Three Alumni, One Artist: Preserving the Past

Few stories capture LCC’s promise of lifelong relationships better than this one: three alumni from different graduation years reconnect, venture into unknown territory, take on what appears to be a Herculean task, and ultimately give the world an invaluable digital catalogue of a prolific Canadian artist.

For decades, Craig Klinkhoff ’06 and his family have been fixtures of Montreal’s art landscape, collaborating with and promoting countless artists. Among them was the late John Little, with whom they shared a meaningful connection. When Mr. Little passed away in 2024, Craig recognized that the family would face difficult decisions about what to do with the contents of his studio. “I knew that donating it all to a museum would likely mean that everything would be buried in storage,” he says. “Instead, I proposed to preserve and share the legacy.”

With roughly 200 boxes of photographs and art pieces to process, Craig enlisted the help of Lillian Dumbrille ’23, Pre‑U ’24, an alumna he already knew—her mother Monika Dumbrille had been his teacher at LCC. Meanwhile, Ariela Alperstein, Pre‑U ’24, was looking for something meaningful to do over the summer. She contacted Kristine Jones, Pre‑U ’93, LCC’s alumni officer, seeking museum‑related opportunities and was put in touch with Craig.

And so, this trio paid weekly visits to the Littles’ family home, transported boxes, scanned and catalogued their contents, and tagged, cross‑referenced, and correlated photos with paintings. None had done archival digitization on this scale before, but they figured out how to build a digital platform, creating a polished, accessible website.
Both Lillian and Ariela recognize just how rare this opportunity was. “This project was so exciting, it allowed me to choose art history as my major,” says Lillian, now studying at Queen’s University. 
“Deciding how we were going to approach the scanning and analyzing is not something other interns usually get to do,” adds Ariela, currently pursuing a double major in history and art history, with a minor in museum studies at the University of Michigan. 
An added bonus: While the archive project was underway, Château Ramezay, a historic landmark and Montreal museum, faced a last‑minute exhibition cancellation and invited Craig to fill the space. He curated 28 of John Little’s paintings from lenders across Canada and integrated the newly digitized archival material. Ariela and Lillian helped identify the photographs corresponding to the works, and the exhibition drew tens of thousands of visitors.
The result of this project is a lasting contribution to the artistic world, one shaped by dedication and the strength of LCC alumni connections.

Visit the digital archive here. 

If you are an LCC graduate, be sure to join Lower Canada Connect to re-connect with former classmates and expand your professional network.