Peter Shostak

Peter Shostak was born and raised on a farm in northeastern Alberta. His early interest in art inspired him to major in art at the University of Alberta. In 1969, he obtained a graduate degree in Art Education and then took a teaching position at the University of Victoria. He remained there as Associate Professor of Art Education until 1979, when he decided to leave teaching and pursue a career as an artist, devoting all of his time to painting and silkscreen printing.

Much of Shostak’s art reflects his memories of growing up on the prairies during the late forties and fifties. Painting vignettes reminiscent of Alberta's past and present, Shostak captures the essence of prairie winters melting into golden summers, ending with the abundance and celebration of the fall harvest. His paintings depict children frolicking in the snow, the beckoning warmth of a glowing hearth on a long winter night, and the endless and endlessly rewarding toil and ritual of prairie life. For Shostak, little has changed on the land and in the hearts of those descendants of the first hardy settlers in the West.