Saskatchewan Artist

Les Groome

Les Groome was born in 1910 in Regina, Saskatchewan. He worked as an elementary and high school teacher there during the 1930s while studying at the University of Saskatchewan, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1938 and a Bachelor of Education in 1939. During World War II, he worked as an education officer with the Royal Canadian Air Force (1942-1945), returning to earn his Master of Arts from the University of British Columbia in 1948 and to teach at numerous schools in Regina and Moose Jaw. He later became the first professor of art education at the University of Regina, a position he held from 1959 until his retirement in 1979. During this time, he completed his PhD in Education at Illinois State University (1968).

Groome worked primarily in sculpture, incorporating a variety of materials including clay, wood, fibreglass, bronze, welded steel, and stone. His pieces have been exhibited in Canada since the late 1940s and are included in the collections of the Saskatchewan Arts Board and Illinois State University.

Groome was active in Saskatchewan's arts community through organizations including the Saskatchewan Society for Education Through Art, the National Art Education Association, the Saskatchewan Arts Board (where he served as a representative from 1950 to 1956), and the Canadian Society for Education Through Art (which he helped to found in 1955 and for which he served as president in 1972).

Les Groome died in 1980 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.