Loraine Ure - Biography and Statement

Loraine Ure is a multi media artist born in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada.  She started drawing from an early age.  At the age of three she was drawing realistic people and cougars.  Loraine moved to Peace River, Alberta in 1967 to raise her family.  In Peace River she taught cake decorating & chocolate making to Continuing Ed students in addition to her regular work.  Photography is an interest gained while she worked for a newspaper there & she did her own darkroom developing.

After moving to Edmonton, in 1990, she enrolled in art courses & print making at the University of Alberta, Canada.  She also recently instructed for a couple of spring sessions at the University of Alberta Extension.  In 1994 she started her business called "by Loraine" and in her home studio taught many different mediums: oils, chalk pastels, acrylics, charcoal, inks & watercolor with the main focus on oils.  In 1997 she had two paintings published in a coffe book table compiled of 30 Canadian Artists.  She was commissioned to do 32 track & field paintings for the 2001 World Games.  Loraine is a juried, senior status member of The Society of Western Canadian Artists.  She has paintings in private collections in Ottawa, Vancover, California & France.

Under Gene Prokop's directorship, Loraine & Ann Waeland co-teach oil classes at Pro's Art School, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  Pro's Art School is a major part of her life & she revels in seeing the students develop their abilities.  She believes paintings are "landscapes of the soul" and should be approaced with passion, heart & skill.  Loraine feels it is most rewardingto teach students to "see" with new awareness, as they learn about composition, perspective & are taught the techniques of the Old Masters.

L'Hermitte, Bougeureau, & John Singer Sargent are some of her favorite Old Masters, and in the Modern Age she lists David Leffel, Morgan Wiestling, Howard Terpening, Richard Schmid & Pino.

Yearly trips made to study art in Paris, New York, Scottsdale & Philadelphia help students further develop by training their "eye" and it creates the social, supportive background that Pro's Art School Promotes.