LORNA RUSSELL
Reception: Saturday February 3rd, 2-4pm
January 20 - February 24
Art Placement is honoured to present this exhibition of works from the Estate of Lorna Russell, the beloved Saskatoon artist who passed away last spring at the age of 89.

Born in Saskatoon in 1933, Russell’s artistic talents were nurtured from a young age. Throughout her professional career, which spanned more than six decades, she influenced and inspired many, both as an artist and as an art-educator. In her life and her painting, she returned again and again to her favorite landscapes, crafting beautiful images that stand as a testament to her love of nature in general, and of the Saskatchewan landscape in particular. Her art encapsulates feeling, emotion, and connection. She lived her life to its fullest, always with an appreciation for the things that mattered most: friends, family, laughter, music, and art. Her works remain as an expression of her deep reverence for the beauty of nature, and the artist’s duty to translate that feeling into form.

Lorna Russell (1933-2023) began her lifelong study of prairie landscapes as a child when she accompanied her father, a University of Saskatchewan plant pathologist and botanist, as he travelled to research and document various elements of the prairie grasslands around Saskatchewan. Robert N. Hurley accompanied Lorna and her family on many of these trips as a lab technician and she was able to observe his landscape painting during these treks. As an adult, she worked as an art educator and consultant for the public school system and various arts organizations such as the Saskatchewan Society for Education Through Art and the Mendel Art Gallery. 

The exhibition features a selection of works in a variety of mediums, including pastel, ink, gouache, watercolour, and oil. Spanning several decades, the paintings and drawings highlight Russell’s versatility working with different mediums as well as her evolution through different stylistic periods. Over her six-decade career, Russell’s distinctive prairie landscapes have been exhibited across Canada in various solo and group exhibitions and can be found in many private and public collections.