Alexandra Luke (1901-1967) and Isabel McLaughlin (1903-2002) were leading figues in the mid-century Canadian art scene as both artists and art organizers. Two contemporary artists, Gwen MacGregor and Teri Donovan respond to and reposition Luke and McLaughlin by shining a contemporary lens on both their personal and professional lives through their individual practices. The juxtaposition of paintings by Luke and McLaughlin with MacGregor’s multi-media renderings of their words and thoughts, and Donovan’s mixed media explorations of historical imagery illuminates the manner in which two modernist women artists affected a regional cultural landscape and inspired discourse on art-making, gender issues, and many aspects of the supportive structures of cultural institutions.

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Alexandra Luke was born in Montreal but lived and worked in Oshawa Ontario. Classes in Banff and associations in 1945 with Jock Macdonald and A.Y. Jackson were followed by Hans Hofmann’s workshops in Provincetown Massachusetts. She organized the first travelling exhibition of abstract art in Canada and exhibited widely, notably with Painters Eleven in 1953.