Nan Lawson Cheney

Cheney was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia,^[1] and spent part of her childhood in Havana, Cuba.^[2] She studied at the Newcombe College Art School, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana (c. 1917–1918); and with Max Broedel at the School of Medical Illustration, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland (1920–1921). She then was employed as a medical illustrator at McGill University, Montreal (1921–1924).

She studied fine art with J.W. Beatty at the Ontario College of Art Summer School, Port Hope, Ontario; with Franklin Brownell, Art Associate of Ottawa (c. 1926); with Aldro T. Hibbard, Summer School of Drawing & Painting, Rockport, Massachusetts (1927); with Lilias Torrance Newton, Art Associate of Montreal (c. 1934); and with Alexandre Iacovleff, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1936). In the 1930s and 1940s, she travelled widely throughout British Columbia, painting landscapes and industrial subjects.^[3][4][5] In 1924, she married Dr. Hill Cheney.^[4] In 1937, the couple moved to Vancouver, and Nan Cheney became the University of British Columbia's first medical artist.^[4] She held this position until 1962.^[4]

In Vancouver, Cheney worked with Group of Seven member Lawren Harris and Jock Macdonald, accompanying them on sketching trips.^[4] She also worked closely with her friend Emily Carr.^[4] Dear Nan: Letters of Emily Carr, Nan Cheney, and Humphrey Toms (edited by Doreen Walker) was published in 1990.^[6]

She showed with the British Columbia Society of Fine Arts until 1950. She taught at the Banff School of Fine Arts, Alberta (1936); and taught at U.B.C., Vancouver (1951–1962).^[3] Her work is included in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada (which holds Cheney's portrait of Carr)^[1] and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.^[7] She was affiliated with the British Columbia Society of Fine Arts (member in 1937); the Federation of Canadian Artists (1941); and the British Columbia Society of Artists (1950) (she was made a life member in 1957).^[3] She died in Vancouver in 1985.^[1] The Nan Cheney fonds is in the UBC Library, University of British Columbia.^[8] Some of her artworks are held at the BC Archives.^[9]