Born in Detroit, Michigan, USA, she came to Canada as a young girl and studied at the Central Ontario School of Art, Toronto, under F. McGillivray Knowles and privately with J.W. Beatty; also in Munich with Prof. Walter Thor and in Paris under Richard Miller. She exhibited her work with the Ontario Society of Artists and became a member of that society in 1922.
During an exhibition of her work at Eaton’s Fine Art Galleries in 1933 the ‘Globe & Mail’ noted, “Miss Kalmeyer knows her Canada in many localities and moods, and her work is rich in colour and broad in treatment. For general home decoration, she is most happy in her medium-sized pictures, which seems to ‘compose’ better than the larger works, though the latter are rich in carrying power. Many of the studies in the present exhibition represent the Nova Scotian coast and fishing scenes… There are sketches from Georgian Bay and England, and a flower-hung Devonshire cottage is beautiful in its simple, decorative quality.”
Newton MacTavish in 1925 placed her among the ranks of Canadian women painters of acknowledged ability. She is represented in the National Gallery of Canada by a medium sized canvas entitled “Hartung’s Wharf, Boothbay Harbour, Maine”. She died in Toronto and was survived at that time by a sister Miss Clara Kallmeyer who was living with her in Toronto.
Source: "A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume II”, compiled by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd, Ottawa, 1979
