Born on March 8, 1913, painter, sculptor, potter and ceramic artist Luke Lindoe is an Albertan at heart and in spirit. After very brief schooling in a fragile family environment, he ventured out to western Canada and settled far away from everything with vague hopes of becoming a farmer. Unfortunately, the winter of 1933 got the better of him. Starving, he returned to Fort St. James, B.C. and fled to eastern Canada.
When he met up with his father in Coleman, Alberta, he started mining for a time. He finally settled down in Calgary to study at the Department of the Arts at the Provincial Institute of Art and Technology, now known as the Alberta University of the Arts (AUArts). He later taught ceramics there for about ten years.
In 1941, he left the big city for the Prairies and settled in Medicine Hat. It was a peaceful haven for him, a spiritual place that he would never leave despite the many round trips during which he set up Lindoe Studios, which later became Ceramic Arts, in Calgary.
He was commissioned for several stone and concrete murals on public buildings and produced his first major work, the nearly five-metre-high stone statue of the Madonna and Child for St. Mary’s Cathedral.
Luke Lindoe is a mentor known for the richness of his eclectic works. He died in Medicine Hat on December 4, 2000 at the age of 87.
Source et photo: The Nickle Arts Museum, University of Calgary