Saskatchewan Artist

Campion College Ceramic - 1990 - by Lorraine Malach

Lorraine Malach

Lorraine Malach was born in 1933 in Regina, Saskatchewan. She studied painting at the University of Regina with Kenneth Lochhead and Arthur McKay, receiving an art certificate in 1953. Malach then went to Pennsylvania, where she studied at the Barnes Foundation in Merion until 1955 and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia until 1957. Upon her return to Saskatchewan, Malach taught at the University of Regina and the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts and led numerous art workshops throughout the province.

Malach's oil and watercolour paintings and ceramic works have been exhibited in group and solo shows in Saskatchewan and elsewhere in Canada since the 1960s. Malach began creating ceramic murals in 1961. She received several commissions for these in Regina and Saskatoon, frequently for churches. She was also commissioned to paint a portrait of Woodrow Lloyd for the Legislative Building in Regina.

Malach sometimes used the facilities of Regina's Hone-James Studio to work on her art. Hone later said, “[Malach] was always working on her art, and much of it was influenced by her religion. She devoted herself to her art. Her ceramic murals and paintings are located in homes and churches in Saskatchewan and beyond.”

Malach's work is found in many collections including the Saskatchewan Arts Board, Government of Saskatchewan, and the Vatican Collection of Papal Nuncio (Ottawa).

Malach passed away in 2003. At the time of her death, she was working on “The Story of Life,” a 12 metre long by 2.5 metre high mural composed of ten large panels and using about ten tonnes of clay, for the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta. The piece was nearly finished when Malach passed away, and was completed by her friends.