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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

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