Today, Tanya Fir, Minister of Arts, Culture, and the Status of Women, announced St. Albert's Samantha Williams-Chapelsky as Alberta’s fifth Artist-in-Residence and cultural ambassador.
The residency comes with a grant of up to $50,000. Her term began October 1 and runs until Sept. 30, 2025. As part of her residency, Willaims-Chapelsky will paint 100 plein air (paint outdoors) paintings of provincial landscapes that will be exhibited at the end of her term.
“I’m thrilled for this opportunity and cannot thank the government, ministers and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts any more than saying thank you. I really appreciate this honour,” said Williams Chapelsky at the Calgary unveiling.
The St. Albert painter, whose experimental abstract landscapes focus primarily Alberta’s wide-open spaces, has displayed her work in public and commercial galleries around the world.
She is also represented in a permanent collection at the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and in February 2024, the Art Gallery of St. Albert featured her 13-piece textural collection titled Time and Terrain – Connecting Land to Sky.
“My paintings have been inspired by natural landscapes in western Canada, and the emotion and meaning they convey. My term as artist-in-residence will help to build on my practice, and as a landscape painter, I will paint from locations across Alberta.”
“Plein air painting is a Canadian tradition,” she added. “Painting outside captures the elements and what has inspired so many artists from the past.”
Williams-Chapelsky will be contacting community groups, artists and guilds on how to best plan workshops and plein air sessions in many communities across the province. She asks artists and groups to follow announcements on her social media or through Alberta.ca .