By Karin Olafson
Hester studied literature, then art, then found her voice as an artist when she started writing autobiographical comics. She refers to her style as “sketchy, quick line drawing” — one she can balance with being a single parent and caregiver to her mom. She took an entrepreneurial approach to her artistic career. Since 2012, she’s been working as a graphic recorder, creating illustrated meeting minutes for different organizations and since 2017, as a cartoonist for The Sprawl. But she was excited to try something new with the fine arts community in 2025, when she applied to be part of the Art Bus: Connecting Communities with Public Art initiative, funded by Calgary Arts Development.
“I have a teenage son who really loves public transit and has always been interested in Calgary Transit buses. So, since he was very small, I have been paying close attention to these buses — in a way that I did not know anybody ever could! When the opportunity to paint a picture on a bus became available, my son and I knew I had to apply,” laughs Hester.
Hester was selected to create work that would appear on two buses. She chose illustration designs that fit with the theme “share stories of your community,” which perfectly aligns with her style. She decided to use public art to celebrate public art, encouraging Calgarians to get curious about their own city. She painted Calgary landmarks, like the Calgary Tower, Peace Bridge, Alberta Children’s Hospital and the iconic red arch at the University of Calgary and some of the city’s recognizable public art pieces, like the Centre Street Lions.
“I chose landmarks that, for me, are really iconic things about the city. But everybody has their own journey and might have something different that really speaks to them,” says Hester. “I was curious about what else is in the city [that might be meaningful to Calgarians.] The biggest part of the project was figuring out which landmarks to include and making sure I had a good variety of different locations in the city.”
She adds, “I really like to make art that helps our larger society in some small way, and I like to do that by making people curious about where they’re from. I think that curiosity is one of the first steps toward empathy.”
Hester also drew people as part of the bus design — some who live in Calgary, some who don’t (but who she thinks would add a lot to the city, like her violin-playing niece from Australia) and Calgarians Hester just wanted to celebrate.
The Art Bus initiative presented an artistic challenge for Hester. “I like to incorporate words into my graphic art, but there was a limitation where we couldn’t draw words because the art is on a moving bus,” says Hester. “I thought, ‘How is my style going to work?’”
Hester instead added empty speech bubbles to the people she painted, meaning her distinctive graphic cartoon style still stands out.
This project reinforced the importance of Calgary Arts Development for Hester, impacting her career, both through funding and its ongoing support of artists.
“It’s really cool to work with an organization that thinks about the big picture of the arts in the city. Calgary Arts Development gives more credibility and stability to the arts community and to the people who enjoy the arts — which is everyone.”