Rebecca Ann Burke [† 2024] grew up in Flint, Michigan, and earned degrees from the University of Guam (B.A.) and Ohio University (M.F.A.) before moving to Canada in 1972. She taught visual arts at Fanshawe College in London, at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton, and at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, where she became the first woman to serve as Professor and Head of the Fine Arts Department. She retired in 2009.

Her paintings, drawings, and installation works were exhibited across Canada and in the United States. Her body of work explored a wide range of issues, from the role of women in society to the fragility of our environment and ecosystems, as well as the effects of human activity on habitat loss and species extinction.