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Artist. Pianist. Teacher. Wife. Mother. Grandmother. Volunteer.
Married in 1974 to musician Gary Bryan, the couple settled in Williamstown where they raised two daughters and a son. Esther earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Montreal's Concordia University and has been working as both artist and pianist for the past 30 years. In 1994, Esther accompanied her father to Slovakia, the homeland he had not seen in 43 years. Two years later, this life-changing journey became the focus of a mixed-media one-woman show entitled Return. It was the public's enthusiastic response and people's desire to share their own stories that fostered Esther's dream to make the Quilt of Belonging. A fellow of the Ottawa Watercolour Society and member of Christians in the Visual Arts International, she is best known for her painting and drawing. She also works extensively in other media, including fibre arts and has one of her pieces in the permanent collection of the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Besides numerous group and juried shows, her art has been presented at more than a dozen solo exhibitions in Canada and the United States. She has received many awards and honours over the years, including the Queen Elizabeth 11 Golden Jubilee Medal in 2003, recognizing her work for the Quilt of Belonging project. For eight years Esther's 'home away from home' has been the project's Williamstown headquarters overlooking the Raisin River. Guided by her faith and a strong sense of family and community values, her boundless energy has mobilized thousands of volunteers to take part in an incredible journey - an invitation for all cultures to celebrate their common humanity and find their unique place in the Canadian mosaic.
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Born in Dijon, France to missionary parents, Esther spent her childhood among different cultures. Her father was a Slovak refugee, her mother, an American of Scottish-German heritage.
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