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When she was 12 years old, Ketha Newman was given some art lessons by her mother’s second cousin, well-know Toronto-based watercolourist, Elizabeth Berry (while Berry was visiting the Newman family home in the local Monteagle area) and Ketha was immediately hooked. Additional help and time spent with her mentor over her young years furthered her skills and interest in art and, particularly, watercolour explorations. She would see Berry once a year in the summer and when a little older, helped her at show events at her home in the Beaches area of T.O. And even got to go with her on a painting holiday in the Bahamas. And when Ketha’s father passed away when she was 18, Berry’s encouragement to her to dive into making art helped her get through a very difficult time. Newman was born in Waterloo but started school in Maynooth in 1976 when her family moved to an old farm property in Monteagle they had purchased in 1969 while her father had been the local United Church minister. After a year she continued her schooling in Toronto and spent summers in Monteagle and lived there again for a year when she was in grade seven. Following high school graduation, Ketha entered the humanities undergrad program at U of T with secondary studies in art history and including some studio training. She initially worked in an art studio on Bathurst and at arts and crafts shows in the Annex area. And involved herself in numerous group and solo shows including the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition and at various Toronto galleries in the early 2000s. Ketha, her husband Tim and their daughter Sophia moved up to the Monteagle property permanently in 2004. She had already involved herself in the studio tour and began having solo shows and joining group shows in the area—including the Art Gallery of Bancroft juried shows. And helped out with involvement in various local community art projects. Her early beautifully simple “illustration-like” (her words) watercolour painting style “emphasizing pattern and luminous colour” of landscape and still life and animals/insects imagery eventually became more sophisticated/realistic over time; and then, more recently, she shifted to and engaged in larger acrylic paint on wood panel works with a more relaxed form of realism—sometimes even leaning towards the abstract—with all of her works conveying the sense of peace and tranquility that the Ontario environment evokes. |
Make the trip to her iconic hilltop log house in Monteagle during the Bancroft and Area Studio Tour that takes place the last two weeks of September. And get in touch with her at kethanewman@gmail.com (Profile writing and photo by Allan O’Marra) |
