Lucy Jarvis

Artist Bio: Lucy Jarvis (1896-1985)

Lucy Mary Hope Jarvis was born in Toronto in 1896, the first of five children of Edward William Jarvis and his wife, Kate Agnes Harris. E.W. Jarvis was associated with the Bank of Montreal and moved around the Maritimes with his family. Lucy was introduced to art as a child in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and later continued her studies in Toronto at the Havergal Ladies College (Class of 1914). Between 1925 and 1929, she studied at the Art School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

While in Fredericton in 1940, Lucy, along with fellow artist Pegi Nicol MacLeod and Margaret MacKenzie, wife of UNB President Norman MacKenzie, worked to transform the UNB Observatory into an art centre. In 1946 Lucy Jarvis became a full-time member of the UNB Faculty as Director of Art, a position she retained until 1960. She had spent a sabbatical year of 1954-1955 in France. After leaving UNB, Ms Jarvis was awarded a Canada Council Fellowship grant which enabled her to spend more time abroad, travelling and studying in various European studios.

Upon her return to Canada, Lucy Jarvis settled at Pembroke Dyke near Yarmouth, where she continued to paint and play an active role in the arts community. Her work is represented in many private collections, and in the collections of the University of New Brunswick, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, the New Brunswick Museum, and the University of Toronto. Lucy Jarvis died in 1985 at Yarmouth in her 89th year.