The exhibition Maud Lewis: A Life Collected isa selection of artwork from private collections of Nova Scotia folk artist Maud Lewis. The collection is currently on public display at the Acadia University Art Gallery until September 30, 2018.
 
Curated by Art gallery Director/Curator, Dr. Laurie Dalton, the exhibit recognizes Lewis as an essential part of Nova Scotia’s economy of tourism and art production. Letters written by Lewis to collectors are on display, as well as comments from collectors explaining how they acquired the work. This provides an important way to understand how storytelling is integral to the ways in which people have come to understand the artist.
 
The exhibition also encourages visitors to look at her work within the wider context of modern art. Her work is an example of how these artists pushed the boundaries and advocated for new ways of seeing. Paintings of landscape no longer adhered to strict notions of perspective, realism and colour, but rather one that challenged our perspective and used colour as an expressive form in and of itself.
 
Lewis grew up in Yarmouth and Digby. Her home in Marshalltown, NS, where she created and sold her art, became a popular spot for tourists. Many of these visitors eventually became collectors and Lewis came to national attention through stories in the Star Weekly, CBC Telescope and films created by the National Film Board.
 
The Acadia University Art Gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m, or by appointment, and admission is free. For more information: http://gallery.acadiau.ca, 902-585-1373.
 
Opened in 1978, the Acadia University Art Gallery is the main public art gallery in the Annapolis Valley and presents a year round exhibition program of contemporary and historical work.