The major strength of the University of Lethbridge Art Collection is its diversity, housing works that not only represent a wide range of geographic locations, but also the full spectrum of media, artistic movements, genres and approaches.

Due to this variety, the collection is often utilized by leading Canadian art galleries and curators as a resource for a wide range of exhibition programming. A summer exhibition (June 20 to Sept. 20) at Calgary's Glenbow Museum, entitled Vistas: Artists on the Canadian Pacific Railway, features six works from the U of L Art Collection, by esteemed Canadian artists Frederic Bell-Smith, Forshaw Day, Robert Gagen, Marmaduke Matthews and Lucius O'Brien.

The exhibition focuses on these and 15 other artists who travelled west via the railway in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to capture images of the prairies and the mountains, and how their art production helped shape Canada's emerging national identity.

This curatorial journey, created by guest curator Roger Boulet, features over 130 art works and photographs from Glenbow's collections and from public and private collections in Canada and the United States – many not seen for decades. Images expressing the CPR's vision of a new Canada are featured in this sweeping exhibition. It's a stunning body of artwork, the first to reveal the Canadian West as a desirable, majestic and awe-inspiring destination.