{"id":33920,"date":"2023-12-07T19:08:21","date_gmt":"2023-12-08T00:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=33920"},"modified":"2023-12-07T19:08:23","modified_gmt":"2023-12-08T00:08:23","slug":"renowned-painter-helen-lucas-best-known-for-paintings-of-flowers-passes-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/renowned-painter-helen-lucas-best-known-for-paintings-of-flowers-passes-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Renowned painter Helen Lucas, best known for paintings of flowers, passes away"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Painting is all Helen Lucas ever wanted to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The renowned painter passed away November 27. She was 92.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helen was a huge presence in the lives of all who knew her. Her legacy is one of kindness, grace, generosity, authenticity, and advocacy for the well-being of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She had the heart and passion of an artist, as expressed in her joyous floral paintings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The no-holds-barred artist painted for more than half a century, pushing the envelope and breaking the rules along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lucas\u2019s distinguished career, spanning over six decades, produced deeply personal art \u2013 from the darker earlier works of her formative years, to her glorious floral paintings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The transition of her work was chronicled in an award-winning film by Donna Davey, Helen Lucas: Her Journey \u2013 Our Journey. The film included an interview with her friend, Margaret Laurence, who made this observation: \u201cThe affirmation of life, in the midst of pain is the story of your art, my beloved friend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to delivering lectures on women in the arts, and co-founding one of the first Women\u2019s Studies programs in Canada, the King City artist frequently appeared on radio and TV\u2008from the 1970s to the 1990s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout her career she has been awarded numerous awards, including the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal as well as an Honorary Doctor of Letters from York University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her paintings can be seen in countless private, corporate, and public collections including The Canadian War Museum, The King City Municipal Offices, Sick Kids Hospital, and The Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre. York University has the largest collection of her artworks, as well as her archive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did she paint flowers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will always be drawn to the beauty and the courage of the flower,\u201d\u2008she once said.\u2008\u201cI am captivated by it. Flowers, more than anything else, are so life-enforcing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helen was as genuine and authentic as they come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHelen will always stay with us,\u201d said long-time friend and King artist Ernestine Tahedl. \u201cHer art will be appreciated, loved and cherished. A lasting document of Helen\u2019s wonderful gift to all. Her love to paint, generosity, enjoyment of beauty in life and nature are the things I remember most about her and I am deeply grateful that I could call her a friend! Helen was truly an inspiration!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helen is survived by her daughter Michelle, her sister Mary and brother-in-law Jeff, sons-in-law Frank and Alan, and numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nephews and cousins; she is predeceased by her parents, husband Derek, sister Diane and brother-in-law William and, in 2014, her beloved daughter Andrea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A private funeral will take place and visitation will be on Thursday, December 7 between 4 and 6 p.m. at the Roadhouse & Rose Funeral Home \u2013 157 Main Street South, Newmarket Ontario, L3Y 3Y9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In lieu of flowers kindly make donations to The Alzheimer Society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Mark Pavilons<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Painting is all Helen Lucas ever wanted to do. The renowned painter passed away November 27. She was 92. Helen was a huge presence in the lives of all who knew her. Her legacy is one of kindness, grace, generosity, authenticity, and advocacy for the well-being of others. She had the heart and passion of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":33921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2023-12-07-03.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8P6","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-18 09:59:32","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}