George E. Russell

George E. Russell (1933–2016) was a mature artist and retired art educator whose dual careers developed in parallel and enriched each other. Originally from Saskatchewan, he began his formal art training at Emma Lake, where he was one of only two high school students accepted into a program designed for teachers. A pivotal moment came in 1969–1970, when he pursued a master’s degree in art education at Concordia University in Montreal. There, he encountered the Plasticiens and New York Hard-Edge art, grounding his practice in geometric abstraction.

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Influenced by Conceptual Art, George’s work in both teaching and creation focused on core ideas like perception, illusion, signs and symbols, and the dimensions of art. He authored Let Your Art Come Out, a conceptual guide for high school students and teachers. Though his artistic identity took shape in Montreal, the vast skies and prairies of his native Saskatchewan remained a constant source of inspiration.

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George explored many media—painting, sculpture, serigraphy, and watercolor. His Structure of the Universe series reflected his fascination with string theory and the unity of physics. His final major project, Kaleidoscope, featured interactive, rotating geometric panels paired with stop-motion animation, inspired by music, infinity, and evolution.

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He taught in Saskatchewan and Quebec, including at Aden Bowman Collegiate (Saskatoon), Chomedey Polyvalent High School (Laval), and as a sessional instructor at the University of Saskatchewan and Concordia. He also led provincial art education associations and exhibited widely across Canada, the U.S., and Europe.