Remai Modern honours memory of long-time volunteer
Saskatoon, Canada — Jeanne Walters, a dedicated volunteer and donor who passionately supported both Remai Modern and the former Mendel Art Gallery for more than 50 years, died April 16 at the age of 95. She would have turned 96 on April 28.
“Remai Modern extends its deepest condolences to Jeanne’s family at this difficult time,” said Gregory Burke, Remai Modern’s Executive Director & CEO. “Jeanne was an integral part of the Saskatoon community who had a huge impact on Remai Modern and its predecessor, the Mendel Art Gallery. Her hard work, dedication and incredible spirit will be greatly missed.”
In 1964, Walters attended the opening of the Mendel Art Gallery. Fifty-three years later she helped celebrate a new era in Saskatoon’s cultural history at the opening of Remai Modern. The donor wall in the museum’s atrium bears her name.
Around the museum’s opening on October 21, 2017, Walters wrote a letter encouraging others to give time and funds to Remai Modern. Art was an important part of Walters’ life.
“Access to art means so much to me and my family. Books on local and international artists fill my home, and visits to Remai Modern will continue to be my favourite activity,” she said at the time. “It’s where I come to learn, imagine and appreciate.”
Walters was one of a small number of lifetime members at both the Mendel Art Gallery and Remai Modern, a group that also includes Ellen Remai, Eva Mendel Miller and Dorothy Knowles.
Walters was a member of the Mendel Art Gallery’s first board of directors, led many fundraising initiatives, was president of the women’s auxiliary and acted as a tour guide. She was also a volunteer and community ambassador for Remai Modern.
She was awarded the 2015 Saskatchewan Volunteer Medal just shy of her 94th birthday.
Walters moved to Saskatoon from Wakaw in the mid-1930s when she was still in high school. She was quick to get involved in community organizations. In her 70 years as a volunteer, she contributed time and funds to more than 40 cultural groups, including the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, Saskatoon Opera, the Meewasin Valley Authority and UNICEF.
About Remai Modern
Remai Modern is a new museum of modern and contemporary art in Saskatoon. It aims to be a vibrant, imaginative and prescient museum committed to affirming the powerful role that art and artists play in questioning, interpreting and defining the modern era. Remai Modern is home to the world’s foremost collection of Picasso linocut prints, and aspires to be a leading centre for contemporary Indigenous art programming.
For additional information contact:
Stephanie McKay, Communications Manager
306.975.2242
smckay@remaimodern.org
remaimodern.org
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Remai Modern is situated on Treaty 6 Territory and the Traditional Homeland of the Métis.
We pay our respects to First Nations and Métis ancestors and reaffirm our relationship with one another.