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Artist Database
PARRIS, Mary
- Born
- Edmonton, Alberta, 1914
- Died
- Edmonton, Alberta, 1988
- Biography synopsis
- Mary Parris was recognized for her abstract watercolour and acrylic paintings based on snowy fields and landscapes. She started painting in the 1920s and became an active member of the Edmonton Sketch Club in the late 1920s. Among the various art schools she attended were Emma Lake (1959) where she studied with John Ferren, the Banff School of Fine Arts (1960s), and the Extension Department at the University of Alberta (1970s). She also took courses at the Edmonton Art Gallery in 1962 and 1972. Parris was also known for her contributions to the Edmonton art milieu; she was a member of the Edmonton Art Club and the Alberta Society of Artists. She was one of the founding members of the Focus Gallery (Edmonton), the first artist co-op gallery in Canada. In addition to exhibiting at the co-op gallery, she frequently showed her work at the Edmonton Art Gallery and the Calgary Allied Arts Centre throughout the 1960s and also participated in a travelling watercolor exhibition curated by the Art Gallery of Ontario. She became a member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour. Her works are found in the collections of the Canada Council Art Bank and the Edmonton Public School Board, among others.
- Media used
- Acrylics
- Watercolour
- Education
- Banff School of Fine Arts
- University of Alberta
- Emma Lake - University of Saskatchewan Art School, 1959 - ? (under John Ferron)
- Memberships
- Edmonton Sketch Club
- Alberta Society of Artists, 1957, 61, 67-68, 71-80, 82-83
- Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour
- File & Archive locations
- Calgary Public Library, AB - Arts Department
- Edmonton Art Gallery, AB - Library
- London Public Library, ON
- National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
- University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Writings about- Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour Annual Exhibition St. John's, Newfoundland: Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1973
- Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour Annual Exhibition London, Ontario: Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour, 1975
- "Exhibition." Arts Canada 20.3 (1963): 102
- Alberta Society of Artists, Edmonton Art Gallery. Alberta Society of Artists Edmonton Art Gallery, 1975
- MacDonald, Colin S.. The Dictionary of Canadian Artists (Volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker) Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2009
- Simpson, Jim. "Parris is a Watercolor Artist of Consequence." Edmonton Journal 25 Oct. 1979: H3
- Simpson, Jim. "Variety in Form highlights Exhibition: Exhibition by Women Artists." Edmonton Journal 17 Jan. 1979
- Townshend, Nancy. A History of Art in Alberta, 1905-1970 Calgary, Alberta: Bayeux, 2005
- Zimon, Kathy E. Alberta Society of Artists: The First Seventy Years Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2000
