Tribute Exhibition
Honouring Our Founders: Edythe Holden & Joyce Smedegaard
Special 55 Year Anniversary Exhibition
Wasagaming Community Arts proudly celebrates “55 Years of Colour, Creativity and Community” in 2025, and we’re ready to make this anniversary unforgettable! For over half a century, we’ve been at the heart of creativity in Riding Mountain National Park — a place where artists, locals, and visitors come together to celebrate art and inspiration.
This year we’re hosting a special tribute exhibition in the front gallery to honour our founders, Edythe Holden and Joyce Smedegaard. This exhibition will showcase artwork — created by these remarkable women — and generously loaned to the WCA by family members, friends and private collectors.
Tribute Exhibition Celebration
Saturday, July 12, 2025 at 7:00 pm
We’re excited to welcome the wider community and the families of Edythe Holden and Joyce Smedegaard for a special evening of wine, great art and incredible memories — as we honour our legacy and celebrate the vision that gave life to the WCA.
Everyone is welcome. Event starts at 7:00 pm and speeches begin at 7:30 pm.
Honouring Edythe Holden (1925 – 2014)
Founder of Wasagaming Community Arts, Artist, and Visionary
Edythe Holden was a lifelong artist, a generous teacher, and the visionary founder of Wasagaming Community Arts.
Born in Brandon, Manitoba, Edythe was an only child whose early boredom blossomed into a deep love for art. She earned a scholarship to the Winnipeg School of Art and, after graduating, took a summer job at Sioux Narrows Lodge on Lake of the Woods, Ontario. It was there she met her husband Les Holden, and together they built their first home on an island in Regina Bay — where they also began their family.
Through many moves — from the rocky shores of Kenora to Portage la Prairie — Edythe continued painting while raising four children and helping run family businesses. In Portage, she co-founded the Brush and Palette Club and taught countless classes, sparking the creative spirit in others.
In the late 1960s, Edythe and Les moved to Riding Mountain National Park and began operating the Fireside Inn Restaurant and Mooswa Resort. Yet her passion for the arts never dimmed. She opened her own business, Cottage Crafts Boutique, and continued teaching art in Dauphin, Onanole, and surrounding school districts.
In 1970, Edythe founded Wasagaming Community Arts, originally located in a small cabin on Columbine Street provided by the Park. Her vision quickly outgrew the space. When the town’s old bowling alley became available, Edythe saw its potential. With bold determination, she secured the space and funding — and rallied her entire family to help renovate it. Her father, a master carpenter, her husband Les, and their children all contributed time and skill to transform the structure into a welcoming creative haven. The result is the gallery we know and love today — still going strong more than half a century later. Edythe was a true community builder.
She invited her dear friend and collaborator Joyce Smedegaard to lead workshops and coordinate exhibitions. Her generosity, humour, and boundless creativity brought people of all ages together and created a lasting artistic hub in Riding Mountain National Park.
For their retirement Edythe and Les moved back to Sioux Narrows. Edythe continued organizing art shows, hosting painter gatherings, and exhibiting her work. Her creativity never stopped flowing. She was a part of a group of 6 close friends and painters that met annually. The following twenty years were spent enjoying the company of friends and family at their home they designed and Les built. During that time Edythe had a very successful one-person show in a Winnipeg Gallery.
Edythe and Les returned to Portage la Prairie in 2009 to be closer to family. In 2011, she held her final show alongside her daughter Karen at the Portage Art Centre.
She passed away in 2014, leaving a remarkable legacy of creativity, community, and courage. Her children—three of whom became painters themselves — carry forward her artistic flame.
Wasagaming Community Arts stands today as a living testament to Edythe’s vision and determination. What began in a small cabin and grew into a family-renovated gallery has blossomed into a beloved cornerstone of Manitoba’s cultural landscape.
Wasagaming Community Arts thanks her children for generously sharing Edythe’s art for our 55th anniversary: Greg, (Linda) Holden, Juanita Holden, Terry (Craig) Campbell, and Karen (Mel) Holden.
Honouring Joyce Smedegaard (1932 - 1983)
Wasagaming Community Arts Founding Member and Artist
Joyce Smedegaard’s lifelong love of sketching and painting began in her childhood in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
In 1951, she joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and served for five years, stationed in France and British Columbia.
During her downtime, she took several art classes — both in Europe and in BC — nurturing her creative spirit wherever she went.
She later studied interior design at the Vancouver School of Art and was a member of the Victoria Artists Society.
Joyce married Einar Bruno Ernst Smedegaard in 1957. Together they raised three children. The family also spent time living in Norway, where Joyce continued to pursue her passion for painting.
Her first collaboration with Edythe Holden began in Portage la Prairie, where they were co-founders of the Paint and Palette Club, which later evolved into the Portage Arts Centre.
After Edythe relocated to Clear Lake to run a local business, she started an art centre in a small Parks Canada cabin. With her signature resourcefulness, Edythe inspired several of her close friends to get involved — and Joyce was among the first to say yes!
Her love for art and teaching was put to good use as the pair offered art classes and workshops, nurturing creativity and connection throughout the community.
Joyce saw the world through the eyes of a painter and possessed an intuitive sense of colour. Her spontaneity, reflected in her sparkling brushwork, gave her paintings a distinct, joyous quality.
In an interview with the Portage la Prairie Daily Graphic, she once described pointillism as “a kind of hug when you get close. I like the way you can create a dance of lights throughout the canvas. It’s a whole orgy of colour!”
Joyce passed away in December 1983 from pancreatic cancer. Even in her final months, she dedicated her remaining energy to painting. As her memorial show was being planned, Edythe reflected on their friendship in a newspaper interview: “Joyce had a wonderful sense of humour and always saw the best in people, which made her a good teacher. Joyce was a realist, a good person, and a good friend.”
Wasagaming Community Arts remains deeply grateful for the friendship, vision, and dedication that Joyce and Edythe shared. Their collaboration laid the foundation for our organization and continues to inspire all who walk through our doors.
Wasagaming Community Arts thanks her children for generously sharing Joyce’s art for our 55th anniversary: daughter Karen (John Clark) and sons Brian (Kim) and Eric.