Barbara Brooks
1941 - 2009
Barbara Brooks was a prolific and well-respected Jasper water-media painter, known locally and internationally. She studied art at Montana State University, and English literature at the University of Washington, Seattle. Her political convictions brought her to Canada, where she lived first in an artists’ commune in Winnipeg, studying oil painting with Manitoba artist Marcel Debreuil, before arriving in Jasper in 1976. She worked at various jobs in the town, including for the Canadian National railway. It was the environment of Jasper Park that inspired her to take up painting again. She first exhibited at the Jasper Craft Fair in 1984. Appreciating the portability of watercolours, which allowed her to paint in the field, she took courses with several well-known Canadian and American watercolour artists through the Trillium Workshops, out of Ontario. Some of her master teachers included Brian Atyeo, Brigitte Schreyer and Jack Reid. Reid was an especially influential figure. From 1989 onwards, she made her living as a painter, occasionally trading her works in order to pay the bills.
Her work ranged from highly detailed versions of the mountain landscapes to more abstract renderings. Her paintings drew attention to Jasper, and were displayed in the Jasper Park Lodge, where they appealed to international visitors. Brooks was the first Canadian artist to have a solo exhibit in South Korea, at Dankook University in 1993. The exhibit sold out, and Brooks was praised for her original use of colour. She was invited back to Korea and to Hokkaido, Japan, in 1994, where she also taught a watercolour course.
Nature, politics and teaching were all great interests of hers, as she was an ardent defender of the environment. She taught adults and children, artists and non-artists, based on the premise that personal development and environmental awareness go hand in hand. She sought to make everyone aware of the artistic potential that nature could release, as it had for her.
One of her prints was selected as a gift to the delegates to the 40th British Commonwealth Parliamentary conference, held in Banff National Park in 1994. In 1992, the Alberta Government Career Development Branch chose Brooks’ work as the model poster for the Dream/Dare/Do program, aimed at showing young people the connection between education and occupational options. She was featured in Art Impressions Magazine, Summer 1994.
Her painting career was cut short when she suffered an aneurysm, which damaged her painting hand, in 1998. She moved to the Alpine Summit Seniors’ Lodge, where some of her works are now held. She struggled to learn to paint with her left hand, and still continued to teach, including at Artists in the Pines workshop. She died in 2009, at the age of 68.
Brooks’ Jasper landscapes are featured in private and corporate collections round the world, including in many Canadian government buildings across Canada. The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge commissioned works from her, and continues to showcase her paintings. Other venues where her work is shown include the Jasper Public School District, Edmonton Public Schools, Misericordia Hospital, and Rowles & Company in Edmonton.
Her work ranged from highly detailed versions of the mountain landscapes to more abstract renderings. Her paintings drew attention to Jasper, and were displayed in the Jasper Park Lodge, where they appealed to international visitors. Brooks was the first Canadian artist to have a solo exhibit in South Korea, at Dankook University in 1993. The exhibit sold out, and Brooks was praised for her original use of colour. She was invited back to Korea and to Hokkaido, Japan, in 1994, where she also taught a watercolour course.
Nature, politics and teaching were all great interests of hers, as she was an ardent defender of the environment. She taught adults and children, artists and non-artists, based on the premise that personal development and environmental awareness go hand in hand. She sought to make everyone aware of the artistic potential that nature could release, as it had for her.
One of her prints was selected as a gift to the delegates to the 40th British Commonwealth Parliamentary conference, held in Banff National Park in 1994. In 1992, the Alberta Government Career Development Branch chose Brooks’ work as the model poster for the Dream/Dare/Do program, aimed at showing young people the connection between education and occupational options. She was featured in Art Impressions Magazine, Summer 1994.
Her painting career was cut short when she suffered an aneurysm, which damaged her painting hand, in 1998. She moved to the Alpine Summit Seniors’ Lodge, where some of her works are now held. She struggled to learn to paint with her left hand, and still continued to teach, including at Artists in the Pines workshop. She died in 2009, at the age of 68.
Brooks’ Jasper landscapes are featured in private and corporate collections round the world, including in many Canadian government buildings across Canada. The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge commissioned works from her, and continues to showcase her paintings. Other venues where her work is shown include the Jasper Public School District, Edmonton Public Schools, Misericordia Hospital, and Rowles & Company in Edmonton.