Erica Rutherford (1923-2008) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, but over the years would live in England, France, South Africa, Spain, Italy, and a variety of places in North America. Apart from painting and printmaking, Rutherford was an actor, a designer for the theatre, filmmaker, farmer, teacher, and author. Rutherford studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London, and at L'Academie Julien, in Paris. She helped establish the Printmakers Council of P.E.I. workshop in Charlottetown. Her work was selected by Canada Post for a stamp representing P.E.I. for the Canadiana Fund, and she was a designer for the Confederation Centre Theatre. Her publications included, “The Island Alphabet” (children’s book), “Yoga for Cats” (humor), “Dance for Cats” (humor), and “The Owl and the Pussycat” (children’s book). Her autobiography, “Nine Lives”, was published in 1993. In it, she documented her struggle with gender identity that led to her decision to undergo transsexual surgery. Rutherford was admitted to the Royal Canadian Academy in 1999. A scholarship in her name is awarded by the University of Prince Edward Island. Rutherford died in Charlottetown.

Vaslav Nijinsky (1889–1950) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish descent, widely regarded as one of the greatest male dancers of the early 20th century. Trained at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg, he rose to fame as the star of Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, captivating audiences with his extraordinary athleticism, emotional depth, and seemingly weightless leaps. Nijinsky's most iconic roles included the Golden Slave in Scheherazade and the title role in Petrushka. As a choreographer, he created groundbreaking and controversial works such as L’Après-midi d’un faune (1912), Jeux (1913), and Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring, 1913), which revolutionized modern ballet with their innovative movement vocabulary and bold themes. His career was cut short in 1919 when he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He spent the remaining decades of his life in and out of psychiatric institutions, cared for by his wife, Romola de Pulszky. Despite his brief career, Nijinsky's legacy endures as a pioneering artist who reshaped the possibilities of dance and theatrical expression.