An enlightening look at the influence of European expressionism on the work of modernist artists of the Canadian West. Evocative of the postwar social climate, the perspective these artists offer can be unsettling, uncanny and disturbing. Viewed together, their work brings a perspective to the province and its people that belies the myth of Alberta as a land of beauty and prosperity.

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Mary-Beth Laviolette is an avid hiker and independent art writer and curator based in Canmore, Alberta, who specializes in Albertan and Western Canadian art. She is the author of A Delicate Art: Artists, Wildflowers and Native Plants of the West and An Alberta Art Chronicle: Adventures in Recent & Contemporary Art, 1970–2000, and co-author of Alberta Art & Artists: A Survey. Recent exhibitions she has curated include Reckonings: Michael Cameron & Karen Maiolo (Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff); Pulse: Alberta Society of Artists at 80 Years (Triangle Gallery of Visual Arts, Calgary) and Alberta Mistresses of the Modern: 1935 to 1975 (Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton). Mary-Beth is also a public speaker and enjoys engaging with the public about art whenever and wherever possible.

Mary-Beth Laviolette's profile page