Location: Link Gallery, Murray Library
Curator: Cheryl Avery
“…the broad range of your interests and knowledge are the characteristics of a truly educated person. It is a privilege for me to be able to identify such a person as a colleague and friend.”
If there is a common thread connecting the individuals in this exhibit, it is that they were all unbounded by the narrow confines of a single discipline. All of them were explorers; all remained inquisitive and open to new ideas, new skills, new knowledge. That they are all past or present members of the University of Saskatchewan community should also come as no surprise. There is curiosity here, but also: creativity, discipline – even doggedness; and a clear sense of connection between people, to others, and with the environment.
“…only a poet and artist can communicate science so well.”
Discovering these individuals within the papers, reports, images and memorabilia they created or acquired over the course of their careers is one of the great joys of working in the University Archives…adding to another common thread: that of gratitude.
“My experience…convinced me I should always seek beauty where possible in my research… I feel immensely pleased that my career has enabled me to experience so much of the beauty of the natural world.”
Thanks to Alycia Bockus-Vanin and Jane Lamothe for their help.
This exhibit includes highlights from the following:
Technically, Sandy’s academic background is in geology and earth sciences: her PhD was Physiochemical and biological controls on barite precipitation and petrography - insights from subaerial barite-precipitating spring. However, she has always pursued an interdisciplinary approach, focusing on the “intersections of narrative and understanding.” Sandy is currently leading USask’s Indigenous Student Achievement Pathways and STEM Access Initiatives. She is also an accomplished short story and fiction writer, whose work has garnered considerable praise. Sandy received the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award in Science, Technology and Research in 2014; and as one nominator stated, “only a poet and artist can communicate science so well.”
Marketa was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from USask in 1997. Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1918, she and her husband emigrated to Canada in 1949. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from USask (English and French Literature) in 1962; and a Bachelor of Library Science degree from the University of Toronto in 1964. From 1964 until her retirement in 1985 she worked for the USask Library in the cataloguing, acquisitions, and collection development departments. It was “her interest in the visual arts, however, which culminated with the publication of the Biographical Dictionary of Saskatchewan Artists - Women Artists and the Biographical Dictionary of Saskatchewan Artists - Men Artists. This impressive two-volume dictionary, described as representing a massive contribution to art scholarship in and of this Province has become an indispensable tool for artists, dealers, educators and museums across Canada. The project required a prodigious scholarly effort and was completed over a ten-year period.” [From the honorary degree citation]. She also received a Melva J. Dwyer Award from ARLIS Canada (Art Libraries Society of North America); and was one Saskatoon's Women of Distinction (YWCA). She died on 6 November 2000. At the time of her death, she was nearing completion of a third biographical dictionary - Saskatchewan Folk Artists.
Bill Sarjeant
