ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

The Alberta Society of Artists is proud to present “Walterdale Artists Choice 2023”, a show & sale featuring the work of Juried & Life Members of the ASA: Debra Hovestad, Doris Charest,  E. Ross Bradley, Ellen Andreassen, Mary Whale, Pam Wilman and Yvonne Dubourdieu. 

This exhibition coincides with the play ‘Harvey’ written by Mary Chase, which runs December 6- 16, 2023 at the Walterdale Theatre, 10322 83 Ave. NW, Edmonton, Alberta. 

There will be a public opening reception on Tuesday, December 5th, 7 pm-8 pm followed by a free preview of Walterdale’s production of Mary Chase’s play ‘Harvey’. The exhibition is free and open to the public when the theatre is open.

For more infomation about each of the Artists please click on their names in the section below to be redirected to their virtual profile. 

The Artists

Debra Hovestad (ASA)
Debra Hovestad is a Canadian painter currently creating in Edmonton, Alberta. She is a Juried Member of the Alberta Society of Artists, a General Member of the Society of Western Canadian Artists, and currently serves as a Councillor at Large at the Alberta Society of Artists. Debra has professionally shown her work in gallery spaces since 1990, and her work is in collections across Canada, the US, Australia, Europe and Mexico. Her background in Graphic Design has given her a solid base in layout and composition and adds to an already keen eye for detail.

Her current body of work depicting unique prairie and skyscapes brings attention to the world outside, a concept which seems to be lost at times in this busy, chaotic world; a place to be in and appreciate, rather than a place to consume. ​

Doris Charest (ASA)
Doris’s love of painting started when a Houston neighbour took her to her first watercolour class, and there, she fell in love with painting. As they say, the rest was history. Painting became a daily activity and exploring the different mediums became the challenge. Doris took classes from various artists in the United States and Canada.

Occasionally travel slips in with her artwork. She was invited to be a guest artist in Québec at La Marée aux 1000 Vagues in Riviere du Loup. She also got a grant to be an ‘Artist in the Community’ where she travelled all over Alberta as a guest artist. When she cannot travel, Doris lets her work travel for her. She has exhibited in the United States and all across Canada. Nature and the world around her inspire Doris. Her love of texture won her the Allessandra Bisselli Award with the Federation of Canadian Artists in Vancouver. Look for Doris Charest’s work in the American Magazine: Sommerset Studio and the British Magazine: Leisure Painter. Her work continues its journey. One of her paintings was part of a show at the Venice Biennale in 2017. Art has become a voyage of discovery, and she follows it to see where it will bring her.

E. Ross Bradley (ASA)
A graduate of the Ontario College of Art and the University of Guelph, Ross Bradley has exhibited nationally and internationally for more than 40 years. Upon arrival in Alberta in the late 1970s , like many before him, he focused on the prairie and mountain landscape. But his early interest in the figure soon took over and the human form took over. For the past 35 his studio practice has focused on working in the studio with the model in drawing, sculpture and photography.

For 36 years he worked as a curator and arts development Consultant with the Alberta Government and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. He has taught adult education programs, including figure drawing over the past 20 years at the Kootenay School of the Arts, Medicine Hat Cultural Centre, EPCOR Center for the Arts and Harcourt House Arts Center. He is a life member of the Alberta Society of Artists and Harcourt House Artist Run Center and has served on the Alberta and Canadian Craft Council.

Ellen Andreassen (ASA)
Born in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, She grew up and went to school in Edmonton, Alberta. After completing the Graphic Design program at Grant MacEwan College she worked as a freelance designer. More recently, painting has become her passion. She paints mostly in oils, glazing with multiple layers to create atmospheric and poetic images. Her process is instinctual and intuitive expressing her love of nature. She finds inspiration in the hills, lakes and fields in an area called the Glory Hills.

Mary Whale (ASA)
Mary grew up on a small acreage just outside of Edmonton. She later acquired degrees in the arts and nursing at the University of Alberta, traveled the world, and gave birth to three daughters, the latter of which was truly life-altering. Mary has been both a practicing artist and nurse for most of her adult life. She has found them to be mutually rewarding professions with intersecting and permeable boundaries – informing each other in subtle ways. Mary expresses herself through the direct and personal connection of commission pieces, which helps build her studio portfolio. Most recently, she has been exploring the therapeutic potential of the portraiture process, specifically as it applies to the latter part of life and the ageing aesthetic. She has participated in the “Artists on the Wards” program at the University of Alberta Hospital and is a current member of the Alberta Society of Artists, the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, and the Federation of Canadian Artists.

Pam Wilman (ASA)
Pam Wilman paints from the landscape to increase the awareness of endangered spaces in Alberta. Wilman’s paintings can be viewed at the Art Gallery of Alberta Art Rental and Sales Gallery and the Art Gallery of St. Albert Art Rental and Sales Gallery. Her paintings are represented in public,  private and corporate collections in Canada. Wilman has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in the United States and Canada. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Alberta.

Yvonne DuBourdieu (ASA)
Yvonne was born in Scotland. She grew up in a small village in Stirlingshire and spent most of her young adult life in Glasgow, she moved to Edmonton in 1990. A documentary filmmaker for most of her life she now splits her time behind the camera and in the studio. Her films have aired nationally on television and screened at film festivals across North America. Many of her films have art, artists and disability art as a central subject. Her visual artwork shows regularly in Alberta.

Yvonne studied photography at the Glasgow College of Building and Printing, drawing and painting at Glasgow School of Art, and graduated in 2016 in Fine Art from the University of Alberta Extension program with distinction. She is an active member of FCA, ASA, EAC, SNAP, CARFAC Alberta and Harcourt House Artist Run Centre where she maintains her studio practice. Yvonne has three grown children and lives in Edmonton with her partner.