Reta Cowley, born 1910 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, was one of the foremost watercolourists in Canada. Her first watercolours were a gift from her grandmother and her encouragement came from her mother. She studied art under major teachers in the west from several generations: A. F. Kenderdine at Emma Lake in the late '30s, Walter Phillips at the Banff School in the war years, Eli Bornstein at the University of Saskatchewan in the early '50s, and subsequently at Emma Lake Artists Workshops in the sixties and again in the eighties.
A painter of landscapes and some portraits, she worked in a style which lay between abstraction and realism. Cowley was presented with the Saskatchewan Arts Board's Lifetime Achievement Award and the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 1990. She was celebrated for her numerous achievements and integrity as an artist and for her patience and sincerity as an exemplary and caring teacher. Reta Cowley studied art at the University of Saskatchewan Summer Art School and at the Emma Lake Artist Workshop while she was teaching school herself. She also studied at the Banff School of Fine Arts for three years.
Reta Cowley had more than two dozen solo exhibitions of her work, while art collections across the country own her paintings. She also taught art for numerous summers at the University of Saskatchewan arts schools.
Ref: www.artsboard.sk.ca
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