The 2026 Prairie North Artist-in-Residence program has come to a close and both artists have returned home until the opening of our fall exhibitions on Thursday, October 15, 2026. We thank them for their invigorating creativity and hard work and we thank our partners at Northwestern Polytechnic for making this all possible.

We hear from Scott Bertram first, reflecting on his experience in Grande Prairie and the Peace Region. 

My time at the Prairie North Artist Residency was both productive and rewarding. Over the course of the three-week residency, I completed two large paintings, both of which I am excited about.

My painting process typically begins with laying down an initial ground (a layer of ‘primer’) before gradually building the composition one layer at a time. As each layer is completed, I cover it with masking tape and paper before moving on to the next. This allows me to work freely within each new layer without worrying about painting over previous shapes, while still maintaining crisp, clean edges throughout the composition.

One challenge with this process is that, by the end, the entire canvas is covered in masking material. Although I usually have a general sense of where the painting is headed, I don’t work from a predetermined colour palette or fixed composition. Instead, I rely on intuition and memory—remembering the exact blue of a previous layer or the placement of a particular curve that has since been hidden beneath the masking. As a result, the final reveal is always somewhat unpredictable. Occasionally, when I remove all the masking, I find that the colour relationships or composition aren’t as dynamic or surprising as I had hoped.

When I unveiled these two paintings however, I was pleased to discover that the compositions and colour relationships resolved in exactly the way I wanted. It is not uncommon for me to uncover a painting only to realize that significant revisions are needed, sometimes requiring me to rework as much as 90 percent of the surface. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case here. Given the limited three-week residency, having both paintings come together so successfully was especially rewarding.

Beyond the momentum I gained in my studio practice, I also deeply appreciated the opportunity to connect with the people and arts community of Grande Prairie. Those conversations and relationships made the residency meaningful in ways that extended beyond the work produced in the studio.

All images courtesy of the artist.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for this project. 

We thank Northwestern Polytechnic for their partnership with the Prairie North Artist Residency program.