Fifty years ago this month, Curt Shoultz stepped onto the Brandon University campus as a student for the first time. While here, he made a special connection with two of BU’s most celebrated alumni.
“When I graduated from BU, the first time, in 1980 both Stanley Knowles and Tommy Douglas came to what was their 50th anniversary reunion,” Shoultz recalls. They were amazing alumni, quite inspiring to speak with even at the ‘advanced age’ I am now approaching.”
Knowles and Douglas, who graduated from Brandon College in 1930, went on to have lengthy and influential political careers, leaving a legacy of social welfare policies including pension plans and universal healthcare. Douglas was later named the “Greatest Canadian” by CBC.
Shoultz, today a well-known artist and Director of BU’s Centre for Teaching, Learning & Technology, was inspired by his recollections of the famous duo and turned to his brushes to create a lasting memento — paintings of the pair, based on photos from their days as Brandon College students.
“As I looked ahead at my 50th anniversary of becoming a student at Brandon University, I wanted to mark that milestone in some way,” Shoultz said. “Trying to paint portraits of the two student versions of Stanley and Tommy interested me. Archivist Christy Henry helped me find the best versions of them back in 1930.”
The portraits were presented to the Brandon University Students’ Union on Thursday afternoon and will be displayed in the students’ union building — named the Knowles–Douglas Centre.
“I appreciate that current BUSU president Charles Adamu has been so open to this way of marking 50 years of learning,” Shoultz said.
Adamu said that the paintings would be given a prominent location in the KDC, likely in the Mingling Area, a popular area for gatherings and a high-traffic throughfare between classes that is adjacent to both Bailey’s Café and the BU Bookstore.
“It will be quite amazing to have them in the Knowles-Douglas building, it only makes sense to have them in there,” Adamu said. “When I saw the paintings, they are absolutely beautiful. So much intentionality that Curt has put into them.”
He added that the donation was special in part because it was so heartfelt and marked such a special anniversary.
“When you think of the influence (Knowles and Douglas) must have had to inspire this 50 years later,” he said. “I might have to write a poem about this moment 50 years from now!”
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