Southern Ontario Farm by Bernice Fenwick Martin

Born in Shelbourne, Ontario, Martin studied at the Ontario College of Art under noted Canadian artists J.W. Beatty and Franklin Carmichael. After the death of Beatty in 1941, she found friendship in Peter Clapham Sheppard whom she studied and worked with until his death in 1965. Working in oil, watercolour and woodcut, Martin focuses on real scenes, Toronto harbour scenes, still life, and Northern landscapes with particular concentration on the Muskoka, Haliburton, and Algonquin Park regions of Ontario. She had works showcased at the Royal Canadian Academy from 1945-1947 and solo exhibitions of her work in Toronto galleries throughout her career. “I look back on my life and my painting hours were the happiest. I’d spend long hours and forget time…my time was always measured by the passage of light.”

(With details from Canadian Heritage Art Gallery, “A Celebration of the Art and Life of Bernice Fenwick Martin”, Kleinburg, 2010, page xi)