2 minute read
Honouring artist Kathryn Fellows
By Kiki Carr
Staying within the lines of art and life was not how Kathryn Fellows lived. As an artist, a community member, and a top-producing Investment Advisor with RBC Dominion Securities, a traditionally male-dominated field, she earned one of the highest levels of qualifications in her industry: Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute. Her friends describe her as a person who donated her time, resources, and art whenever someone needed it. She supported the community and honoured her own goals simultaneously.
The Visitor
“She was one of those people constantly learning and pushing boundaries,” says Dona Knudsen in regards to her friend and peer artist from Gallery 121. She explains how Fellows always pushed herself to learn more and encouraged everyone around her to do the same. She speaks fondly of Fellows and the way she took risks with her art, taking chances with texture and colour. Knudsen says Fellows had a special talent of making anyone feel welcome and knowledgeable, no matter where they were in their artist journey, in what they liked, what colours they were drawn to and how art made them feel.
Much like the way she continually learned about the avenues she was enthusiastic about, there were lessons she imparted on those who knew her. Knudsen says there are three in particular that left an impact.
The first: never stand still when you are creating - try something out of the box and unexpected. The second: never stop looking for teachers of all kinds - you are never done learning and expanding. The third: never stop pushing - there’s always something new to discover.
Visions
Fellows also belonged to the Belleville Art Association with friend Sharon Bower who describes her art as always full of lively, bright, and bold colours: “She used various subject matters and was willing to experiment or try anything.” When sharing stories of travel, art classes, and memories of Fellows, Bower recounts “she always put a smile on your face,” as she herself was smiling.
On Fellows’ artist page on the Gallery 121 website, she expresses her art in her own words: “I'm most satisfied with contrasting a bold palette of colours against the softness of the watercolour medium, with intermingling hints of realism merging into impressionistic environments.”
Hidden Garden
It could be said that life imitates art in the way Fellows pushed through boundaries and placed herself in states of expansion and growth. She has been painted as a person who was a bold trailblazer in her career, against the softness of her passion in creating art, with intermingling hints of her kind and giving volunteerism in the community.
Kathyrn Fellows died at home on March 3, 2021 after a battle with cancer. She was 81.
