Persona

Pawson, Ruth May, 1908-1994

Ruth May Pawson was born on 8 December 1908 in Stratford, Ontario. Moving west in 1912 her family settled in Regina which remained home until her death on 14 April 1994. Ruth attended the Regina Normal School in 1926-1927 beginning a teaching career that would last for the next four decades. In the 1930s and 40s Pawson took a series of art classes, receiving an Associate of Fine Arts Degree from Regina College (1940). She studied under Augustus Kenderdine at the Murray Point Summer School of Art at Emma Lake (1941, 1942 and 1946) and A.Y. Jackson at the Banff School of Fine Arts (1944, 1945 and 1947). Working primarily in oil and directly from nature, Pawson's favourite subject was the prairie landscape. From the 1940s to 1990s Pawson exhibited her work in a series of group and individual exhibitions. The naming of the Ruth Pawson School in Regina and receiving the Saskatchewan Order of Merit were among the many honours accorded her during her lifetime.