{"id":256391,"date":"2025-11-02T09:12:21","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T09:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/256391\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T09:12:21","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T09:12:21","slug":"at-97-artist-kathleen-knowling-still-makes-art-every-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/256391\/","title":{"rendered":"At 97, artist Kathleen Knowling still makes art every day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OlderKathleen Knowling says she became interested in making art when she was a young woman. (Darryl Murphy\/CBC)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The images on display aren’t completed works, but moments Knowling captured in various sketchbooks over the years.<\/p>\n

“The sketchbook is not like a finished work of art \u2026 when you do a finished work of art, you’re thinking about composition, colour contrast, colour values,” Knowling told CBC News.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Many of the sketches on display feature canine companions. <\/p>\n

“I’m very fond of dogs,” she explained.<\/p>\n

\"AMany of the sketches on display feature dogs. (Kathleen Knowling\/The Rooms)<\/p>\n

When asked about her exhibition’s title \u2014 Kathleen Knowling: Art is What Makes Life More Interesting Than Art \u2014 Knowling said most people have fairly mundane lives, but she sees inspiration in these everyday things.<\/p>\n

For example, Knowling said she always eats a banana in the morning.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

One such sketch of a banana turning brown is on display.<\/p>\n

“That’s more interesting than just saying, ‘I got up and ate a banana.'”<\/p>\n

Art in every day<\/p>\n

Knowling said she didn’t receive any encouragement to pursue the arts while she was in school.<\/p>\n

“I accidentally went down to the Newfoundland Academy of Art,” she said, where painter Helen Parsons Shepherd \u2014 known for her still-life paintings and portraits \u2014 was teaching.<\/p>\n

Knowling said she was in her late 20s at the time, and she got hooked. She said she hasn’t stopped drawing ever since.<\/p>\n

WATCH | \u2018I think that everybody should draw. I think it’s important people draw\u2019:\"\"<\/p>\n

This N.L. artist started drawing in her 20s. Now 97 years old, her latest exhibit of sketches is at The Rooms<\/p>\n

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\u2019s Elizabeth Whitten learned more about the St. John\u2019s artist who \u201caccidentally\u201d got started in art. <\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"AKnowling says she still works on art every morning. (Kathleen Knowling\/The Rooms)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

The exhibit runs until Dec. 1.<\/p>\n

Download our free CBC News app<\/a> to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here<\/a>. Click here to visit our landing page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kathleen Knowling says she became interested in making art when she was a young woman. (Darryl Murphy\/CBC) St.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-256391","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}