Betty Davison
(1909–)
(–2000)
Betty Davison
1909–2000
Betty Davison (1909–2000) (née Elizabeth Mary Gertrude Young) was a Canadian artist born in Ottawa. Davison studied life drawing and sculpture at the High School of Commerce under Lionel and Ernest Fonsbery.
Davison took portrait commissions to support her family after her husband of three years, Richard Lewis passed away. Through the 1930s and 1940s, she performed with the Ottawa Little Theatre and held her first solo art exhibition in the theatre's foyer in 1945. In 1952, she married the architect Arthur Davison, who was a fellow actor at the theatre.
In the 1960s, Davison took art classes at Carleton University and the Ottawa Municipal Art Centre and credited Alma Duncan with encouraging her to return to her artistic career. She further studied printmaking with Hilde Schreier during the 1970s, which inspired Davison to experiment with cast paper reliefs. In 1974, her print Paper Roses received a $1,000 award from the Ontario Arts Council. She has received several awards including the Martha Jackson Gallery purchase award (1977), the Harold Pitman prize (1978), and a purchase award from the Art Gallery of Brant (1983). Davison has shown her work across Canada and the United States in numerous solo and group exhibitions.