Marie Elyse St. George facts for kids

Marie Elyse St. George was born on December 8, 1929, in Merritton, St. Catharines, Ontario. She is a talented Canadian artist and poet. She is well-known for her beautiful paintings, drawings, and prints. She also creates art using different materials, called mixed media, and writes amazing poetry.

Her Artistic Journey

Elyse St. George studied art at the University of New Hampshire from 1967 to 1972. There, she learned about painting, printmaking, and drawing. After moving to Saskatoon, she continued her studies at the University of Saskatchewan in 1977. She focused on lithography, which is another type of printmaking.

Her artwork explores many different topics. She creates portraits of people and art inspired by her own poetry. She also draws ideas from historical figures. A cool fact is that she made one of the 40 special "windows" for the Discovery Train. This train traveled all across Canada, showing off Canadian culture.

Around 1974, Marie Elyse St. George received a special grant from the Canada Council. This money helped her set up her own printing shop. She used it to create a book filled with her etchings and stories. Etchings are a type of print made by carving designs into a metal plate.

In 1982, St. George joined five other artists to start the Group of 5 Co-operative Gallery Ltd. This was a gallery where they could show and sell their own art. In 1987, her poems, etchings, and paintings were put together in a book called White Lions in the Afternoon.

Teaching and Collaborations

Marie Elyse St. George also shared her artistic skills with others. From 1965 to 1973, she taught at The Art Association in Durham, New Hampshire. Later, in 1975, she led printmaking workshops at the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon. She also taught at the Biggar Community College in 1980 and the Prince Albert Art Centre.

She designed book covers for several Canadian writers. These included Lois Simmie, Bonnie Burnard, and Byrna Barclay. In 1995, she worked with the poet Anne Szumigalski on a book called Voice. This book was so good that it won the Governor General’s Award for poetry that year. They worked together again in 2000 on another book titled Fear of Knives: A Book of Fables.

Her own memoir, which is a book about her life, is called Once in a Blue Moon. It won the Saskatchewan Book Award in 2006. In 2009, she took part in the Regina National Poetry Face-off, a poetry competition that was broadcast on CBC Radio.

Awards and Recognition

Marie Elyse St. George has received many awards for her amazing work:

• 1989 - She won the first prize for poetry from the Saskatchewan Writers Guild.
• 1989 - She also won the first prize in The League of Canadian Poets National Poetry Contest.
• 1996 - She received the Saskatchewan YWCA’s Women of Distinction Award for Arts and Culture.
• 2006 - Her memoir, Once in a Blue Moon, won the Saskatchewan Book Award for Nonfiction.

Sources

• "Artist/Maker Name 'St. George, Elyse Yates'" Canadian Heritage Information Network. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
• "Holdings: Fear of knives : a book of fables" York University Library. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
• St. George, Marie Elyse. Once in a Blue Moon: An Artist's Life. Regina: Coteau Books 2006. ISBN: 1550503383 pp270.
• "St. George, Marie" Poets.ca. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
• St. George, Marie Elyse Yates Archives Canada. Retrieved 2016-03-05.