Kathleen Knowling says she became interested in making art when she was a young woman. (Darryl Murphy/CBC)
St. John’s artist Kathleen Knowling, 97, is still creating art, and her sketchbooks spanning several decades are now on display at The Rooms as part of a new exhibit.
It’s located on a landing between the second and third floor, and the walls are filled with sketchbooks splayed open. On the pages are sketches of landscapes and everyday items, as well as a few poems and short stories.
The images on display aren’t completed works, but moments Knowling captured in various sketchbooks over the years.
“The sketchbook is not like a finished work of art … when you do a finished work of art, you’re thinking about composition, colour contrast, colour values,” Knowling told CBC News.
In a sketchbook, she doesn’t worry about getting the details exactly right, adding she never thought to put her sketchbooks on display, but a fellow artist suggested it.
Many of the sketches on display feature canine companions.
“I’m very fond of dogs,” she explained.
Many of the sketches on display feature dogs. (Kathleen Knowling/The Rooms)
When asked about her exhibition’s title — Kathleen Knowling: Art is What Makes Life More Interesting Than Art — Knowling said most people have fairly mundane lives, but she sees inspiration in these everyday things.
For example, Knowling said she always eats a banana in the morning.
“You pull the skin back on a banana, and lo and behold, if you finish it and drop it on a plate, [it] makes all these interesting shapes.”
One such sketch of a banana turning brown is on display.
“That’s more interesting than just saying, ‘I got up and ate a banana.'”
Art in every day
Knowling said she didn’t receive any encouragement to pursue the arts while she was in school.
“I accidentally went down to the Newfoundland Academy of Art,” she said, where painter Helen Parsons Shepherd — known for her still-life paintings and portraits — was teaching.
Knowling said she was in her late 20s at the time, and she got hooked. She said she hasn’t stopped drawing ever since.
WATCH | ‘I think that everybody should draw. I think it’s important people draw’:
This N.L. artist started drawing in her 20s. Now 97 years old, her latest exhibit of sketches is at The Rooms
Kathleen Knowling believes everyone should have a little art in their lives. So her new exhibition, Kathleen Knowling: Art is What Makes Life More Interesting Than Art, is aptly named. The CBC’s Elizabeth Whitten learned more about the St. John’s artist who “accidentally” got started in art.
“I hesitated for a while, and got married and had three children,” she said, laughing. “And with three children underfoot, you don’t do much, you know, other than run after three children.”
Knowling would go on to take some of Memorial University’s Extension Service courses, studying with well-known artists such as Christopher Pratt, Mary Pratt and David Blackwood.
Knowling says she still works on art every morning. (Kathleen Knowling/The Rooms)
She said she still spends the better part of her mornings making art, and encourages everyone to take up some artistic practice, whether it’s painting, acting or dancing.
“I just love drawing. I think that everybody should draw. I think it’s important people draw, ” she said. “I think people should be interested in arts.”
The exhibit runs until Dec. 1.
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