In a letter by Jock Macdonald, the abstract painter and educator writes to Betty McArthur, “…it confirms my often stated remarks to you that ‘you are a painter’.” These words assert not only the resolve and capability of McArthur but also the overarching sentiment captured in Betty McArthur: Present in the Moment, currently on display at the Woodstock Art Gallery. A gallery owner, an educator, a mother and an artist, Betty McArthur’s artistic career is marked not only by her achievement in the arts but also her kinship to her community.
Born in 1923 in Niagara Falls, later having her childhood in Grimsby and then her teenage years in Port Colborne, Betty McArthur’s artistic story begins with her completion of teacher’s college in 1942 from the Hamilton Normal School. Shortly after graduation, Betty went on to marry Bruce McArthur and settle their growing family in Port Colborne. It is here, the exhibition notes, that in support of her burgeoning creativity, Bruce purchased Betty’s first set of oil paints and brushes. The McArthur family would ultimately resettle to Woodstock in 1957, quickly becoming deeply interwoven within the cultural fabric of their community.
Photo courtesy of WAG, by Stephan Cam.
The first artwork to introduce the artist and her career is a formidable self-portrait completed in 1961. By this point, McArthur had completed her artistic training, resettled her family to Woodstock, and began to exhibit with prominent artist societies of this period. In this self-portrait, McArthur is pictured here in her late thirties in a vibrant blue blouse with a cropped blonde bob. With a determined gaze, McArthur has rendered herself with confident and fluid brushstrokes, capturing the image of an artist truly within her momentum in her career and looking forward towards her potential future.
The exhibition chronicles McArthur’s artistic journey, delving first into her education at the Port Colborne Art Club in the late 1940’s and the summer classes taken at Doon School of Fine Art from 1954 to 1960. In Port Colborne, McArthur learned foundational techniques for her practice under the tutelage of Tony Sisti. At the Doon School of Fine Art, McArthur was particularly influenced by artist and member of Painters Eleven Jock Macdonald. At Doon, Macdonald taught eager students automatic and non-objective painting. Here, McArthur spent three summers taking Macdonald’s classes and intimately exploring the abstract landscape.
Three rich blue abstract landscapes completed between 1966 and 1974, exhibited here, are examples of McArthur’s exploration into the abstract. These works are accomplished using vertical painterly strokes of blue, green, black and brown. Horizontal strokes that cut into the plane suggest the landscape subject matter of these works. In Abstract Landscape, the application of paint onto the board creates a suggestion of a potential wooded scene sitting upon the water’s edge. Swaths of white, green, yellow, and blue are applied broadly on the board. These blocks of colour, such as the yellow-tinted green, appear to reflect below the horizon line as the paint has been dragged vertically below. Harbour Scene tends towards more realism with clearly defined buildings, trees and a distinct horizon. Many of these structures appear to blend into the water sky, coalescing with their natural environment. With bursts of browns and reds, these suggestions of buildings remain nondescript within their landscape.
These works of abstraction, including several other works displayed in this exhibition, are directly tied to the encouragement of Jock Macdonald who supported McArthur to regularly submit to annual shows by regional and provincial artist societies. Several pieces currently on display received much acclaim at the time of their creation and were widely exhibited throughout Canada. In 1957, Port Colborne Harbour was exhibited at the Canadian National Exhibition. In 1959, Geese was displayed with the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Still Life with Brown Jug / Abstract Still Life was exhibited in the Canadian Group of Painters annual exhibition in 1961. In the following year, McArthur successfully exhibited Winter Scene at the annual Royal Canadian Academy exhibition.
The following chronological step explored in McArthur’s career is the visible transition from painterly abstract landscapes to realism scenes accomplished using ink drawings. Beyond the technical difference, landscape paintings for McArthur remain often nondescript and without location, whereas ink drawings are defined and specific to her community. Even though painted works such as Untitled (Landscape) (1951-1957) and Untitled (Fall Landscape) (n.d.) have more defined elements, their locations remain unknown and unspecified. McArthur’s works in ink drawings are precise and effectively capture specific locations from her community that had visual interest. Working on location, McArthur was able to develop her connections to her community and build relationships with those passing by. Central School (1970) provides a unique example of McArthur’s painterly style and realism drawing in a singular artwork. On top of splashes of painted orange, yellow, and green, McArthur has captured the essence of the structure, which includes details of the school’s name that are etched above arched windows. McArthur enlivens the trees that surround the building using quick strokes and splashes of green.
Collection of Jaquie Poole
In 1973, following Bruce’s retirement, the McArthur’s opened the “Betty McArthur Gallery” on Graham Street. Here, Betty had not only a studio space but also hosted classes for artists from the area. McArthur’s relationship to her community is explored in the exhibition through commissioned artworks. These pieces echoed the interests and tastes of this time period and include works such as portraits and floral still lifes. From these commissioned works, Floral (n.d.) is accomplished in a style that is most familiar to what we have seen of McArthur’s painterly style. The work is clearly a floral still life. However, the use of sweeping blues and greens in the work’s background echoes the energy seen in her early abstract landscapes. In 1975, Bruce ultimately passed away, and in 1978, Betty would sell the gallery in order to concentrate on her artistic practice.
The final chapter of Betty McArthur: Present in the Moment is the exploration of the artist’s late career. For McArthur, the 1980s until her ultimate passing in 1994 was a period marked by global travel and exploration. The works exhibited here are portraits of her children and others, a later self-portrait, and lastly, one final abstract work titled, Yellow Hydrant. Completed in 1977, this work has been attributed to McArthur’s late-career practice. Amidst her production of commissioned artworks and drawings in realism, McArthur continued to be interested in the abstract landscape. Yellow Hydrant moves away from McArthur’s largely rural abstract scenes and towards an urban landscape. Additionally, this work doesn’t hold the same energy and flurry of the paint stroke found in her earlier pieces and has much more controlled applications of colour. Structures of the painting, such as the trees and the lamppost, are sketched onto the panel and are surrounded by vertical blocks of blues, whites, and greys. This work applies the style of the sketched structures found in McArthur’s ink drawings and combines it with her interest in application of vivid colour.
The curatorial choice to end this exhibition with an abstract landscape alongside portraits of her children, herself, and a possibly commissioned portrait provides the viewer a snapshot of the life and career of Betty McArthur. She was deeply interested in the painterly exploration of her surroundings (one that was often far from realism), the importance of her family and her self-capability, as well as her connection to the community. Present in the Moment successfully asserts the life and achievements of Betty McArthur, not only through tracing her early success among artist societies, but also through her lifelong commitment to creative exploration and community engagement. This exhibition is a portrait of an artist. From early abstract experimentation with Jock Macdonald to depictions of her surroundings, from portraiture to commissioned works, McArthur’s legacy is a devotion to a lifelong practice of curiosity and connection.
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Julia De Kwant is a recent graduate from York University where she obtained a Master of Arts degree in Art History and Visual Culture. Julia is a cultural professional and writer residing in Toronto, Ontario
Betty McArthur: Present in the Moment at the Woodstock Art Gallery, Sept. 14, 2024 – July 5, 2025.
