Beacons

Women artists

How many of you go lighthouse hunting on your coastal trips?

Lighthouses are beacons of a destination, harbour, safety, hope….Romanticized, lonely, whitstanding onslaught of elements, standing firm for sailors, battered and lost.

No wonder lighthouses have a draw, an appeal, a symbolic value for artists and common day tourists alike; I have a collection of photos of lighthouses from East and West coasts, and some other exotic coasts around the world…

Rural and coastal landscapes of East Canada are littered with lighthouses, marine scenery, bursts of joyful colors…

In this two-part story we will learn about a curious life of a ‘Close to Heart’ woman artist, Maud Lewis, intermingled with lighthouses and rural landscapes of Nova Scotia.

A folk-art of Maud Lewis brought Nova Scotia into the spotlight. Her spirit was a tiny beacon that lit the way for hundreds of Americans flooding in to visit her small painted house in Digby and to buy her acclaimed paintings at the roadside – for one dollar.

Maud is Nova Scotia…a reflection of its spirit – unassuming, coastal, yearning, modest…

This is a story of our Maud amidst lighthouses of Nova Scotia…