1909-1971

Marion Florence S. Mackay Nicoll was born in Calgary, Alberta. In high school, she took extra curricular painting classes at St. Joseph’s Convent, Red Deer, Alberta (1925-1926). She studied at the Ontario College of Art, Toronto, but she did not finish because of an illness. She then studied under A.C. Leighton at the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art, Calgary (1929-1932) and she also attended the summer school (now known as the Banff School of Fine Arts) under the same professor. From 1937 to 1938 she studied figure painting at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, London, England, under Duncan Grant. In 1957, she studied under Will Barnet at the Emma Lake Seminar. From 1958 to 1959 she attended the Art Students League in New York. For thirty years, she taught at Calgary’s Provincial Institute of Technology and Art. She also gave classes at the summer school of the University of Alberta (1937-1938); extension classes (1946-1948); Banff School of Fine Arts (1946); the Cultural Development Board, Government of Alberta (1948-1949). She received various awards, including a Canada Council grant in 1958, a senior fellowship in 1966 and six honour certificates from the Royal Drawing Society, London, England, for teaching. She held several solo exhibitions, including at the Alberta College of Art (1959); Bowness Town Hall, Alberta. (1960-1965); Studio 61, Edmonton, Alberta (1961); Focus, Edmonton (1962, 1963, 1964) Upstairs Gallery, Toronto (1963); Yellow Door Gallery, Winnipeg (1964), among others. She is represented in the following collections: Winnipeg Art Gallery, Memorial University, Newfoundland.; University of Alberta; Edmonton Museum, Poole Collection, Edmonton.
Source: Canadian Women Artists History Initiative, Concordia University, Montreal