West: Photographers
Gallery: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan -
Struts Gallery: Sackville, New Brunswick - Gallery 44: Toronto, Ontario - Kelowna
Art Gallery: Kelowna, British Columbia - Floating Gallery: Winnipeg, Manitoba
- Open Space: Victoria, British Columbia - Truck Gallery: Calgary, Alberta -
Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies: Banff, Alberta
1993 - Spaces of Belonging - A Journey Along Highway 41: Workshop
Gallery, Photographers Gallery: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
1990-93 - Decades of Voices: Photographers Gallery,
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Gallery 44, Toronto, Ontario Northern Life Museum, Fort
Smith, Northwest Territories Moose Jaw art Museum, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan Swift
Current National Exhibition Centre, Swift Current, Saskatchewan Muttart art
Gallery, Calgary, Alberta Float Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba Acadia University
Art Gallery, Wolfville, Nova Scotia St. Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Eastern Edge, St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Robert McLaughlin Gallery,
Oshawa, Ontario Dunlop Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan Estevan National Exhibition,
Estevan, Saskatchewan
1992 - Woman and the Documentary Photograph: Invited
by Richard Baillargeon as guest speaker, Banff Centre of the Arts, Banff, Alberta
1990 - Saskatchewan Open '90 : Mendel Art Gallery,
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
1990 - Dmytro Stryjek Photographs-Permanent Collection:
MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan
1987 - Saskatchewan '87: Glenbow Museum, Calgary,
Alberta
1987 - Saskatchewan Arts Board: Photographs accepted
for permanent collection - Regina, Saskatchewan
1986 - National Portrait Show: Photographers Gallery,
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
1986 - Portfolio Grouping: Photographers
Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
1986-87 - A Visual Heritage, Images of the Past, 1900-1930:
Diefenbaker Centre, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Macdonald Museum, Middleton, Nova
Scotia
Awards
2018 Saskatchewan Order of Merit
2014 Saskatchewan Arts Board Lifetime Recipient Award
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