City Government

Ella May Jacoby Walker Fonds and Art Collection

Ella May Jacoby Walker (1892-1960) was an Edmonton author, musician and artist. Through her artwork she depicted aspects of Western Canadian and Edmonton life. Ella was a working mother of two sons, which was very uncommon at that time. She adjudicated music examinations for McGill Conservatory, played the organ at evening performances in Allen Theatre for silent movies and gave private music lessons.

Ella Walker's artwork presents a slice of Western Canadian life while demonstrating her free nature that was not bound to the idea of early 20th century femininity. Several of her pieces are regularly exhibited at the City of Edmonton Archives, donated by her son in 1960. Ella uses a variety of media including oil, watercolour, gouache, pastel, tempera, charcoal and paint on canvas.

In a modernist style, Ella depicts various aspects of Edmonton life including Fort Edmonton, the John Walter House, settlers and red river carts, a prairie fire and the Municipal airport.

Many of Ella's smaller pieces were used for her fictional novel, Fortress North (1947), a collection of short stories detailing Edmonton's development. Inspired by an exhibition at the Empire Room of the Hudson's Bay Company, Ella spent several years researching Edmonton's history, conducting interviews with early pioneers and creating black and white illustrations for each story.

View Ella Walker's Art Online

In 2004, Ella's son and executor of her estate gave permission to display her work through an online gallery. This project is possible by financial assistance from Archives Society of Alberta.

Archives Society of Alberta's InSight Database - artwork
Archives Society of Alberta's InWord Database - textual documents

Her Exhibitions

Although Ella took up art rather late in life (1932), she was very successful. Chatelaine Magazine reported in 1956 that "… no one has cut a wider swath in the cultural life of her community than Ella Walker."

Nearly every year during the late thirties and early forties, Ella either participated in a sole or group exhibition of her work, including the following:

Women Sketch Hunters of Alberta (1935)
Edmonton Normal School (1937)
Hudson's Bay Dining Room Lounge (1938)
University of Alberta (1940)
Empire Room of the Hudson's Bay Company (1942)
Vancouver Art Gallery (1948)
Saskatoon Art Centre (1948)

Even after her death, her work continues to be displayed:

Opening of the Calgary and Edmonton Southside Railway Station (1985)
Victoria Composite High School Gallery (1992)
Edmonton Art Gallery travelling exhibition (1992-1993)
Government House (2004)