Marion Nicoll is known as one of the first abstract painters in Alberta.
10 Facts About Marion Nicoll
1.
2.
In 1977 Nicoll became the first woman artist in the Prairies to become a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
3.
Marion Nicoll was the daughter of immigrants Robert Mackay, of Scottish descent, and Florence Gingras, of Irish and French heritage.
4.
When she was in high school, Marion Nicoll began painting at St Joseph's Convent in Red Deer, taking classes between 1925 and 1926.
5.
Marion Nicoll undertook further training at the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art in Calgary, Central School of Arts and Crafts in London, Emma Lake Seminar in Regina, and the Art Students League of New York in New York City.
6.
Marion Nicoll went on to teach at the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art, the University of Alberta, and the Banff School of Fine Arts.
7.
Marion Nicoll introduced her to automatism, a practice associated with the European Surrealists, and it marked a pivotal moment in her practice.
8.
Marion Nicoll worked in a diverse range of media, including print-making, ceramics, batiks, jewelry making, and, above all, painting.
9.
Marion Nicoll lived in the Bowness neighbourhood in Calgary with her husband Jim Marion Nicoll, an engineer and amateur artist originally from Fort Macleod, whom she met in 1933 and married in 1940.
10.
Marion Nicoll had to abandon painting in 1971 due to arthritis, but continued to make art by using a more physically manageable, though unconventional technique she called clayprinting.