BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS  

Mary Catherine Gordon

1909 - 1996

Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts (Diploma 1931)
Vancouver School of Art Graduates' Association
Mary Gordon's Studio of Art (? - 1945 - ?)


Mary Gordon was born in Dresden, Ontario, the daughter of Charles Howard Gordon. She was an early graduate from the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts, receiving her diploma in Design and Decorative Arts in 1931.


1931 Graduating Class

The Spring 1936 edition of The Smock Pocket, the Vancouver School of Art Graduates' Association newsletter, noted that she had a studio at 576 Seymour Street.

The 1946 Who's Who in British Columbia listed her as a "commercial Artist in Crafts as metal costume accessories, illustratings (sic) , linocuts, posters, etc., conte portraits." Her recreations were given as badminton and gardening. She was living at 4007 Quesnelle Drive.


GROUP EXHIBITIONS
DATE EXHIBITION ARTWORK
1933 May 3 - 18 VAG   VSAGA 1st Annual Exhibition Button Works Poster
Beaux Arts Poster
Christmas Cards
Lamp Shade
1937 Nov. 2 - 14 VAG   VSAGA Group Exhibition (painted work on wood)

References

Pass List - Session 1929-30
   Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts PROSPECTUS for 1930-31.

WHO'S WHO IN BRITISH COLUMBIA 1944-45-46
      A Record of British Columbia Men and Women of Today
      S. Maurice Carter Editor & Publisher
      Copyright 1945, printed by Atlas Printers, Vancouver B.C.
      312 pages, hardcover; index of names (14 pages), biographies (290 pages)
      list of abbreviations (2 pages), advertising including the only portrait in the book
      Includes reference to Mary Gordon

VANCOUVER ARTIST: Mary Gordon
      1997 October; by Michael Clark, Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design.
      Visions newsletter, Volume 4 Issue 1, page 7.
      One page biography with 2 illustrations of her work.

CITY & PROVINCIAL DIRECTORIES (refer to DIR)

Clippings

"Through the art of Mary Gordon, one of the graduates in Crafts and Commercial Arts, runs the element of laughter. Her Animated Map of Stanley Park in Winter, which hung for weeks in the window of the Arts and Crafts Building, added much to the gaiety of pedestrians who paused on their way to make out the quaint figures."
      From "GRADUATES IN ART" by Cintra
      (unknown newspaper), April 25, 1936

" ... Mary Gordon ... has painted work on wood of appealing design."
      From "ART GRADUATES HAVE EXCELLENT EXHIBITION"
      News-Herald November 3 1937

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