^Lot 17 Shirley Washington, Water Tower and Grain Elevators, Gibbons, Alberta, 1978

Signed and dated 1978, this Alberta regional landscape depicts the railway approach to Gibbons, with grain elevators at left, a freestanding water tower at right, and tracks drawing the eye into the distance beneath an open prairie sky. Painted in a restrained, realistic manner, the work has a strong sense of local place and prairie infrastructure, balancing the geometry of the elevators and rails against the softer field grasses and clouds. Verso with artist label identifying Shirley Washington, Edmonton. Sight size 12 x 8 in.; framed 17 x 14 in.

The subject is well chosen historically. The Alberta Railway Museum identifies the Gibbons water tank as a 1919 structure later acquired by the museum, and notes that a diorama was made to show its original location in Gibbons. The museum’s historical notes also describe a water tower situated opposite a grain elevator on the line, which fits this composition closely.