I would have met Peter Deacon and wife, Cherry, in the late 1990s.  At the time, I was most interested in the sustainability and protection of Alberta rivers.  I had just come off of a period of time being immersed in the Friends of the Old Man and was looking at the novel, The Diviners, by Margaret Laurence, as a metaphor for inheritance and protection of the landscape for the sake of my children.

When I saw an exhibit of Peter’s work at the Deacon-Ulrich Fine Art Gallery, I fell in love with this piece, The Elbow River…a water colour on beautiful paper.  Framed behind glass, another poor photograph…but a piece that I love for so many reasons.  I’m so happy to have it in my collection.

Directly from his website, this…

Peter Deacon is a well-known Canadian artist and is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. His work is represented in dozens of major public and corporate collections and numerous private collections.

Peter has served as a faculty member at the University of Calgary in the Department of Art since 1975. The recipient of many honors, including the prestigious Prix De Rome, he was also, in 2004, a recipient of the Alan Blizzard Award, presented in Ottawa for cross-disciplinary innovations in higher education. This is the first time a faculty member from the University of Calgary has received this award. 

Born on the Isle of Wight, England, Peter graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Portsmouth College of Art, then attended the University of Wales where he received a Masters of Education.  Later, Peter earned his Masters of Fine Arts Degree at the Slade School of Art, University of London.  He was the recipient of a Prix de Rome award enabling him to live in Rome for two years from 1970 -1972 and he was Artist in Residence at the University of Nottingham in England from 1973- 1975.  

Peter became a Canadian citizen in 1979 and resides in Calgary, Alberta.

From the Virginia Christopher website, this image from Prime Elements.