See list below for information on artists within the College Collection:

Carolyn Anstee
Kristin Badour*
Robert Bateman
Jackson Beardy (1944-1984)
David Beaucage Johnson***
Richard Bedwash
Chris Beggs*
Piet Bekaert
Lelland Bell
Andrew Bickford
David Bierk
Mirdza Brandt
W.S.W. Breese
Neil Broadfoot
W.R. Bunting
Lisa Calvert
Rosemarie Condon
Ellen Cowie
Fran DeActis
Angela Deluce*
Brian Desbiens**
Laurel Douglas Shugarman*
Suzanne Drouin**
Michael Dumas
Shae Dumas
George Elliott
B. Finan
Debi Fitzgerald
Wilma Foley
Kenneth Forbes
Sheila Foster
Phyllis Hamilton
Juliana Hawke
D.M. Hemmings
Brian Herslip
Rick Kelley
Raymond Knaub
Norman Knott (1945-2003)*
D.E. Lamb
Brooke Lynch**
George T. Marek
Jan Martin McGuire
William C. Mason (1929-1988)
Edwin Matthews
Joe Moch
J.P. Moransler
Crank Nelson
Taisia Paczkowski
Lewis Parker
Kay Patterson
Tom Patterson
Frank Polson
Paul Rankin
Jack Reid
David Alexander Risk
Michael Robinson
Kim Russel
Mary Schneider
Mary Alison Smith
Susan Staniforth
Elspeth Stevenson
Freddy Taylor
Kelleigh Traynor*
Jake Vandenbrink
Klaas Verboom
Henry Vyfvinkel
S. Westman
Phil White*
Jim Wyatt***
Cecil Young Fox

*Alumni
**Current/Former Employee
***Alumni & Former Employee

Jackson Beardy was born on July 24, 1944 at the Garden Hill Reserve in Manitoba. When he was very young his parents sent him to live with his grandmother to teach him traditional Cree traditions. When he was seven, he was taken from his home and sent to a residential school in Portage la Prairie. When Jackson arrived at the school he was forbidden to speak Cree and he had to learn English. The residential school disconnected him from his Native heritage but it did allow him to develop his artistic skills. Once he graduated he studied commercial art at the Technical Vocational School in Winnipeg from 1963-1964. Unfortunately, afterwards he could not keep a job due to health issues caused by his alcoholism. After being hospitalized for ulcers, he returned home to the Garden Hill Reserve but he was more of an outsider than part of the community. Many people did not approve of him painting images from oral tradition and having them in a visual form. 

His first art exhibit was at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 1965 and in 1970 his art was featured in the National Arts Centre in Ottawa to commemorate Manitoba’s centennial. When he and his family arrived for the event, security would not let them in. In 1972, his artwork was featured in the exhibit Treaty Numbers 23, 287 and 1171 at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. That year he was also given the Canadian Centennial Medal award. Jackson was also a member of the Professional Native Indian Artists Association, which was also known as the "Indian Group of Seven”. The other artists in the group were: Odjig, Janvier, Norval Morrisseau, Carl Ray, Joseph Sanchez, and Eddy Cobiness.

Throughout the years Jackson also worked as an art advisor and cultural consultant at the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature, the Brandon University's Department of Native Studies, and at the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in Ottawa, and he illustrated several books. In 1984, he suffered from a heart attack which he recovered from but died of infection a few weeks later at the age of forty.

Born and raised on the Curve Lake Reserve, Norman Knott remained in this small community north of Peterborough his entire life.

Norman's work shown here, entitled "Wolf", is one of a number in the College's art collection. His work draws connections between Ojibwe stories and today through his use of symbolism. His unqiue style has given a wide audience outside of the Kawartha's including art dealers and collectors from across Canada, United States, Great BRitain, Germany and Australia.

The works within the College collection are acrylics, but he also worked in oils and watercolour over the years.

William "Bill" Clifford Mason (1929-1988), better known to many as Bill Mason, was a Canadian naturalist, with a vast creative career as a commercial artist, animator, filmmaker, author and painter. An avid canoeist Bill much of his adult life sharing his love of canoeing and the Canadian wilderness with others.

Bill would line up various colours of oil paint on a glass palette for the day. Using a small palette knife he would mix about five shades of colours. He would then take each mixed colour and pile them carefully one on top of the other. Lifting the large blob of layered paint from the glass he then scraped it across the surface of his smooth paper once. For the next stroke he would start his mixing process all over again preparing for the next application to the paper. Bill favoured the freestyle he was able to achieve in smaller paintings resulting in some of his best paintings ranging in size from 1” square to 6” square.

For more information about Bill’s work and the Mason Family’s creative talents visit www.redcanoes.ca

Michael Robinson was a Canadian artist, poet, glassblower, and printmaker of Métis heritage. He was born in Toronto in 1948 and died in 2010 at the age of 62. Michael graduated from the Sheridan School of Design in Oakville in 1972. His art had a lyrical and surreal style that captured Canadian history and native cultural values, his concerns about the conservation of natural resources, his respect for the environment, and his spirituality. Michael was most known for his ink drawings and etchings and his art was recognized as part of the Canadian Aboriginal Art movement. He received many national and provincial awards for his artwork.

This print by Michael Robinson is called "Spirit Lodge" and was made through the etching process. This process begins by filing down the edges of a copper plate to prevent paper from tearing when printed. The copper plate is then cleaned with rubbing alcohol and coated with a waxy ground which provides a hard working surface. A design or image is then drawn onto tracing paper and placed on top of the copper plate with a piece of carbon paper separating them. To transfer the image onto the waxy ground of the copper plate the image is traced with a soft pencil. This outline will act as a guide when using an etching needle to scratch the image into the waxy ground to expose the bare metal. The copper plate is placed into an acid bath and the acid will “bite” into the exposed metal leaving behind sunken lines. When the lines are at the desired depth and tone the remaining waxy ground is removed from the plate. The process of creating a print takes about two weeks and the plate is re-inked for every print. Ink is applied to the surface of the plate and then wiped away, leaving only ink in the etched lines. Multiple colours can be used and must be applied at the same time. The copper plate is then put through an etching press with a sheet of paper that has been moistened. When the print is removed from the press it is taped onto a drying board. This helps to prevent the paper from buckling as it dries.

This is just one of two works by Michael Robinson within the College's Art Collection.

Mary Schneider was born in Poland in 1900 and graduated from the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts with diplomas in 1929 and 1937. In 1935, she married Roman Schneider who was a professor of applied art in Warsaw. When World War II began in 1939, Mary and Roman Schneider were arrested and imprisoned in separate Russian detention camps in Siberia for two years. Mary continued to draw and sketch through her imprisonment and was reunited with her husband in 1941 before they arrived in Teheran, Iran. Mary became the Director of the Polish Art Workshop in Teheran which provided services for the exiled Polish community, the native Iranian community, and the Free Polish Army. During this time the Schneider’s became close friends with the Iranian Imperial Family. In 1950 they immigrated to Canada and worked at the Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. They later moved to Toronto and in 1963 they established the Schneider School of Fine Arts in Actinolite, Ontario. Mary also became the director of the Madoc Art Centre, a teacher at the Artists’ Workshop, a member of the Ontario Society of Artists and the Colour and Form Society, and she founded the Mary Schneider Art Club. For the Canadian centennial Mary produced prints of twelve Toronto landmarks. In 1969, Mary and Roman Schneider were awarded the Polish Golden Cross of Merit to show recognition for their artistic contributions.

Freddy Taylor was born in 1945 in Curve Lake, Ontario. Freddy was taken from his family at the age of six and placed in a residential school in Brantford, Ontario. After ten traumatic years he returned to Curve Lake at the age of 16.

After struggling with his identity and searching for his culture for a number of years he turned to painting in 2002. His paintings reflect his personal hardships and those of other residential school survivors as they grapple with the theft or their identities.

This work is entitled Healing of a Broken Heart.

Robbie Pachano is an artist and member of the Cree Nation of Chisasibi (James Bay, Quebec).

His hand carved sculpture was a gift from the Creen Nation of Chiasasibi as a thank you gift to Fleming College for the unique partnership in specialized training provided through the Aboriginal Heritage Interpretation Program (2008 – 2014).

Leland Bell is Anishinabe from the Wikwemikong Unceded First Nation on Manitoulin Island. He is Loon Clan and a second degree member of the Three Fires Midewiwin Society.

Leland was one of the young men mentored by members of the Indian Group of Seven at the Manitou Arts Foundation, a summer school that operated on Schreiber Island in 1972. He was deeply inspired by the work of the Woodland artists and with the help of elders has made the connection between the Anishnabe concept of vision quest and his own commitment to living life as a good being.

Leland Bell's paintings are of stylized human figures sharing the affinity of family or friends, often depicting imagery of nurturing, sharing, learning, peace and serenity.

"My art comes from the Three Fires (or Midewiwin) tradition. That is what I believe in. I came to this belief through a dream I had about peace. It was a deeply spiritual experience. After consulting with Elders I began trying to build my sense of spirituality. Then I needed to have an Indian name. I consulted with some elders and asked them to help me find my name. I was given the name Bebaminojmat which, loosely translated, means, 'when you go around you talk about good things'. Then I fasted to prepare my body and my mind to talk to the Creator. This is where my art comes from.

"The Circle is what my paintings are based on. The rounded lines are deliberate ... what I create is something simple and serene and peaceful."

All the paradigms that sustain his creativity exist within his Anishinabe culture. He says that he absorbs what he needs and discards what he doesn't need from other cultures and is committed to remain Anishinaabe.

In the same manner that the first wave of Woodlands artists contributed to his life, Leland Bell has also been an art instructor and has conducted numerous workshops and presentations across the continent.

Leland Bell's work is represented in many prominent art collections in North America and Europe. (http://www.ahnisnabae-art.com/leland-bell.html)