Southern Alberta

Work of the Week: Remembering Joan Stebbins

Sticky at top of newsfeed
No
Article teaser

In remembrance of Joan Stebbins, former Director and Curator of the Southern Alberta Art Gallery who passed away on December 13, 2025, we share her artwork “Heart Attacks.”

Body

Joan Stebbins, former Director and Curator of the Southern Alberta Art Gallery Maansiksikaitsitapiitsinikssin (SAAG), passed away on December 13, 2025 at the age of 84.

Joan had been involved with SAAG beginning in 1979 shortly after the Gallery opened to the public. She worked her way through the organization and became Director / Curator in 1985 and served in that position until her retirement in 2007. Her leadership has been credited with the gallery being viewed as one of the country’s leading contemporary arts institutions.

Throughout Joan’s career, she has received a number of honours, which include The Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artists award, a Member of the Order of Canada, an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Lethbridge, and an RCA Medal from the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

To honour the memory of Joan Stebbins and her invaluable contributions to the visual arts, we present her artwork, Heart Attacks (1979), which is part of the Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Facebook title
Work of the Week: Remembering Joan Stebbins
Facebook description

In remembrance of Joan Stebbins, former Director and Curator of the Southern Alberta Art Gallery who passed away on December 13, 2025, we share her artwork “Heart Attacks.”

Twitter title
Work of the Week: Remembering Joan Stebbins
Twitter description

In remembrance of Joan Stebbins, former Director and Curator of the Southern Alberta Art Gallery who passed away on December 13, 2025, we share her artwork “Heart Attacks.”

Button text
AFA Virtual Museum
Art discipline
Location
Social Media Preview
Drawings of hearts and circles with the letter X drawn through some of them laid out in three rows over a white background.
Collections Database Image
Image
Drawings of hearts and circles with the letter X drawn through some of them laid out in three rows over a white background.
Artist
Joan Stebbins
Title
Heart Attacks
Year
1979
Medium
etching on paper
Collections Images Slideshow
Drawings of hearts and circles with the letter X drawn through some of them laid out in three rows over a white background.
Joan Stebbins
Heart Attacks
1979
etching on paper

Adventure Filmmakers Workshop 2026

The Adventure Filmmakers Workshop is an exceptional chance for independent and emerging filmmakers to advance their skills under the guidance of two of the world’s premier and proven adventure filmmakers. During a jam-packed ten days in the fall, participants will hone their craft, strengthen their skills, and network and mingle with fellow filmmakers, industry insiders, and decision-makers. 

Mountain Writers Intensive 2026

The Mountain Writers Intensive is a three-week residency for twelve writers in fiction, nonfiction, journalism, or poetry. Ideal for projects on mountain narratives, adventure, environmental journalism, and the human connection to landscape, the program emphasizes literary excellence and narrative development. Writers enjoy dedicated time to create, connect with peers, and receive mentorship in Banff’s inspiring mountain setting. The residency overlaps with the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival, offering opportunities to engage with visiting authors, editors, and publishers.

Moonlighter Film Camp - Field Skills - Women's Outdoor Filmmaking Intensives

Moonlighter Film Camps, led by professionals in the outdoor film industry, offer a safe learning environment for women and are designed to enhance technical filmmaking skills.

The Field Skills camp will focus on building your

  • narrative
  • camera work
  • sound capture
  • interviews
  • lighting and other technical filmmaking skills.  

These four-day workshops are open to creatives identifying as women who want to deepen their understanding of crafting content about and within outdoor environments.

Computational Writing 2026

In our Computational Writing residency, participants can better engage with computing to develop their own systems, whether their goals are conventional book publication or other manifestations of literary art. Methods participants can engage include (but are not limited to) templates, document schemata, grammars, Markov processes, rule-based transformation of existing texts, simulation of characters and settings, vector-space models and word embeddings, and work with LLMs —including fine-tuning them and training them from scratch.

Wardrobe Technician Program 2026

Professional Training Program for Wardrobe Technicians

Application Deadline February 11, 2026

Program Dates May 29, 2026 - Jun 27, 2026

This program provides specialized wardrobe skills training in the field of dance, from costuming classical ballet to contemporary forms of dance and changing body types. Participants will explore how to adapt modern clothing for dance performance and how to work creatively within budget constraints when designing and sourcing costumes.