Dear Members,

This is my first letter as incoming President of TFVA. I am honoured to be part of an organization with so many talented members.

Founders Achievement Award 2025: Dr. Gerald McMaster

We were so fortunate that Gerald McMaster was the speaker for our final lecture in the TFVA spring series. This provided an occasion to present him with his 2025 Founders Achievement award in person and hear him speak. His lecture was terrific and provided a fitting conclusion to the series focusing on Artists of the Prairies. 

The May 13 presentation of the Founders Achievement Award to Gerald McMaster can be viewed here.

As well, we recorded Gerald’s lecture and you can watch it here.

Farewell to our 2024-2025 Board
Alice Adelkind, Sharon Bacal and Sue Pielsticker brought their professional  expertise to our Board over many years – in the case of Alice Adelkind, since our organization was created 27 years ago! Heartfelt thanks to all of you for your dedication and commitment.

Rita Daniel has been our wonderful President for the past two years, and prior to  the President’s role she chaired several Board committees. At our AGM, Rita spoke of how much she enjoyed working with the Board and Committees…. Rita….the pleasure was ours as well! We salute you Rita for your many contributions to TFVA.

We were delighted to learn that our own Frances Price, founding member and past-president, will be awarded the MOCA 2025 Luminary Award for outstanding leadership in visual arts. Frances and her husband Tim will be honoured on December 3, 2025.  Congratulations Frances!

Member Survey
Our organization continues to be strengthened when we ask you to tell us how we are doing,  and how we could do things more effectively. A member survey will go out in the next while and we encourage you to take some time to respond. Thanks in advance for doing so!

Welcome New Members
We are delighted that 25 new members will be joining TFVA in 2025-2026. We’ll host an opening reception for them in mid-June so they can meet the Board and learn more about us.

We warmly welcome: Susan Ades, Marisa Bergagnini, Tara Bramall, Janet Burt, Pat Davidson, Ricky Englander, Jean Emond, Catherine Fauquier, Maryann Gaskin, Sascha Hastings, Diane Hatch, Betty Ann Jordan, Jeannie Kim, Patricia Lord, Alison McLean, Vickie Macrae, Frances M. Owen, Jean Read, Lindsay Rogan, Alice Shulman, Leslie Stanford, Sarah Stanners, Jacqueline Tilford, Madeleine Werker and Deanna Wong.

The membership committee works hard to provide the ‘personal touch’ to welcome our new members. Each Membership Committee member serves as a ‘mentor’ for incoming new members. 

We agree it’s the job of all of us to assist our new members in feeling comfortable and included when they attend events, in particular throughout their first year. Sincere thanks to Jane Barber and committee members for their contributions. 

Fall Events
We are working on a date and venue for our September Opening Event. We are also planning a talk with author, critic and collector Harry Malcolmson about his new book, Scene: How the 1960s Transformed Canadian Art, so stay tuned for details later this summer.

Until we see each other again, have a wonderful summer.

Warm regards,

Barbara

Barbara Lemaire
President
president@tfva.ca

tfva.ca

Instagram