LyleElderFolkArt.com > An Index of Canadian Folk Artists > Alberta

George Markel.

Born: 1910  |  Died: 2006

George Markel. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Southey, Saskatchewan. Active 1980 – 2006.

George Markel farmed in rural Saskatchewan before moving to Regina to work. He retired and moved to Medicine Hat, Alberta where he began carving sculptures showing rural life on the farm. His favorite subjects were Horses and Pigs.

From a Bio by the Alberta Foundation for the arts:

“Markel’s whimsy and imagination also prompted him to create sculptures
with titles such as Sheeposaur in a body of work built from found materials such as jewelry,
fur, branches, buttons, beads, fabrics, and toys.

“Explaining how he came to be a folk artist, Markel wrote that one day around 1975, he was
shopping and saw a china horse sculpture with a harness on it. The price was over
$80—about $350 in 2016. “That was too much for me to pay,” he wrote. “Later on I saw a
horse just like the first one in a different store, but they had a Red River Cart with
the horse. So I asked him if he would sell them separately. He said he would. So I said,
‘O.K., I will buy the horse. I will try to make the cart.’ So, that’s the way I started
making carts and wagons, sleighs, and finally I started carving horse, cows, and bulls.”

“Markel participated in  exhibitions, including the Medicine Hat Exhibition
and Stampede Visual Arts Show, shows at Canadian Art Galleries in
Calgary, and Expo ’86. His works are in the collections of the Royal Alberta Museum, the
Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and the Canadian Museum of History.”

Some examples of the work of George Markel are shown here.

Hay Wagon by George Markel:

George Markel. Sculptor. Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Horse Drawn Cart by George Markel:

George Markel. Alberta. Horse and cart.

 

 

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Edith Hoyt

Born: 1894

Edith Hoyt. Painter. Tadoussac, Gaspe, Quebec. Jasper, Alberta. Active early to mid 20th century.

Edith Hoyt painted landscapes in oil. She is cited in the files of the National Gallery. Her works were sold in the tourist centres of Quebec and Alberta in the 1930’s.

 

Ref: National Gallery of Canada. Artists in Canada. Union List of Artist’s Files.Ottawa. 1982.

Ref: Blake McKendry, An Illustrated Companion to Canadian Folk Art (1999).

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Edward Hagell

Born: 1895  |  Died: 1964

Edward F. Hagell. Painter. Lethbridge, Alberta. Active early 20th century.

Edward Hagell was a painter of naive works in oil. He painted, as a record, his memories of the early settlers and ranchers in Alberta. Hagell also made drawings in pencil and ink on paper. He is cited in Render, 1970.*

“His subjects were a personal attempt to document and preserve the early west prior to the impact of settlement.” (From the Galt Museum site in Lethbridge.)

A pen and ink drawing of a Native American camp by Hagell:

HAGELL. Ink on Paper.

HAGELL. Ink on Paper.

 

 

*Ref: Lorne Render. Glenbow Collects. Glenbow-Alberta Institute, Calgary. 1970.

Ref: Blake McKendry, An Illustrated Companion to Canadian Folk Art (1999)

Ref: Wilma Wood. The Legacy of a Southern Alberta Artist.  Brush Education, 2005.

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Ford Davidson

Born: Active mid 20th century.

Ford Davidson. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Edmonton, Alberta. Active mid 20th century.

Ford Davidson was a naive sculptor. He is cited in “Playful Objects” 1980.*

 

 

*Ref: J. Thomas. Playful Objects. Edmonton: Alberta Culture. 1980.

Ref: Kobayashi/Bird, A Compendium of Canadian Folk Artists (1985).

Ref: Blake McKendry, An Illustrated Companion to Canadian Folk Art (1999).

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Rosie Daneluk

Born: 1915

Rosie Daneluk. Painter. Whitford, Alberta. Active mid 20th century.

Rosie Daneluk was cited in the Journal the Upper Canadian, Jan/Feb 1990.

 

Ref: Blake McKendry, An Illustrated Companion to Canadian Folk Art (1999).

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