Influential Albertan art educator and master watercolourist, Stanford Perrott, was born March 11, 1917 in Claresholm, Alberta. Perrott attended the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art, where he studied under the tutelage of Marion Nicoll. Perrott came back to the Institute of Technology and Art in 1946, to teach and from 1967 to 1974, he was the Head of the College. In the 1960s, Perrott was instrumental in convincing the Provincial Government that the art section of the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art needed its own building. Thanks to the hard work of Perrott and his associates, the Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD) became a reality. Perrott spent approximately 40 years teaching young adults with his unconventional teaching methods. Perrott’s collection ranges from traditional realist watercolour paintings to large mid-century abstract work. In the mid 1950s, he studied with famous Abstract Expressionist Painters Hans Hofmann and Will Barnet. Maxwell L. Foran penned a book titled, The Chalk & the Easel: The Life and Work of Stanford Perrott, which outlines how essential Perrott’s presence was in the Alberta arts community. Perrott received many accolades including the 1988 Sir Frederick Haultain Prize, for his contribution to art and education in the province of Alberta, and the Board of Governors’ Award in Excellence from the Alberta College of Art.

(AFA Virtual Museum)