About the Artist

Deltra was steeped in creative energy as a child with her mother and grandmother being painters, and her father a professional musician. Deltra started expressing experiences through painting, drawing, exhibiting work with the Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Council (1989), and illustrating a book for the Canadian Prairie Author Clarence A. Boon (1990).

Moving to Alberta Deltra attended the Visual Communications Diploma Program at Medicine Hat College (1993). This launched her graphic design career in Edmonton where she served clients internationally in the educational sector, as well as the retail, light industrial, and oil industries for over 10 years. She took on mentoring young artist at Jasper Place High School in 1999 and started exhibiting paintings in group and solo shows. Deltra started teaching community classes in the greater Edmonton area (early 2000's) and became a Program Specialist with the Edmonton City Arts Center (2017-2022) teaching adults how to express the essence of a places with paint.

Deltra obtained a Bachelor of Fine Art with distinction (2017) from the University of Alberta. The following year she attend the Canadian Wilderness Artist Residency in Yukon Territory that both moved through and operated within the traditional territory of the: Kwanlin Dün, Ta’an Kwäch‘än, Little Salmon/Carmacks, Selkirk, and Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nations. This immersive experience–where she and 11 other artist canoed the Yukon River, between Whitehorse and Dawson City, for 17 days–was a pivotal experience, deeply impacting her personally and the art she makes.

She divides her time between her home studio, and Society of Northern Alberta Printmakers (SNAP) located on Treaty 6 territory, exhibiting paintings in public and commercial galleries, working on graphic design and illustration projects, and teaching with various art organizations.

Current CV available upon request.

About the Work

Place-making and belonging are themes I consider through a multidisciplinary visual art language. Growing up on a farm I spent my childhood exploring water and the shorelines of what are called the "prairie pot holes" of the southern Saskatchewan prairies in Canada. It was during those formative years a deep desire to belong became associated with my direct relationship to nature.

Early in my art practice I started to develop concepts of personal place making through the tradition of still life oil paintings collecting man-made and organic objects for reference. Academic study about human/environmental relationships brought understanding of the collective consciousness in regards to our belonging in the world. In her book The Enchanted Life, Sharon Blackie discusses the idea of place making as “being intrinsic to our being” and for the “need to make sense of, and find meaning in, our relationship to the places we inhabit, as it is a fundamental and universal part of the human journey in this world.” Through immersive experiences in nature and experimenting with various creative processes I work to makes sense of, find meaning in, and communicate the wonder I have with it all.

When immersing myself in field research I sketch, photograph, and write about what I observe and experience while hiking, canoeing, and snowshoeing. In the studio various making processes facilitate further development of my visual language. Although my main medium of focus is mostly acrylic painting (sometimes oil) what one medium offers often informs another creating a chain reaction of exploration in print based work, illustrations, installation, and sculpture rich in poetic narratives.