Artist in Residence 2012

The Mackie Lake House Foundation is proud to present Joyce Frances Devlin nee Noble as our 2012 Artist in Residence. Joyce grew up in the Lavington area of Coldstream and was a student of Miss J. Topham Brown, an early art educator of Vernon . Anna Cail also recognized Joyce’s talent in high school and was always a strong supporter of her work.

Joyce Frances Devlin

Joyce began her professional art studies at the Vancouver School of Art from 1950-1954 under Jack Shadbolt, Peter Aspell and Gordon Smith, all strong proponents of abstract painting. She experimented with abstractions but also explored a wide variety of subject matter including portraiture, landscape and symbolic imagery. While at Art School Devlin won scholarships every year and graduated with honours. In 1954, Joyce won the Vancouver School of Art Emily Carr Scholarship and travelled to England to study for two years. While there she studied classical mural design under James B. Michie, showed with the London Group of Painters at the Bristol Museum and exhibited with the National Portrait Society in London.

In 1965 Devlin moved from British Columbia to Ottawa with her young sons. Joyce became well known for her portrait work including a portrait of Lester B. Pearson. In 1968 she travelled to Cape Dorset and painted a series of portraits of Inuit artists. Locally, she had an exhibition of paintings at the Topham Brown Art Gallery in 1969 and a number of her works are in the permanent collection of the Vernon Public Art Gallery. Devlin returns to Vernon after decades of prolific artistic practice, teaching art, and exhibiting nationally and internationally. Several of Devlin’s paintings will be on view during the artist talk at the Vernon Public Art Gallery on Saturday, April 14 at 1:00 pm. Admission is free.

Joyce has recently exhibited at Geraldine’s Gallery & the Council for the Arts, the Firestone Collection at the Ottawa Art Gallery, Perth Art Gallery and St-Laurence College Art Gallery. Joyce says, “My work has continued to evolve and develop and I’ve worked in diverse themes but I always return to landscapes and nature which keeps my work fresh.”

The public is invited to an “Artist Reception” being held at the Mackie Lake House on the afternoon of Sunday, April 15 where selected artist works will be exhibited.