Home > Artist Database > Bio-bibliographic Database > DEAR-HESSON, Audrey
Artist Database
DEAR-HESSON, Audrey
- Born
- Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1929
- Biography synopsis
- In 1951 Audrey Dear-Hesson was the first black Canadian to graduate from the Nova Scotia College of Art (NSCAD). She got her start as an artist when her ninth-grade teacher, artist Elizabeth Tolson, submitted her name for high-school art classes at the Nova Scotia College of Art where she was awarded a full time scholarship. She studied at NSCAD from 1947-1951, majoring in crafts (jewellery, metalwork, woodcarving, and pottery). Dear-Hesson was not only among the first graduates of the college's new Art Education program, she was one of the top-graduating students of her class. A highlight of her time at NSCAD was being commissioned to make a Moroccan leather case for a commemorative booklet that was presented to Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh on their visit of the war cruiser the HMCS Ontario.
- Media used
- Ceramics
- Jewellery making
- Metalworking
- Pottery
- Sculpture
- Wood carving
- Education
- Nova Scotia College of Art, 1947 - 1951
- File & Archive locations
- CBC Digital Archives
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Writings about- "Black History Month to be celebrated with Local Event Series." Chronicle Herald (Halifax) 04 Feb. 2017: D3
- Alumni Profile: Audrey Dear-Hesson NSCAD University Halfx, Nova Scotia: NSCAD University, 18 Mar. 2013
http://nscad.ca/audrey-dear-hesson/ - Barnard, Elissa. "Hesson shattered Racial Barriers as NSCAD Grad." The Chronicle Herald (Halifax) 31 Jan. 2013
- Chisholm, Colin. A Trailblazer for African Nova Scotia art speaks. The Chronicle Herald Halifax, Nova Scotia: 2013.
http://web.archive.org/web/20180326203413/http://thechronicleherald.ca/community/dartmouth/1123602-a-trailblazer-for-african-nova-scotia-art-speaks - Shapones, Chris. "In This Place: Black Art in Nova Scotia.” VisualArtsNews April 19, 2017
http://visualartsnews.ca/2017/04/in-this-place-the-lasting-impact-of-nova-scotias-first-exhibition-of-black-artists-work/ - Smulders, Marilyn. Art of the Heart: the Cherished Work of More than 40 Black Artists comes together in a Monumental Exhibit." The Daily News 19 Feb. 1998
