THE GUSHUL RESIDENCY
Every year, the Southern Alberta Art Gallery hosts visiting artists and writers in the Gushul Studio and Cottage. The Gallery’s Gushul Residency is a long-standing program that invites artists from around the world to visit the mountain town of Blairmore, Alberta to encounter the spectacle of Frank Slide, the rich history of the Crowsnest Pass, and the vastness of the foothills.
Gushul residencies are a regular and complimentary program that enhances SAAG’s exhibitions. In the process of developing an exhibition, artists may be invited by the Gallery to attend the Gushul Residency to broaden their experience in Southern Alberta. Artists are invited to the residency if their exhibition is particularly ambitious or if their artwork and research is especially relevant to Southern Alberta. The residency offers artists-in-residence accommodation and ample studio space for the month of their residency.
The residency is also an opportunity for artists from outside the province to become acquainted with the people and landscape of Alberta, incorporating local histories and experiences into their exhibition. The month-long residency helps artists to develop their work and formulate their future exhibition at the Gallery. In 2020 and 2021, the Gallery sponsored resident writers in the Gushul Writer’s Cottage as winners of the SAAG Writing Prize.
The Gallery’s Gushul Residency program is made possible through a partnership with the University of Lethbridge Faculty of Fine Arts.
ABOUT THE GUSHUL
The Gushul Studio and Cottage, situated in the town of Blairmore, Alberta, Canada, opened in 1988 as a site for creative residencies for professional artists and writers. Owned by the University of Lethbridge and managed by the Gushul Residency Program Committee, this facility has hosted over 200 artists, scholars, and other professionals, and has offered inspiration and sanctuary for the production of their work.
Thomas Gushul (1891-1962), a prolific and pioneering Canadian photographer, founded the studio in Blairmore where he lived and worked with his wife Lena. In the early 1980s the studio was restored and registered as a historic resource by the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation. Today it remains an important cultural resource for the Crowsnest Pass community. Over the years, the facility has undergone significant upgrades to its infrastructure and to its residency programs.
While the Gushul Studio and Cottage are owned and operated by the University of Lethbridge, anyone can book a stay.
Mandy Espezel’s works in progress during their 2021 Gushul Residency.
Gushul Studio during Tyler Los-Jones’ residency. Photo credit: Tyler Los-Jones.
PAST GUSHUL RESIDENCY ARTISTS
Ryland Fortie (2023)
Gabi Dao (2022)
Mandy Espezel (2021)
Pamela Medland - SAAG Writing Prize Winner, Poetry and Prose (2020)
Faye HeavyShield (2019)
Richard Ibghy & Marilou Lemmens (2016)
Anton Ginzburg (2016)
Tyler Los-Jones (2015)
Keith Langergraber (2014)
Mitch Robertson (2013)
Marcus Coates (2012)
Susan Detwiler (2010)
Kelly Richardson (2009)
Jean van Wijk (2008)
Markus Shwander (2008)
Robin Arseneault (2007)
Tim Watkins (2001)
Jocelyne Alloucherie (2000)
Gisele Amantea and Peter White (2000)
Geoffrey James (1999)
Gunilla Josephson (1999)
Hamish Fulton (1999)
Annette Merkenthaler (1999)
Susan Turcot (1997)