Featured Artist

Roger Jerome – A Life in Art

I sat down with Roger Jerome one afternoon this week and had the most wonderful visit. Our conversation flowed from life and family to art, travels across Canada and England, mutual friends, and even food, namely English fish and chips and prime rib and Yorkshire pudding. Through our conversation, I could quickly sense that Roger is one of the most genuine and humble people I know. A typical artist, he is also his own toughest critic. As we looked through a small part of his vast collection, I’d admire piece after piece and he would gently shake his head and tell me it wasn’t finished yet.

Roger was born in England but raised in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. His mother was an English war bride, and his father was a Canadian Métis soldier from St. Louis. From an early age, Roger was drawn to art. In public school, he became known as the “class artist,” doodling his way through lessons, even if it landed him in trouble with teachers in his high school years. 

As a young man working at Anglin Rouyn mine, his first foray into the north, he was intrigued by the vivid colors, textures, and patterns that were found within the drill cores. That moment sparked his creative imagination and passion for art. Roger went on to train in Commercial Art in Brandon, Manitoba, learning everything from freehand brush lettering to screen printing. From here, his career path was as varied as his skills:

• Graphic artist at CKX Television in Brandon (while Flora worked as a stenographer at Brandon City Police).
• Worked at Safeway zone office sign shop in Edmonton which did signage for 51 Safeway stores.
• Owned and operated a sign/screen-printing shop with his wife Flora in North Battleford in the 1980s.
• Set up a sign/screen shop in Buffalo Narrows through Luke Jeddry’s Tri Star Auto Body
• Taught 2 New Careers courses in Ile-à-la-Crosse. Students made sandblasted cedar signs and murals throughout the community.
• Roger later taught art classes in La Ronge, sharing his skills with local students and community members.
• Living in Air Ronge, he worked in corrections, a job he loved, for 14 years. “In some ways he could relate to the inmates… no social prestige, no money, self-effacing humour.”
• Always connected to the arts community, Roger has been involved with arts councils and numerous sign projects across the North including ones at Gordon Denny School, Robertson’s Store, and also in Ile-à-la-Crosse and Buffalo Narrows.

Roger’s art has reached far and wide, but one of his milestone moments was creating the Northern Tradition and Transition centennial mural at the Saskatchewan Legislature. Hidden in the artwork are personal touches: his late cousin, Bob Boyer’s, initials in a float plane’s call letters, his granddaughter’s name carved into the gunwhale at the bow of a canoe, and Cree syllabics tansi on its stern symbolizing past, present, and future. Being the humble man that he is, at its unveiling, and his 15 minutes of fame, which included meeting Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, his most favourite moment was when his granddaughter, Kiara, gave the Queen a bouquet of flowers.

Roger has also won numerous commercial art competitions in Brandon, secured second prize in Manitoba’s 1970 centennial philatelic stamp competition with a design of a running buffalo and produced countless portraits, which he cherishes most because they capture the stories written on people’s faces.

Though skilled in many mediums such as pastel, oil, acrylic, airbrush, cedar, signage, and more, Roger jokes that his favourite medium is the art of fishing! He finds inspiration in people’s life stories, reading the lines on their faces: laugh lines, wrinkles from hard work, and the crow’s feet etched by time. Although Roger can tell a good story, he loves to listen to a good story as well. To Roger, storytellers are artists, too, painting with words instead of brushes.

Friends describe him as humble, funny, and deeply empathetic. He lives by philosophies of forgiveness and empathy. “We are all in the same boat,” he says.

Roger encourages other artists to experiment with different media. “Don’t be afraid to try. Not everyone is suited to just one thing. Explore them all. Look at the old masters and see who you can relate to, who speaks to you, and what you truly like.”

His favorite quotes reflect his wisdom and humour:

“A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?”  -Robert Browning.

And in the words of Pablo Picasso, “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” 

Among Roger’s life’s many challenges, one of the greatest was losing his wife of 55 years, Flora, a loss that has been tough and shaped his life in profound ways. But through it all, Roger continues to create. He is currently working on apiece for next year’s OSAC exhibition, Invisible Winds, a body of work, featuring numerous artists, that reflects on trauma. When not painting, Roger cherishes time with family, especially his granddaughter Kiara, whose artistic pursuits in digital animation make him proud. He hopes to see her continue to do what she loves. Roger’s son, Robert, is a well-known carver also.

Roger misses Flora dearly, along with close friends like Myles Charles and numerous others who have passed. Although the number of his coffee buddies at Cravings has dwindled in recent years, he continues to find joy in humour, conversation, and connection. He laughs easily and loves to make others feel comfortable, admitting with a grin that he can take a joke as well as dole them out! “If you can dish it out, you have to be able take it,” he says with a laugh.

As for dreams, Roger hopes to one day buy another old car to tinker with. He reflects fondly on utilizing the wildfire evacuation as an opportunity to travel and have reunions with old sign colleagues and friends and loved the simple joy of visiting with others. He’d love to have the opportunity to do that again.

Through art, storytelling, and laughter, Roger Jerome continues to live a life full of colour and texture, much like those first drill cores that sparked his creative journey so many years ago. His creativity, generosity, and humour have left an indelible mark on the people and places of the North.

It is for these reasons, and with deep gratitude that, the La Ronge Arts Council is honoured to present Roger Jerome with an Honorary Lifetime Membership, in recognition of his remarkable contributions to art, community, and northern life.