Walter C. Murray, University President, looks at art works hanging on the wall, other works are on easels in the room. An unidentified lady and two dogs appear to be accompanying him.

Image of Gus Kenderdine sitting at easel in studio.

Bio/Historical Note: Augustus (Gus) Frederick Lafosse Kenderdine was born 31 March 1870 in Chorlton-upon-Medlock, England. He studied art under his grandfather, Chevalier de la Fosse, at the Manchester School of Art, and was then apprenticed to several established artists in Blackpool. Kenderdine went on to study at the Academie Julien, in Paris, France, in 1891. Upon returning to England he opened Gus Kenderdine Photographer and Fine Art Dealer, but chose to emigrate to western Canada, inspired by the stories of the Barr Colonists and their utopian settlement of Brittania. The family homesteaded near Lashburn (1908-1920) and he fell in love with the beauty of northern Saskatchewan. Kenderdine did several portrait commissions and later exhibited his work across Canada, although he is best known in Saskatchewan. He did several landscape studies in charcoal in a style similar to Gainsborough. Kenderdine sweeping romantic depictions of the Saskatchewan landscape are marked by his training in England and France. His imagery recast Saskatchewan's topography in the comforting image of Europe. At the request of Walter C. Murray, University of Saskatchewan president, Kenderdine opened a studio in Saskatoon and began teaching art classes in 1920. In 1926 he was asked by President Murray to teach noncredit classes at the university. Kenderdine envisioned and brought about the Summer School of Art at Emma Lake, of which he was director from 1936-1947. Fondly remembered by his students, "Father" Kenderdine, as he was referred to in the yearbooks, made a significant contribution to the interest and appreciation of art in Saskatchewan. In 1936 he also became director of the School of Fine Arts at Regina College. Kenderdine died 3 August 1947 while teaching at Emma Lake, and is buried at Lashburn Cemetery. In 1991 the U of S named the Kenderdine Art Gallery in his honour, thanks to a bequest by his daughter, May Beamish. His works can be seen in the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina, and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. Kenderdine Road in Arbor Creek in Saskatoon honours him.

Walter C. Murray, first University President, dressed in a suit and tie, sitting on a bench with his head down reading and writing in a book at Murray Point at Emma Lake, Saskatchewan.

A crowd sits on benches and stands in a semi-circle moments after the unveiling of the memorial to Gus Kenderdine; a nameplate mounted on a boulder at left. Two images at slightly different angles.

A close-up of the memorial to Gus Kenderdine; a nameplate mounted on a boulder.

Jean E. Murray seated on a platform along with Herman H. Ferns, while [R. Patton] addresses participants of the unveiling of a memorial to Gus Kenderdine.

Roy Kiyooka of the Regina Campus lectures in the campus studio as students look on.

Bio/Historical Note: Roy Kenzie Kiyooka, CM (1926-1994) was a Canadian arts teacher, painter, poet, photographer, and multi-media artist of national and international acclaim.

Bio/Historical Note: Artist workshops have been held at Emma Lake, Saskatchewan, since 1935. Augustus F. (Gus) Kenderdine, an artist trained at the Academie Julian in Paris and an instructor in the fledgling Department of Art at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, established a summer art camp on an eleven-acre boreal forest peninsula on the shores of Emma Lake. He convinced Dr. Walter Murray, first president of the University of Saskatchewan, that the art camp could perform a vital role in the offerings of the department, and in 1936 the Murray Point Art School at Emma Lake was officially incorporated as a summer school program. Participants were teachers and artists who came from all over the province to learn how to teach art in Saskatchewan schools. After Kenderdine's death in 1947, a new generation of Saskatchewan artists came of age or moved into the province, including Kenneth Lochhead, Arthur McKay, Ronald Bloore, Ted Godwin, and Douglas Morton— popularly referred to as the Regina Five.

View of the empty interior of the dining hall.

Faculty and students seated at tables eating in the dining hall..

Students at work in the studio.