Doug Brinkman
Truth, Beauty, Freedom and 🍁US
2000–2025, Oils and acrylic on canvas 
Nine Afghan Boys Gathering Firewood.

In 2016 I launched The Fire and Rain art project, a body of work inspired by the cycles of wildfire and flooding in Alberta. The series culminated in twenty-five paintings, concluding with Water and Oil is Life, Nonviolence. These pieces were created amid shifting public spaces and evolving civic dialogues, a journey that ultimately strengthened my commitment to artistic expression. Since 2007, my independent news platform Civil Information Activism has served as a creative outlet for civic reflection. In recent years it has evolved into a personal tribute to Chicago artist Virgil Abloh and his landmark 2019 exhibition Figures of Speech, while also standing as a quiet memorial to Edmonton lawyer Dennis Edney, renowned for his principled defence of Omar Khadr. During my outdoor Art Show & Tell gatherings, I often share songs and poems written over many years while engaging with communities across Edmonton’s streets, public squares, and the cafĂ©s of Old Strathcona. Among them are The Ghosts of El Mozote, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Howie’s song about roses—works that continue to connect people through story, melody, and shared experience.















Cover Art, Oils, 1979, Between Friends, Montana–Alberta shared mountains and foothills. In 2026 I celebrate thirteen years of Social Art Projects, a chapter that began after my retirement from a forty-two-year career as a Graphic Arts Craftsman ending with Post Media’s Edmonton Journal. In that time I have completed more than two hundred social-art paintings and numerous live performances. Much of this work has unfolded on the grounds of the Alberta Legislature and at Edmonton City Hall, where I also maintain a long-standing practice of public visual journalism—nineteen years of sharing political posters and cartoons through social media. Until 2025, YouTube served as my primary platform for documentary and news content. This year I concluded an extended effort to secure formal press credentials for both City Hall and the Alberta Legislative Assembly press galleries. The experience reinforced my appreciation for the independent pathways through which citizens can continue to contribute thoughtful voices to the public square. My work reflects my dedication to art as a bridge—between communities and continue to defend my right to express myself, and to listen, and question.