School of Art brings together five artists who were teachers of MKG127 director, Michael Klein at the School of Art at the University of Manitoba between 1978 and 1982. These artists have influenced generations of artists across the country through their teaching and their own artistic practices.

Robert Achtemichuk has exhibited his work at galleries across Canada. He has taught drawing and printmaking at the University of Manitoba, the University of Toronto, and the Art Gallery of Ontario. He has extensive museum and gallery experience and his advocacy roles include various committees and associations at the local, provincial and national level. He is presently the Executive Director at the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery. Robert’s advanced drawing classes were liberating and he encouraged experimentation.

Sheila Butler is a multi-media artist primarily known as a painter. She now lives in Toronto. After teaching at the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg for sixteen years, Butler moved to London, Ontario where she was a professor of Fine Art at the University of Western Ontario for another fifteen years. She has had numerous national and international exhibitions of her work. Butler has a long history of collaborative exhibitions as well. Sheila brought her first hand knowledge and collection of art and artifacts from the north for her course in Inuit art.

Jeff Funnell lives and work in Winnipeg. Since 1974 he has been a professor at the School of Art at the University of Manitoba. Now known primarily for his work in painting and drawing, he also has executed a number of ambitious architectural interventions. Funnell has also produced a series of significant videotapes in collaboration with Calgary artist, John Will. Funnell recently presented Instructions for 59 Drawings, Raymond Roussel (2004-2009) as a solo exhibition at White Columns in New York. Jeff displayed his generosity towards his students when they complained about a lack of a space to hang out in. For his exhibition in the faculty gallery, he took the doors off and had furniture delivered from Goodwill turning the gallery into a temporary student lounge.

Rita McKeough lives in Calgary, Alberta where she is currently an instructor at the Alberta College of Art and Design. She also taught at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, University of Calgary, Mount Allison University, University of Lethbridge and the School of Art at the University of Manitoba. For over 30 years, she has presented performances and installations – often complex, collaborative efforts in artist-run centres, museums, galleries and festivals across the country. She is a drummer in a rock band and performs regularly at small Calgary venues. In 2009 she was a winner of the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts. Rita’s printmaking classes were like no other, full of laughter and punk rock.

David McMillan was born in Scotland. He has taught at the University of Manitoba’s School of Art for 35 years. He began his career as a painter but gradually became more interested in photography. Since 1994, he has photographed annually in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The resulting photographs have been exhibited extensively internationally. In David’s History of Photography class, his passion for the medium was infectious and in his photography studio courses, his encouragement, humour and scholarship were instrumental.