"This Was Our Childhood" by Peter Shostak

West End Gallery presents Peter Shostak's second major solo exhibition of twenty-five new paintings in Victoria.

Born in 1943 in Bonnyville, Alberta, to Ukrainian immigrant parents, Peter Shostak grew up on the family farm working and playing pond hockey with this brothers. When the time came, he moved away to study at the University of Alberta and graduated with a Master's Degree in Education. Since 1979 Shostak has been working as a professional artist painting vignettes reminiscent of Alberta's past and present. 

In 2003, Peter Shostak received the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in recognition of his outstanding exemplary contribution to Canada.

This exceptional collection of twenty-five new paintings captures the essence of life and seasons on the prairies. His paintings depict children cavorting in snow, the endless and endlessly rewarding toil and ritual of prairie life and highlights traditional Ukrainian heritage. For Shostak, little has changed on the land and in the hearts of those descendants of the first hardy settlers in the West.

"The game was played by many on countless frozen ponds, farms and schoolyard rinks. These hockey players played in the daytime, by the light of the low winter sun, and in the evenings, by the light of the bright moon and stars. They used homemade or store-bought hockey sticks and played with or without skates." - Peter Shostak