One piece in particular greets visitors when they step inside — a Richard Rogers portrait named Bob, one of a series based on photos Rogers took at farm auctions in northeastern Alberta. It fills one wall in the sitting room. As the homeowner says, “One of our first questions when we moved was ‘Where does Bob go?’” The homeowner was drawn to the painting because it resembled her grandfather, and many of the works throughout the home have similar stories, family memories and community connections that create a narrative as you walk through the home.
Much of the couple’s art comes from local creators, including a Jason Carter sculpture and many pottery pieces by Audrey Uzwyshyn, a beloved creator in Edmonton’s Ukrainian community. “Everyone has an Audrey piece,” the homeowner says.
The homeowners are both alumni of the Shumka dancers, and performed in Ukraine in 1990, during the country’s revolution and separation from the USSR. They brought home a notable political print that is displayed in their living room to this day, among Ukrainian Catholic icons and family photographs, capturing the diversity of Ukrainian art and culture.
The basement sitting room is full of tributes to the family’s continued connection to Shumka, with show posters and programs, records, music posters [David Bowie just might be the patron saint of the home] and an old turntable, creating an old-school cool vibe.
The walkout basement leads to the yard, where a willow tree towers over the back patio, grown from a pussy willow that had decorated the homeowner’s mother’s casket. Pussy willow holds special significance in Ukrainian Easter traditions, and branches of it are displayed throughout the house, another nod to the family’s proud heritage. Vignettes of sculpture, paintings, pottery and pysanka dot
every nook and bookshelf.
While the homeowners have an eye for great art, that level of taste extends to their curated collections of family objects and heirlooms, too. In the guest room, the homeowner’s Baba’s rocking chair (beautifully reupholstered) sits next to a trunk the other homeowner’s grandfather brought from Ukraine when he moved to Canada, antiques that tell stories.
And all the pieces that tell the family’s history and passion for the arts make it the perfect place to entertain — in fact, it’s designed that way. When the family was building this home 25 years ago, they already had holidays and dinner parties in mind. The main floor is almost entirely open, to accommodate a long table for Christmas Eve dinners for 30 people — a home that is built for art and connection.
This article appears in the September 2026 issue of Edify
