Gwen Johnston Fichaud (1915-1988)

Gwen Johnston was born in Montreal and although she had a strong desire to study art, her father, an optician, believed “fine arts was too much education for a girl and that art was the ultimate impracticality.” Nevertheless, she managed to study art privately for a year, while living in her father’s house, under Wilfred Baren, RCA, before taking her training as a nurse at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. Her desire to put pencil to paper found its outlet in the hospital morgue, in anatomical drawings. Her talent was encouraged with an opportunity to study a year at the University of Rochester, New York. She returned to work at the Royal Victoria for two years as an anatomical artist before going overseas as a Nursing Sister. She passed 20 years in creating a home for her husband and son. After her husband’s transfer to the Island in 1964, she began painting full time, every day, developing large canvases in oil-based inks and felt pens. Even during hospitalization for diabetes she worked, keeping her materials under the bed. Fichaud’s work has a feeling of a peopled landscape, homes, gardens, and tended fields. Gwen Johnston Fichaud was actively involved in the arts community as a tireless organizer and volunteer until her death.

Source: First Hand - Arts, Crafts and Culture Created by P.E.I. Women of the 20th Century