City of Prince Albert Mayor Greg Dionne stands besides the painting 'Art Centre Wolf' and its painter Emily Hill. 'Art Centre Wolf' was one of two paintings Dionne purchased on Thursday at the John M. Cuelenaere Public Library. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D’Andrea

Memories of Prince Albert

Carlton art student takes over gallery at library to show off beauties of Prince Albert

Feb 11, 2021 | 5:20 PM

In just a one-month period, Carlton Grade 10 student Emily Hill painted enough pieces to fill an entire gallery by herself, and show off the beauty of her hometown in the process.

The Memories of Prince Albert was Hill’s 10-piece collection as part of ‘Carlton Collection Builders,’ program, which took over the gallery of the John M. Cuelenaere Public Library and showcased some unique sites to the city.

Emily Hill’s bird’s eye view of the bridge under the living skies of Saskatchewan. (Jeff D’Andrea/paNOW Staff)

Hill’s work ventured everywhere from an aerial view of the Diefenbaker Bridge, to the trail of Little Red River Park, and overlooking the Prince Albert Summer Fair. Hill wanted to capture some of her favourite parts of Prince Albert, show off some of what she believes makes Prince Albert a beautiful and vibrant place to live, and hoped people could look at the pieces and see themselves and their memories in them.

That seemed to work on City of Prince Albert Mayor Greg Dionne, who quickly purchased two of Hill’s paintings: the Water Slide to hang in city hall, and a close up of the Art Centre Wolf that Dionne bought to place in his own office. Within the first 15 minutes, Hill sold four of her 10 pieces despite her gallery being up for the rest of February in the library.

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“It means so much to me. It’s such an honour to have everybody here, and especially the mayor — this is big for me,” Hill said. “This is really important to me to like spread awareness about the beauties of Prince Albert and all the amazing buildings, even.”

This is Emily Hill’s favourite piece ‘PA Ex Fair Grounds.’ (Jeff D’Andrea/paNOW Staff)

With the theme of the gallery being some of Hill’s favourite places of Prince Albert and the memories behind them, her favourite piece of hers was of the Summer Fair.

“It was just such a big thing for me and my friends to go there all the time and you know have a fun time staying there all day, eating cotton candy,” Hill said with a laugh. “That’s the fair. It’s definitely my favourite.”

Although the gallery was a success, Hill had to be nudged into painting by her art teacher at Carlton, Melanie Mirasty. Hill was drawing only black and white sketches but now after Mirasty’s encouragement, Hill can’t stop painting.

“Mrs. Mirasty was the one that got me into painting because before I only used to draw like black and white. I never wanted to do colour. Never,” Hill said. “Mrs. Mirasty was like, ‘You know what, you should try painting,’ and so I did. And then now, I just paint every single day.”

The court house, where Emily Hill grew up near, is one of the key pieces in the Memories of Prince Albert. (Jeff D’Andrea/paNOW Staff)

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW