Beven Bertie and Fish Print

Writing this makes me realise how unplanned my life has been. I started at Camberwell School of Art (now Camberwell College of Arts) in London in 1961, then lived in New York. Later I accompanied my husband on a United Nations fellowship researching the human rights of discharged prisoners in California. With our sons, we moved from London to Ottawa ostensibly for one year but stayed fifteen, becoming Canadian citizens. During that time I exhibited in London at The Francis Kyle Gallery and at RONA, Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills, Franklin Silverstone Gallery Montréal, Uffundi Gallery, Ottawa. I had works in the Ottawa Gallery permanent collection, The Canadian Art Bank, and was part of the Canada Collects exhibition that showcased Canadian art in galleries and museums across the USA. ​ Then, on Canadian diplomatic passports, we moved back to London ostensibly for five years, but that morphed into many. During that time I stopped painting and got a master's degree in psychotherapy from City University followed by a 30 year career, that I loved, as a psychotherapist. I worked from my flat in Marylebone, London. Meanwhile, my sons and their families moved back to Canada, and a few years ago asked me to join them. I now live in a multigenerational family house in Calgary, Alberta, and once again I paint every day. But I think what encapsulates me more succinctly than any bit of this bio is the fact I inadvertently sent it as a text to the Calgary Ikea pickup number mistaking it for my own iPhone. Ikea: That's amazing! Me: I thought I was sending that to myself! Please let me know to whom I sent it!! ​Ikea: It's the Ikea pickup number! But that made my day! Me: Hahahahaha! Thank you so much! I have been writing a potted bio all afternoon and was trying to send it to myself! Ikea: So far so good! I think it’s great! Have a good day :) ​Me: 😀