Emma lake artists' workshops

A summer workshop, it was first held in 1955 for professional artists at Emma Lake in northern Saskatchewan. Founders were Arthur McKay and Kenneth Lochhead, teachers at the Regina School of Art, who wanted a venue to bring in outside professionals to expose participants to the 'larger world of art'. Sponsored by the Regina School of Art, the annual workshop program was discontinued after 1995. Over the four decades, about 80 artists served as outside sources beginning with Vancouver artist Jack Shadbolt and including Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski and Anthony Caro. The program became one of the driving forces of Canadian Modernism. Sources: "The Canadian Encyclopedia"; M.D. Silverbrooke, Art Historian and Collector, West Vancouver, British Columbia.