Coombs, Edith Grace, 1890-1986 : Edith Grace Coombs, (Mrs. James Sharp Lawson), (1890-1986) was an artist and art teacher in Nova Scotia and primarily Ontario for about 40 years, from ca. 1918 - 1956. As a practicing and exhibiting artist, she brought her skills and knowledge of current practices and trends to her students. Ontario was a centre of Canadian art development and innovation during these early years and Grace Coombs was in a position of influence.
She was born in Hamilton and moved with her family to St. Catharines, Gananoque and Fort William. As a child she nurtured her love or art and went on to study it both in Canada, at the Ontario College of Art, 1913-1918 (with G. A. Reid and J.E.H. MacDonald) and in the United States at the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts in 1929. She knew many of the members of the Group of Seven and was influenced by and reactive to their art. She knew Robert Holmes and appreciated his famous flower paintings.
During and beyond these years she also taught art, first at Edgehill College, Windsor, Nova Scotia, 1918; then at the Havergal College in Toronto from 1918-1921. The highlight of her career was her period at The Ontario College of Art (1920-1956) where she was made an Associate Instructor in 1921 and a then a Full Instructor in 1930. The teaching staff during this period consisted of George Agnew Reid, Robert Holmes, J.W. Beatty, William Cruikshank, C.M Manly and Emanuel Hahn. She knew others in their circle such as Arthur Lismer and Lawren Harris. One of her students enrolled in the Junior Course at the Ontario College of Art from 1920-1929, was the artist Doris McCarthy.
The artist exhibited with the Ontario Society of Artists, the National Gallery, the Royal Canadian Academy, the Canadian National Exhibition, the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour, the Canadian Society of Graphic Art, the Montreal Art Association and held many other smaller exhibitions, such as a late exhibition held April 5-17, 1985 at the Toronto Heliconian Club at which 83 works were shown. A recent retrospective show held at the Magnetawan Historical Museum in 2005 featured some works loaned by the donor of this collection, Doreen Wood. She was a member of numerous art societies and associations such as: the Ontario Society of Artists (1928); the Canadian Society of Graphic Art; the Federation of Canadian Artists; the Ontario College of Art Alumni Association; the Victoria University Faculty Women's Association; the Three Arts Club (New York); the Heliconian Club; and the Lyceum Women's Art Association.
Although a successful teacher, like many women of her day one of her biggest challenges was being recognized as well for her artistic work. Coombs painted many subjects traditionally produced by women, works depicting flowers, animals, birds, children, portraits, figure studies but also some landscapes and abstract works. With the eye of a trained artist her works are characterized by balanced composition, efficiency of line and harmony of pattern and an intense interest in colour. She is likely best known for her floral subjects and landscapes, many of which she painted at her summer home and studio at Camp Charmette, near Ahmic Harbour and Parry Sound, Ontario. Beyond this she, painted stained glass windows at the Chalmers United Church, Guelph, Ontario, produced some lithographs and as well is known as an illustrator and a muralist. Her illustrations are found in T. S. Woods': "The Rambles of a Canadian Naturalist" and Dorothy Campbell's "The Brave Little People." She made two murals based on Wyandotte creation myths for the Museum of Civilization. She was a versatile artist using a variety of traditional media such as oil, watercolour, pastel, charcoal, pencil and ink.
