Regina Five

With painter Roy Kiyooka and architect Clifford Wiens, this group shared a common professional commitment and became a small but active artistic community in Regina.

The Regina Five's bold, nonfigurative paintings represented a new direction in abstract painting in western Canada and reflected influx of advanced ideas arriving through the channel of the annual Emma Lake Artists' Workshops, especially the workshop held by Barnett Newman in 1959.

[1] The painters came to national attention when Bloore organized "The May Show" (1960), featuring five of the city`s most prominent abstract artists and architectural drawings and models by architect Clifford Wiens along with sculptures by Wolfram Niessen, to coincide with the meeting of the Canadian Museums Association.

[2] Simmins` essay in the Five Painters from Regina catalogue stressed the importance of Emma Lake Workshops run by the New York school and of Ron Bloore who acted as a catalyst.

Simmins wrote that Bloore, who was from Toronto, brought to Regina a set of values which challenged the other painters.