Ann Bates was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1925. After graduating from high school, she attended the Winnipeg School of Art for three years under L.L. Fitzgerald. In 1947 she and two schoolmates enrolled in the Arts Student League in New York City. There they studied under Yasuo Kuniyoshi.
To earn enough money for a second term in NYC, she and her two best friends went to Whitehorse, Yukon to work in the Whitehorse Inn. They all made enough in wages and tips in one year to finance a second year at the Art Students League.
After their second year, all three returned to Whitehorse in 1949, hoping to earn enough to return once more to NYC. It was during the second year in Whitehorse that Ann met and RCMP constable who she would eventually marry in 1952. Ann did not return to art school in NYC due to a death in the family. She and her husband, Stuart, remained in the Yukon and both of their children were born in the hospital in Whitehorse. In 1956, Stuart was transferred to Saskatchewan, and the family lived there until Stuart retired in 1965.
Ann did not have much time for painting until they moved to Kamloops in 1965. There she joined the Kamloops Arts and Crafts Club. Her subjects were the old buildings around town and the fantastic landscapes in the area. Her medium was watercolours and she worked “en plein air.” However, she also enjoyed sculpting in clay and produced several bust of models and family members.
In 2001 Stuart and Ann moved to Clearwater. Here she found endless subjects to paint in the valleys around Vavenby, Birch Island, Upper Clearwater and Dutch Lake, as well as in her own backyard. Ann’s show, “Here and There,” contains some of her earliest work for art school years through to her most recent watercolours done in Clearwater.
The show will run from April 28 to May 23 in the North Thompson Arts Council gallery in Dutch Lake Community Center. Hours are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
