Doreen Beaupre, B.F.A., Cert.Ed., B.G.S.

A Short Profile:

As a visual artist and a humanitarian, Doreen Beaupre loved people; especially their faces. She was deeply committed to helping others to reach their potential.

She drew from a young age, and would earn praise and respect from the priests and nuns who taught her in The Pas, Manitoba, some would be lifelong friends to her.

Doreen had an open and loving heart, which started with her spiritual faith, and spread out to others such as being a kind and empathetic nurse to elderly patients, to having nine children of her own with her ex-husband Victor.

Her parents owned and operated a store called "Roger's Furs" in The Pas, Manitoba, where they sold and featured native handicrafts, fur pelts and fur coats. To make extra money, Doreen made small chalk and pastel drawings of "Indian" children on brown velvet paper. They were sold locally and at Roger's Furs in The Pas. Doreen grew up being aware of the social politics of having a native background. Later through her own research and exposure to families in Grand Rapids, she would come to know the historical truths and mythologies of Aboriginal peoples.

In Grand Rapids, Doreen met Daphne Odjig, who joined their weekly art group, where they drew portraits of local people and discussed art. Once Daphne opened the Wah-Sa Gallery in Winnipeg, MB, Doreen supported her by selling prints of gallery artists to people in Gillam and Thompson.

After having 9 children and raising them in Northern Manitoba, Doreen courageously ventured to Winnipeg to go to University of Manitoba, supported by the Access Program. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1982, an Education Certificate in 1982, and later a Bachelor of General Studies from Brandon University in 1989. Doreen was well respected for her talents by many of her teachers, mainly Sheila Butler, Don Reichart, and Suzanne Funnel.

Doreen initially gained a lot of respect from people due to her contributions on the school board in Gillam, and her work at the Friendship Centre in Thompson. So this would be the foundation for her first job after University, where she worked with Native peoples in the New Careers program and later with the Assiniboine Community College in Brandon, MB.

After retiring in 1998, Doreen volunteered as an art instructor at Villa Rosa, a home for unwed mothers, where she created many of her clay masks etc. in the clay studio. She also gave art workshops using the medicine wheel as a teaching tool.

Doreen moved to Vernon in 2012, to be with 4 of her 7 daughters and to escape the cold prairie winters. While she was in Vernon she started to collect and carve driftwood.

Doreen unexpectedly passed on Feb. 28, 2015. We are all heartbroken and will miss her deeply.

Recent Exhibit:

• 2011, Bosho Full Moon Gallery, "All My Relations",
  January 19th - 31st, 211 Pacific Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Doreen Beaupre (OBIT Winnipeg Free Press) or copy of the Obit

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