Connect with us

Alberta

Meet Internationally Acclaimed Central Alberta Artist David More Saturday at Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery

Published

4 years ago

5 minute read

An exploration of the garden through a lifetime of artwork by noted western Canadian painter David More.

Book launch with artist on Saturday, September 11, 2021, from 2:00-4:00 PM, at the Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery (MAG) – public and media welcome.

As Red Deer’s cultural scene grows and matures, it is important to build a record of those who have made the path, inspired us, and used their creative talent to expand our perception of the world around us.

Greatest Garden: The Paintings of David More is a celebration of Benalto landscape painter David More’s engagement with the garden as a multifaceted subject. Featuring over fifty original artworks, this book encompasses a career spent in conversation with gardens in their many and varied forms. With lively brushwork, a keen sense of colour, and an aptitude for expressive drawing and varied composition, More has found the garden in expected and unexpected places.

David More will be onsite for the book launch at the Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery (MAG) on Saturday, September 11, 2021, from 2-4pm.

Come meet the artist and pick up your signed copy of this beautiful collection of artworks for the member’s price of $30 (September 11 only; regular price is $40). This book is published by University of Calgary Press.

Words from Executive Director, Lorna Johnson:

“The Board and Staff of the MAG are so proud of this publication. It was a delight to work with Dave, Mary-Beth and the University of Calgary Press to realize our vision for a publication that would reflect Dave’s work and celebrate his generous gift of works to the MAG. It is an important milestone in documenting the art history of Central Alberta.”

Words from David More  

“Being the subject of a book is truly a privilege during one’s lifetime. Greatest Garden: The Paintings of David More allows for the vision my wife Yvette and I share to reach a much wider world.  Just as importantly, this book brings the Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery to the international stage, where it deserves to be. Lorna Johnson and her amazing team have raised the profile of the Red Deer MAG to unimagined heights during her tenure. Working with delightful author Mary-Beth Laviolette and the distinguished University of Calgary Press over the last year has given us a most memorable journey.”

David More and his wife Yvette Brideau, donated 200 of his paintings and drawings to the Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery in 2019. In that same year, to recognize Dave’s generous gift, the MAG hosted a retrospective exhibition of his work that was curated and organized by independent curator Mary-Beth Laviolette. As an extension of her research, and in celebration of Dave’s artistic achievements, Mary-Beth also wrote Greatest Garden. Published by the University of Calgary Press, Greatest Garden beautifully examines the multiple subjects that have captured Dave’s attention and imagination over the years, and reflects the evolution of his artistic practice.

About David More

David More is one of western Canada’s exceptional painters. Based in the rural hamlet of Benalto, near Red Deer Alberta, he is part of a generation of landscape artists who emerged in the 1970s to make beauty out of the ordinary and challenge the expected with bold acts of creation.

Throughout his career, More has returned to the garden as a deeply functional yet ritualistic space of human endeavour. The garden is a place of shelter and sanctuary, of colour and fragrance, of order and wilderness. The garden is a private space, carefully tended and planted, observed en plein air or through the living-room window. The garden is a public space, a park where people gather to let their natures blossom. The garden is the world, the nature that sustains and surrounds us, the environment we all live within, and all have a responsibility to cultivate and tend.

 

About the Author

Mary-Beth Laviolette is an independent curator and writer with a visual art practice spanning forty years. She is the author of An Alberta Art Chronicle and A Delicate Art: Artists, Wildflowers, and Native Plants of the West. She has curated exhibitions for the Art Gallery of Alberta, Calgary’s Glenbow Museum, the Whyte Museum, and more. Mary-Beth is the recipient of many awards, including the Alberta Centennial Medal and Artist in the Spotlight.

Related Topics:
More from this author
Alberta / 3 years ago

Red Deer Museum receives Alberta Heritage Award

Arts / 4 years ago

Yvette Brideau’s photography captures small and silent spots throughout Central Alberta.

Alberta / 4 years ago

Meet Internationally Acclaimed Central Alberta Artist David More Saturday at Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery

Alberta

Cross-Canada NGL corridor will stretch from B.C. to Ontario

Published on July 12, 2025

By

Keyera Corp.’s natural gas liquids facilities in Fort Saskatchewan. Photo courtesy Keyera Corp.

From the Canadian Energy Centre

By Will Gibson

Keyera ‘Canadianizes’ natural gas liquids with $5.15 billion acquisition

Sarnia, Ont., which sits on the southern tip of Lake Huron and peers across the St. Clair River to Michigan, is a crucial energy hub for much of the eastern half of Canada and parts of the United States.

With more than 60 industrial facilities including refineries and chemical plants that produce everything from petroleum, resins, synthetic rubber, plastics, lubricants, paint, cosmetics and food additives in the southwestern Ontario city, Mayor Mike Bradley admits the ongoing dialogue about tariffs with Canada’s southern neighbour hits close to home.

So Bradley welcomed the announcement that Calgary-based Keyera Corp. will acquire the majority of Plains American Pipelines LLP’s Canadian natural gas liquids (NGL) business, creating a cross-Canada NGL corridor that includes a storage hub in Sarnia.

“As a border city, we’ve been on the frontline of the tariff wars, so we support anything that helps enhance Canadian sovereignty and jobs,” says the long-time mayor, who was first elected in 1988.

The assets in Sarnia are a key piece of the $5.15 billion transaction, which will connect natural gas liquids from the growing Montney and Duvernay plays in B.C. and Alberta to markets in central Canada and the eastern U.S. seaboard.

Map courtesy Keyera Corp.

NGLs are hydrocarbons found within natural gas streams including ethane, propane and pentanes. They are important energy sources and used to produce a wide range of everyday items, from plastics and clothing to fuels.

Keyera CEO Dean Setoguchi cast the proposed acquisition as an act of repatriation.

“This transaction brings key NGL infrastructure under Canadian ownership, enhancing domestic energy capabilities and reinforcing Canada’s economic resilience by keeping value and decision-making closer to home,” Setoguchi told analysts in a June 17 call.

“Plains’ portfolio forms a fully integrated cross Canada NGL system connecting Western Canada supply to key demand centres across the Prairie provinces, Ontario and eastern U.S.,” he said.

“The system includes strategic hubs like Empress, Fort Saskatchewan and Sarnia – which provide a reliable source of Canadian NGL supply to extensive fractionation, storage, pipeline and logistics infrastructure.”

Martin King, RBN Energy’s managing director of North America Energy Market Analysis, sees Keyera’s ability to “Canadianize” its NGL infrastructure as improving the company’s growth prospects.

“It allows them to tap into the Duvernay and Montney, which are the fastest growing NGL plays in North America and gives them some key assets throughout the country,” said the Calgary-based analyst.

“The crown assets are probably the straddle plants in Empress, which help strip out the butane, ethane and other liquids for condensate. It also positions them well to serve the eastern half of the country.”

And that’s something welcomed in Sarnia.

“Having a Canadian source for natural gas would be our preference so we see Keyera’s acquisition as strengthening our region as an energy hub,” Bradley said.

“We are optimistic this will be good for our region in the long run.”

The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, pending regulatory approvals.

Meanwhile, the governments of Ontario and Alberta are joining forces to strengthen the economies of both regions, and the country, by advancing major infrastructure projects including pipelines, ports and rail.

A joint feasibility study is expected this year on how to move major private sector-led investments forward.

Continue Reading

Alberta

Alberta school boards required to meet new standards for school library materials with regard to sexual content

Published on July 10, 2025

By

Alberta’s government has introduced new standards to ensure school library materials are age-appropriate.

School libraries should be safe and supportive places where students can learn and explore without being exposed to inappropriate sexual content. However, in the absence of a consistent standard for selecting age-appropriate library materials, school boards have taken different approaches, leading to concerns about safeguards in place.

In response to these concerns, and informed by feedback from education partners and the public, Alberta’s government has created standards to provide school boards with clear direction on the selection, availability and access to school library materials, such as books.

“Our actions to ensure that materials in school libraries don’t expose children to sexual content were never about banning books. These new standards are to ensure that school boards have clear guidance to ensure age-appropriate access to school library materials, while reflecting the values and priorities of Albertans.”

Demetrios Nicolaides, Minister of Education and Childcare

The new standards set clear expectations for school library materials with regard to sexual content and require school boards to implement policies to support these standards.

Standards for school library materials

Under the new standards, school libraries are not permitted to include library materials containing explicit sexual content. Non-explicit sexual content may be accessible to students in Grade 10 and above, provided it is age-appropriate.

“Protecting kids from explicit content is common sense. LGBTQ youth, like all children, deserve to see themselves in stories that are age-appropriate, supportive and affirming – not in material that sexualizes or confuses them.”

Blaine Badiuk, education and LGBTQ advocate

School boards must also regularly review their school library collections, publish a full list of available materials and ensure that a staff member supervises students’ access to school library materials. School boards will have to remove any materials with explicit sexual content from their school libraries by October 1.

School board policies and procedures

All school boards must have publicly available policies that align with the new standards for selecting and managing library materials by January 1, 2026. School boards can either create new policies or update existing ones to meet these requirements.

These policies must outline how school library materials are selected and reviewed, how staff supervise students’ access throughout the school day, and how a student, parent, school board employee or other member of the school community can request a review or removal of materials in the school library. School boards are also required to clearly communicate these policies to employees, students and parents before January 2026.

“A robust, grade- and age-appropriate library catalogue is vital for student success. We welcome the ministry’s initiative to establish consistent standards and appreciate the ongoing consultation to help craft a plan that will serve our families and communities well.”

Holly Bilton, trustee, Chinook’s Edge School Division

“Red Deer Public Schools welcomes the new provincial standards for school library materials. Our division is committed to maintaining welcoming, respectful learning spaces where students can grow and thrive. Under the new standards for school libraries, we remain dedicated to providing learning resources that reflect our values and support student success.”

Nicole Buchanan, chair, Red Deer Public Schools

Quick facts

  • The new standards will apply to public, separate, francophone, charter and independent schools.
  • The ministerial order does not apply to municipal libraries located within schools or materials selected for use by teachers as learning and teaching resources.
  • From May 26 to June 6, almost 80,000 people completed an online survey to provide feedback on the creation of consistent standards to ensure the age-appropriateness of materials available to students in school libraries.

Related information

Continue Reading

Trending

X