Member Profiles
The following are profiles of some of our long time members who have made outstanding contributions to the club:
Karen Armstrong
Karen Armstrong was raised in northern Manitoba and graduated from the University of Manitoba School of Art with a BFA (Honours). Karen likes to paint Manitoba’s quieter landscapes but regularly enjoys drawing from live models as a member of the Winnipeg Sketch Club. She has exhibited and won awards in the Sketch Club’s Annual Juried shows, and the Manitoba Society of Artists Exhibitions. As a finalist in the 2014 Winnipeg Portrait Prize, her oil portrait of Adrianna is currently touring Manitoba with the Manitoba Arts Network. Karen presently works as a graphic designer and illustrator and is a member of the Graphic Designers of Canada.
Tatiana Gregoryanz
Tatiana Gregoryanz was born and university educated in Moscow, Russia, with added education at the University of Manitoba. Tatiana is a self taught artist. Her work includes romantic watercolour and acrylic landscapes, floral compositions, portraits, and increasingly, fused glass art. She does commissioned work in pencil and charcoal of children and dogs. Her work is in private Canadian collections and locally at the Fleet, Lacosse, Pulse, Birchwood and Framing and Arts galleries. She has been a prize winner at both the Winnipeg Sketch Club’s Annual Juried Show and at the Creative Arts Extravaganza at the Red River Exhibition. She has had an individual show during a folk song concert by Dmitri Kirshner and has participated in the Annual Juried Glass Show in Prairie Stained Glass Studio.
Pamela Rayner Moore
Born and educated in Sydney, Australia, Pamela Rayner Moore has been fortunate to have taught Art, English and French respectively in Newcastle and Sydney, Australia; Paris, France; and Winnipeg. Always passionate about her initial studies in Art and Art History, she has finally, after retirement from school administration in 2001, been able to consentrate time, other than holidays, to painting and experimenting in many media. As member of the Winnipeg Sketch Club she has enjoyed the stimulus of other artists and has gained awards at several Annual Juried Shows in watercolour, acrylic and pen/wash. She has exhibited and sold work in Australia and Western Canada. She is Past President of the Winnipeg Sketch Club and exhibits regularly with the South Osborne Artists Group Spring and Winter Studio Tour.
George Tanner
George Tanner was born in Winnipeg and has lived there nearly all his life. He is has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Manitoba where he majored in graphic design. He has worked many years in this field, notably for the Department of National Defence and for Winnipeg Transit. He continues to do some graphic design through his own company Tanner Graphics Inc. His time is increasingly devoted to being a visual artist, which is his preference. He is a member of the Winnipeg Sketch Club, CARFAC Manitoba and Medea Gallery Artists Co-operative. He is represented by Grollé Fine Art in Winnipeg. Early in 2015 George moved to Falcon Lake where he is close to the subject matter of many of his paintings.
Fran Partridge
Fran was born in the Boston area of Massachusetts where she met her husband and, as a war bride, came to Canada. It was more than a bit of culture shock going from Boston to Hamiota (no electricity or running water and no central heat). While Fran never received a formal art education, she has taken the initiative to participate in countless dozens of art workshops in nearly all media. She has been a mother at home to six children over a 25 year period and didn’t begin as an artist until after that time!
Fran has been a WSC member for over 36 years and was unanimously elected a life member. She has been an MSA member 14 years and was a member of the Medea Gallery for over 26 years (two years after its birth). She was also on the ground floor in helping to establish the Manitoba Printmakers Association (now on Martha St.). Fran is an incredibly versatile artist, producing quality work in watercolour, pastels, printmaking (woodcuts are her favourite medium) and mixed media (including Watercolour/Collage). She specializes (but is not limited to ) in still life and landscapes. As a young girl, Fran was influenced by the portraits from some of the Masters and was later heavily influenced by past WSC member Edith Botterill, as well as Neil Hoogstraten and Leo Mol. It was as a portrait artist specializing in pastels that Fran first cut her teeth as an artist 45 years ago and as good as she is now, she just keeps on getting better!
Rob Sim
Most WSC members know Rob Sim as our former (seemingly) tireless model convenor. Under Rob’s stewardship, our model nights continued to be the underpinning of our Club and consistently feature an interesting array of models. Rob’s own sketching has evolved over the years into a technique that is unmistakably his own and of a very high quality.
Rob attended the School of Art at the University of Manitoba (1985-89) and his main interests continue to be figurative sculpture and figurative drawing. His sculpture pieces are usually modeled in clay and then cast in plaster or concrete. In his drawing, Rob will use any and all available media. Additionally, he does landscape and still-life paintings in water soluble oils or watercolours, as well as making found piece assemblages.
Rob counts Velazquez, Degas, and Homer among his favourite artists. Rob recently received a short term project grant from the Manitoba Arts Council to attend a mould-making workshop in Easton, Pennsylvania, given by Polytek Development Corp. In the past few years, Robxs sculptures have represented the only three dimensional works submitted to our Annual Juried Exhibitions. Rob is hoping to start up a once per week sculpture session with other interested WSC members. Any WSC members who are interested should call Rob for more information. His work is shown regularly at Gurevich Fine Art in Winnipeg.
Former members
John Crabb
John O. Crabb, (May 1929 – February 2019) was an honourary life member of the Winnipeg Sketch Club. For over 35 years beginning in 1970, John was benefactor to, and active supporter of the Winnipeg Sketch Club, making available a permanent space for their use. In recognition and appreciation of this, each member contributed an original piece of work which was bound into a book of thanks and presented to John in 1979.His interest in art began in his mid-teens when his family acquired a number of colour reproductions of watercolours by English born artist Walter J. Phillips from Stovel Printers in Winnipeg. He and his father sat at the kitchen table, tipping them into yearly Christmas cards which were sent to family and friends across Canada and the United Kingdom. This was the impetus for John’s second career and lifelong passion as a collector, most notably of decorative works of art with special focus on English (UK) silver objects from the 1700s to the 1900s, and works of art including watercolour and oil paintings, colour woodcuts, wood engravings, original prints and sculptures. John was especially drawn to, and supportive of the works of Western Canadian artists whom he felt did not receive the acclaim that more established Eastern artists enjoyed. In the 1960s, John began collecting the life work of Walter J. Phillips as a personal Canadian centennial project. Over the next 50 years, John assembled the largest collection of Phillips’ work which he loaned to numerous art galleries in Canada for retrospective shows. He was instrumental in working with business and government leaders to establish the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden in 1992 and refurbish the Assiniboine Park Pavilion and establish the Pavilion Gallery in 1998 to house the collections of the work of Clarence Tillenius and Ivan Eyre. At that time, John donated a significant portion of his personal collection of Walter J. Phillips art to be displayed in the John P. Crabb – Walter J. Phillips Gallery. John researched, wrote and led or collaborated in the assembling of countless art exhibitions including extensive loans of materials to art institutions in Canada. Of particular importance was the cross-Canada tour of Walter J. Phillips art to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1970.
Janet Everall
In a unanimous show of support and appreciation, longtime WSC member Janet Everall was officially conferred the title of Life Member at our 2003 AGM. Ms. Everall enjoyed a long (40 years) and rewarding career as a junior high school teacher, including a two year term in Germany. Janet is the niece of Lynn Sissons, one of the most illustrious members in our Club’s history. Janet was and continues to be influenced by Ms. Sisson’s watercolour landscapes. It was past WSC member Enid Alcock who encouraged Janet to begin painting. Janet enrolled at the Riding Mountain National Park Summer Arts Program and the wheels were set in motion!
Janet joined the Sketch Club in 1975 and became its president in 1986. She served as a WSC council member for eons and is probably best remembered as a very capable treasurer. Janet was a true advocate of our Club and her years of service and concern for its well being bear that out. A Life Membership is our Club’s ultimate expression of appreciation to one of its own and it is in that spirit that we honour Janet.
Sadly, Janet Everall passed away April 27,2011. In her will she left the club a sum of money which was used to purchase new easels. A small plaque acknowledging Janet’s contribution was attached to each of these easels.
Tom Andrich
Tom Andrich was born in Winnipeg. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and Teachers Certificate from the University of Manitoba. Tom has instructed drawing and painting classes at The Forum Art Institute since 1990 and conducted workshops in Winnipeg and in rural townships. Tom does commissions of all types: portraits, landscapes etc.- working in all mediums. In 2014 Tom was commissioned to do a portrait of Chief Justice Charles Rhodes Smith that now hangs in the Manitoba Law Courts Building. CBC, CTV and Shaw have hired Tom to do courtroom drawings for some of the major court cases in Winnipeg. Tom has participated in Public Art projects including eleven Winnipeg murals, two of the “Bears” on Broadway and the traffic boxes on the north side of Portage Avenue from Main to Spence Street. These are now to be found in his front yard.
Zahra Baseri
Zahra Baseri is an international undergraduate student at the University of Manitoba, School of Art. She has a background in engineering. At the moment she is focusing on drawing and graphic design. She enjoys using various media such as graphite, ink, watercolour, marker, pen etc. Her aim is to develop a career in design and illustration using drawing techniques. She has been a member of the Winnipeg Sketch Club and has exhibited in several of their Annual Juried Shows while also having exhibited in several on-campus and off-campus group shows since she moved to Winnipeg in 2011.
Ruth Clare
Ruth clare has primarily lived in the St Adolphe community. Art, in the form of drawing, sketching, and water colour have dominated from an early age. Her interest started with an exceptional teacher who ignited her creative expression. After a degree in Home Economics and Education, she started a Masters in Art Education. She took many classes in art history and studio courses. She is a member of a few art groups, primarily the Winnipeg Sketch Club. She has taught art to various groups and continues to develop classes. She has won recognition for her art in water colour, pen and ink, plus pencil crayon.
Maureen Johnson (1936 – 2018)
Born in Brandon to Jack and Florence Sills. Maureen lived in Neepawa, Virden, Kenton, Ethiopia, Houston and Winnipeg.
Maureen was a life-member of the Winnipeg Sketch Club. She served on the executive council and participated regularly in their annual exhibitions where her watercolours often won awards, Maureen believed that her times with the Winnipeg Sketch Club and Medea Gallery were wonderful and kept her inspired. Her artwork connected with a lot of people, which was personally very rewarding. Financially – not so much. Working at the University of Manitoba for 16 years brought new challenges (computers arrived) and new friends. Her travels included; Canada coast to coast, throughout the US, to Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, Mexico and Cuba.
Hildegard Sen
Hildegard Sen was born in Germany and resided in Winnipeg since 1961. She has traveled widely and studied Art in Calcutta, India, and Namur, Belgium. At the University of Manitoba she has earned a B.Ed. degree after which she taught French, German and Art at a Winnipeg high school. She gained a Fine Arts degree and workrs as a potter, printmaker and painter. Her work has been exhibited on many occasions in Germany, Toronto, Calgary and Manitoba with sales through many local galleries including the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Art Sales and Rental. Her work reflects her keen appreciation of nature and the many varied aspects of our natural and historical surroundings which appealed to her sense of beauty and harmony. She was a member of the Winnipeg Sketch Club, the Manitoba Printmakers Association and the Manitoba Society of Artists.
Ralph Tanchak
Ralph Tanchak was a full time artist who residesd in Stonewall, Manitoba. He was a self taught artist who studied landscape, floral, portraiture, human figures, animals and caricatures. His fine snow sculptures were well presented on the streets of Winnipeg, Stonewall, Riverton and Dauphin. He represented Canada in the International Snow Sculpture Symposium at Festival du voyageur, 2010. His weekly editorial cartoons appeared in the Stonewall Teulon Tribune. An award winner with the Winnipeg Sketch Club and Interlake Juried shows, Ralph continues to shared his gift as an “Artist in the School”. He displayed and sold work through the Red River Ex and South of the Lakes Art Tour.
Ralph was a board member of the Winnipeg Sketch Club, secretary of the Prairie Oak Regional Arts Council and was also a member of the Selkirk Art Centre Inc.