Ursulina Stepan

Saskatchewan NAC Auction House Biography and Notes

Ursulina Stepan was born in 1934 in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. She studied nursing in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and upon graduating in 1956, responded to a recruiting call to begin nursing in Saskatchewan hospitals. She only later began to study art, through printmaking workshops at the Banff Centre in Banff, Alberta with John Sommers (1978), Jack Lemon (1979), and John Will (1981), and at the University of Regina, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1980. Stepan continued to study through classes and workshops at the University of Regina and the Banff Centre while working as an artist, curator, and instructor herself. In particular, Stepan spent many years teaching at the Neil Balkwill Civic Arts Centre in Regina, and served there as printmaker in residence. Stepan worked in a number of media, including drawing and sculpture, and printmaking. Her work frequently drew on her Nova Scotia childhood and her family history and explored notions of transformation and the passage of time. Some of this work includes installations large enough for viewers to walk through, allowing them to experience the work from the inside. Stepan's work has been exhibited across Canada in group and solo exhibitions, including the Saskatchewan Craft Council Gallery (Saskatoon) and a 2007 exhibition at the Art Gallery of Regina called 'Portal'. Stepan's work is represented in the collections of the Canada Council Art Bank (Ottawa), Saskatchewan Arts Board, Mendel Art Gallery (Saskatoon), the University of Saskatchewan, Banff Centre, City of Regina, and others. Ursulina Stepan died in 2017 in Regina, Saskatchewan.