Ursula Reese SCA 1935-2007

Tribute by Bill Buchanan

Ursula was a long-time member of SCA being elected in 1991. She was elected a member of the Board in 2002 and retired from it in 2006. Ursula was also the Chair of the SCA website committee and became our first website administrator. Through her energy and drive, she led the creation of the SCA website with the help of our webmaster. The website today is one of the most visited and most successful arts websites in Canada. In 2006, the website experienced nearly 1.5 million hits resulting from about 38,500 visits. These visits are from all over the world. This is Ursula’s significant legacy to SCA. We will be eternally grateful to her for this.

Working in pastel allowed Ursula to work continuously and rapidly with bold colours. I understand she used a number of dry pastel techniques. I also understand that her favourite painting locations were in Algonquin Park and the Niagara Escarpment. Her paintings attract a very large circle of followers in Canada, the United States and in many European countries. I am fortunate to have one of her small paintings in my collection. She gave it to me as a present some years ago.

Ursula was always most generous in her support for arts organizations. There were many she supported as a volunteer Board member, and in other ways, over the years. Perhaps the most significant one was when she became the President and a Co-founding member of the Pastel Artists of Canada.

Ursula was a delightful person. I was privileged to know, and work with her, as a volunteer for the good of the visual arts. She will be sorely missed by me, and all her friends and colleagues at SCA, and in the wider Canadian visual arts community.

Some of Ursula's pastel paintings can be viewed in the SCA Gallery here:
Ursula Reese SCA Gallery