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SHELTON, Margaret Dorothy
- Born
- Bruce, Alberta, 1915
- Died
- Calgary, Alberta, 1984
- Biography synopsis
- Margaret Shelton produced hundreds of pen-and-ink sketches, watercolours and prints of Alberta landscapes, cityscapes and industrial sites. Despite her promising early attempts, Shelton did not become a full-time, professional artist until later in life, attending teacher's college at Normal School in Calgary (1933-34) and subsequently teaching as well as working at an advertising agency in Toronto for six months. During these years, in her free time she took classes at the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art where she won scholarships to study drawing and painting from 1934 to 1943. While there, she studied under A.C. Leighton, a celebrated English landscape painter, and H.G. Glyde. Shelton also studied at the Banff School of Fine Arts, graduating with a fine art diploma in 1938. In 1941, she learned Japanese woodblock printing techniques from W.J. Phillips and went on to become one of Canada's most prolific and significant print artists. She exhibited with the Society of Canadian Painter-Etchers and Engravers, the Canadian Society of Graphic Art and the Calgary Sketch Club periodically. Other significant exhibitions of her work have been held at the Burnaby Art Gallery, B.C. (1981) and at the Glenbow Museum, Calgary (1985). Her works can be found in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Edmonton Art Gallery, Rutgers University, and the Glenbow Museum.
- Media used
- Drawing
- Printmaking
- Watercolour
- Education
- Provincial Institute of Art and Technology, Calgary, Alberta, 1933 - 1943 (under A.C. Leighton, H.G. Glyde)
- Private study, 1941 (under W.J. Phillips (woodblock printing))
- Banff School of Fine Arts, ? - 1938
- Memberships
- Calgary Sketch Club
- Canadian Society of Graphic Art
- Society of Canadian Painter-Etchers and Engravers
- File & Archive locations
- Calgary Public Library, AB - Arts Department
- Art Gallery of Ontario - Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives
- Edmonton Art Gallery, AB - Library
- Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, QC
- National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
- University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
- University of Calgary Library, AB
- Vancouver Art Gallery, BC - Library
- Winnipeg Art Gallery, MA - Clara Lander Library
- Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
- Glenbow Archives, AB - Main Catalogue
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Writings about- "Block Talk: News, views and issues in the city's northern neighbourhoods." Calgary Herald 2 Feb. 2006: N2
- "Review-Shelton, Margaret, Block Prints 1936-1984 and Down Alberta Roads: Watercolours, Glenbow Museum." Calgary Herald 19 Feb. 1986: D11
- Ainslie, Patricia. Images of the Land: Canadian Block Prints 1919-1945 Calgary: Glenbow Museum, 1984
- Ainslie, Patricia. Margaret Shelton: Block Prints, 1936-1984 Calgary: Glenbow Museum, 1984
- Armstrong, Christopher and H.V. Nelles. The Painted Valley: Artists Along Alberta's Bow River, 1845-2000 Calgary, Alberta: University of Calgary Press, 2007
- Beauchamp, Elizabeth. "Printmaking book timely creation." Edmonton Journal 16 Sept. 1989: B10
- Berenyl, Valerie. "A family room for a family man." Calgary Herald 6 Jul. 2003: D3
- Cochran, Bente Roed. Printmaking in Alberta 1945-1985 Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1989
- LaViolette, Mary-Beth. Alberta Mistresses of the Modern, 1935-1975 Edmonton: Art Gallery of Alberta, 2012
- Laviolette, Mary-Beth. "Jewel of a show." Calgary Herald 11 Dec. 1999: G10
- MacDonald, Colin S. The Dictionary of Canadian Artists. (Volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker) Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2009
- Masters Gallery. Margaret Shelton Calgary: Masters Gallery Ltd, 1988
- McGoogan, Ken. "National book token plan launched." Calgary Herald 31 Jan. 1989: B5
- Reichwein, P. and K. Wall. Uplift: Visual Culture at the Banff School of Fine Arts Banff: Banff School of Fine Arts, 2020
- Ring, Dan, Vanderhaeghe, and George Melnyk. The Urban Prairie Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: Mendel Gallery (Fifth House Publishers), 1993
- Robinson, Michael. "Getting to know the soul of our city." Calgary Herald 22 Mar. 2002: A21
- Salmon, Peter. "The New Islander: March on Victoria." Times-Colonist (Victoria) 5 Jul. 1998: 1
- Shell Canada Ltd. Shell Canada Collection: A Selection of Canadian Art Assembled by the Employees of Shell Canada Ltd Calgary: Shell Canada Ltd, 1977
- Simpson, Jim. "Variety in Form highlights Exhibition: Exhibition by Women Artists." Edmonton Journal 17 Jan. 1979
- Tousley, Nancy. "Isolation Plagued Prolific Alberta Artist." Calgary Herald 19 Feb. 1986
- Tousley, Nancy. "Local art auction brings in $134,000." Calgary Herald 22 Nov. 1989: C4
- Townshend, Nancy. A History of Art in Alberta, 1905-1970 Calgary, Alberta: Bayeux, 2005
- Westbridge, Anthony R. The Collector's Dictionary of Canadian Artists at Auction Vancouver: Westbridge Publications, 2001
