Wynona Croft Mulcaster (April 10, 1915 – August 25, 2016) was a Canadian painter and teacher from Saskatchewan, best known for her prairie landscapes. She also played an important role in developing competitive riding in Saskatoon.

Life

Wynona ("Nonie") Croft Mulcaster was born on 10 April 1915 in

Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Prince Albert is the third-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada, after Saskatoon and Regina. It is situated near the centre of the province on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. The city is known as the "Gateway to the North" because ...

. She was interested in

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

s, and often made them the subjects of her early drawings. She was thirteen when she became owner of her first horse. In 1935 she rode in the Prince Albert Horse Show. Mulcaster died in August 2016 at the age of 101 at her ranch in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Education

Mulcaster studied art under

Ernest Lindner Ernst Friedrich Lindner LL. D. (1 May 1897 – 4 November 1988) was an Austrian-born Canadian painter. He moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in 1926, where became a self-taught commercial artist. He soon was recognized locally and then nationally a ...

from 1935 to 1945. One of her motives was to learn how to draw horses. In 1942 she obtained a BA in Art and English from the

University of Saskatchewan A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

. She studied under

Henry George Glyde Henry George Glyde (June 18, 1906 – March 31, 1998) was a Canadian painter, draftsperson and art educator. Teaching career Born in Luton, England, Glyde attended the Royal College of Art in London, England (1926–1930) was a student instructor ...

and

A. Y. Jackson Alexander Young Jackson LL. D. (October 3, 1882April 5, 1974) was a Canadian painter and a founding member of the Group of Seven. Jackson made a significant contribution to the development of art in Canada, and was instrumental in bringing toget ...

at the

Banff School of Fine Arts Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, formerly known as The Banff Centre (and previously The Banff Centre for Continuing Education), located in Banff, Alberta, was established in 1933 as the Banff School of Drama. It was granted full autonomy as ...

in 1946, and under

Arthur Lismer Arthur Lismer, LL. D. (27 June 1885 – 23 March 1969) was an English-Canadian painter, member of the Group of Seven and educator. He is known primarily as a landscape painter and for his paintings of ships in dazzle camouflage. Early life ...

at the

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA; french: Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, MBAM) is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Square ...

School of Art and Design in 1947. Mulcaster participated in

Emma Lake Artist's Workshops The Emma Lake Artists' Workshops are affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. Summer art classes were originally taught by Augustus Kenderdine at Murray Point on Emma Lake in 1936. Kenneth Lochhead and Arthur McKay, professors ...

led by Joseph Plaskett,

Will Barnet Will Barnet (May 25, 1911November 13, 2012) was an American artist known for his paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints depicting the human figure and animals, both in casual scenes of daily life and in transcendent dreamlike worlds. Biogr ...

and

Kenneth Noland Kenneth Noland (April 10, 1924 – January 5, 2010) was an American painter. He was one of the best-known American color field painters, although in the 1950s he was thought of as an abstract expressionist and in the early 1960s he was though ...

. The

Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the federal government's principal i ...

gave her a grant that let her visit major art galleries in Europe in 1958–59. In 1976 she was awarded a Master of Fine Arts at the

Instituto Allende The Instituto Allende is a visual arts school in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The institute provides a range of courses, and offers a BA in Visual Arts and an MA in Fine arts in association with the Universidad de Guanajuato. Its courses and de ...

San Miguel de Allende San Miguel de Allende () is the principal city in the municipality of San Miguel de Allende, located in the far eastern part of Guanajuato, Mexico. A part of the Bajío region, the city lies from Mexico City, 86 km (53 mi) from Queré ...

, Mexico.

Teacher

In the late 1930s, Mulcaster helped establish what would later become the

at Murray Point on Emma Lake in northern Saskatchewan. She was to attend workshops there from 1937 until 1993. Between 1937 and 1943 she taught art to school children in Prince Albert and rural Saskatchewan. Mulcaster became a teacher at the Saskatchewan Teachers' College in Saskatoon in 1943, and was Director of Art Education there from 1945 to 1948. One of her students at the teacher's college in 1947 was

Henry Bonli Henry Thomas Bonli (8 August 1927 – 16 May 2011) was a Canadian painter and interior designer. Early years Henry Thomas Bonli was born in Lashburn, Saskatchewan, on 8 August 1927, son of Tom and Esther Bonli. He grew up in a large family. He at ...

(1927–2011).

Otto Rogers Otto Donald Rogers (19 November 1935 – 28 April 2019) was a Canadian painter and sculptor from rural Saskatchewan whose abstract works reflects his belief as a member of the Baháʼí Faith in unity in diversity. His work has been widely ex ...

(born 1935) attended Saskatoon Teacher's College in 1952-53, where Mulcaster introduced him to

cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

, a style he was to adopt for himself. Mulcaster helped establish the Canadian Society for Education through Art in 1955 in Quebec City. Charles Dudley Gaitskell was elected the first president. From 1964 until 1977 Mulcaster was Associate Professor in the Department of Visual Art at the University of Saskatchewan. Her students included Robert Murray and

Allen Sapp Allen Sapp (January 2, 1928 – December 29, 2015) was a Canadian Cree painter, who resided in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. His art and his story have become known throughout Canada. His paintings tell a personal story, and many feature imag ...

. Allen Sapp made oil and acrylic paintings of life on an Indian reservation. Mulcaster said his paintings were marked by a personal realism, recording the people, landscape, and animals with restraint, freshness and honesty.

Horses

In 1945 Mulcaster became the unpaid instructor at the Saskatoon

Pony Club Pony Club is an international youth organization devoted to educating youth about horses and riding. Pony Club organizations exist in over thirty countries worldwide. Origins Pony Club began in Great Britain in 1929 when the Institute of the ...

, where she taught until 1973. She helped to get a pavilion built for the club on the Exhibition grounds, and managed to obtain noted guest instructors for riding clinics. Many riders were influenced by Mulcaster, including Valerie Johnson Matheson, who represented Canada at the

Pan-American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

in 1967, and Cathy Wedge, who competed for Canada at the Pan-American Games in 1971 and the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

in 1976. Wedge was on the Canadian team that won gold at the 1978 world championships.

Gina Smith Gina Smith (born November 11, 1957) is a Canadian equestrian. She won a team bronze medal as part of the Canadian Equestrian Team in dressage at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, together with teammates Cynthia Neale-Ishoy, Eva Pracht and A ...

won a bronze medal at the 1988 Olympic Games and a gold medal at the 1991 Pan-American Games. Mulcaster was inducted into the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.

Artist

Mulcaster works were mainly in acrylics on canvas or paper. She is known for her prairie landscapes, which show the form and vitality of the land and the sky. She was given a Lifetime Award for Excellence in the Arts by the

Saskatchewan Arts Board The Saskatchewan Arts Board is an arms-length funding agency that provides support to artists, arts organizations and communities. Established in 1948, it was the first agency of its kind in Canada, predating the Canada Council for the Arts by ...

in 1993. As of 2014 she lived in San Miguel de Allende. Mulcaster's work has been widely exhibited in Canada. Richard Simmins, first director of the Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery in Regina when it opened in 1953, arranged an exhibition of ''Ten Artists of Saskatchewan 1955''. He featured young landscape artists such as Mulcaster, Reta Cowley and

Dorothy Knowles Dorothy Elsie Knowles, (born April 6, 1927) is a Canadian artist, most notable for her landscape paintings. She is the widow of William Perehudoff, a fellow artist who is closely associated with the Color Field movement. Career Knowles studie ...

and abstract painters such as

who later became well known. In March 1975 her work was included in an exhibition of ''Major Saskatchewan Artists'' at the

Mendel Art Gallery The Mendel Art Gallery was a major creative cultural centre in City Park, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Operating from 1964 to 2015, it housed a permanent collection of more than 7,500 works of art. The gallery was managed by the city-owned Saskatoon G ...

in Saskatoon. Mulcaster's work is now held in many public and private collections. These include the

in Regina, the Canada Council Art Bank in Ottawa, the MacKenzie Art Gallery, the Mendel Art Gallery and the

Glenbow Museum The Glenbow Museum is an art and history regional museum in the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The museum focuses on Western Canadian history and culture, including Indigenous perspectives. The Glenbow was established as a private non-profi ...

in Calgary.

Solo exhibitions

Mulcaster's work has been shown in many solo exhibitions, including: *1954 Saskatoon Art Centre *1959 Saskatoon Art Centre *1962 Saskatoon Art Centre *1965 Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon *1970 Saskatoon Public Library Gallery *1974 Osman Gallery, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico *1974 Shoestring Gallery, Saskatoon *1977 The Millard Gallery, Saskatoon *1978 Gallery One, Toronto *1979 Assiniboia Gallery, Regina *1980 Gallery One Studio, Saskatoon *1981 Gallery One, Toronto *1982 Gallery One Studio, Saskatoon *1983 Gallery One, Toronto *1983 Galerie Elca London, Montreal *1983 Gallery One Studio, Saskatoon *1983/85 "Wynona Mulcaster: A Survey 1973–1982" **Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, then **Moose Jaw Art Museum, Moose Jaw **University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge **Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina **Edmonton Art Gallery *1984 Canadian Art Galleries, Calgary *1985 Gallery One, Toronto *1986 Art Placement, Saskatoon *1987 Gallery One, Toronto *1988 Assiniboia Gallery, Regina *1989 Galerie Elca London, Montreal *1990 Gallery One, Toronto *1991 Art Placement, Saskatoon *1992 Assinboia Gallery, Regina *1993 Art Placement, Saskatoon *1994 Art Placement, Saskatoon *1995 Canadian Art Galleries, Calgary *1996 Costin & Klintworth, Toronto *2007 Art Placement, Saskatoon

References

Sources

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