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FERGUSON, Helen Florence Josephine Ross

Born
Burford, Ontario, 1892
Died
Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan, 1983
Biography synopsis
Helen Ferguson (nee Ross) began art lessons at age twelve, and in 1909 studied art at Moulton College in Toronto. She enrolled at the Winnipeg School of Art in 1916 after completing three years of nursing school at the Winnipeg General Hospital. She also married Dr. Robert G. Ferguson, M.D., O.B.E., LL.D. in 1916. He was considered a “Crusader against Tuberculosis” and was appointed supervisor of a tuberculosis sanitarium in Fort Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan in 1917. Ferguson was actively engaged in supporting his work. She also studied painting, drawing and pastels with local artist James Henderson who became a friend and colleague (1916-1948). In addition to painting, she later studied sculpture with Madeleine Barnett in Saskatoon in 1946 and sculpted and cast a bust of her husband which was displayed at the Saskatchewan Lung Association. In 1948-49 Ferguson studied painting and sculpture with Cleeve Horne in Toronto. Ferguson was devoted to her family, but always found time for her art, pursuing a practice well into her 80s. Like many pioneering women artists who grew up with Victorian values, she did not consider it proper to exhibit. Posthumously, a bust of her husband and her pastel portrait of Henderson were donated for permanent display in the Fort Qu’Appelle Museum.
Media used
Drawing
Oil painting
Pastels
Pottery
Sculpture
Education
Winnipeg School of Art, 1916 - 1917 (under Under Alexander Musgrove)
Moulton College, Toronto, Ontario, 1909 - 1910 (under under Emma Vaux and Leslie Smith)
Private study, 1916 - 1948 (under James Henderson)
Private study, 1946 (under Madeleine Barnett)
Private study, 1948 - 1949 (under Cleeve Horne)
File & Archive locations
Saskatchewan Council for Archives and Archivists
Art Gallery of Hamilton Archives, ON
Mackenzie Art Gallery
Fort Qu'Appelle Museum Saskatchewan
Winnipeg Art Gallery, MA - Clara Lander Library
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Writings about
“Casting Activity.” Saskatoon Star-Phoenix 15 Nov 1946: 3.
Fort Qu’Appelle and District History Book Committee. Fort Qu’Appelle and Area : A History Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan: Fort Qu’Appelle and District History Book Committee, 1995: 302
Helen Ross Ferguson Family History Committee. Her Legacy: The Life and Art of Helen FJ Ross Ferguson New Westminster, B.C.: 2023
Houston, Stuart. R.G. Ferguson: Crusader against Tuberculosis Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1991: 12, 122-123
Ring, Dan. "James Henderson: Reflected Life." Ring, Dan et al. James Henderson: Wicite Owapi Wicasa: The Man Who Paints the Old Men Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: Mendel Art Gallery, 2010: 34

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