{{Short description|Scottish-Canadian artist, teacher, and academic professional}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Nancy Jane Burton | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1892|05|28|df=yes}} | birth_place = Glasgow, Scotland | death_date = {{death date and age|1977|03|08|1892|05|28}} | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | residence = | education = | alma_mater = Glasgow School of Art | known_for = | notable_works = | style = | movement = | spouse = | partner = | awards = Lauder Prize, 1927 | elected = Glasgow Society of Lady Artists | patrons = | memorials = | website = | module = }} '''Grace Wilson Melvin''' (1892/1896 - 1977) was a Scottish-Canadian artist, teacher, and academic professional who was born in Glasgow.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://cwahi.concordia.ca/sources/artists/displayArtist.php?ID_artist=2291|title=Canadian Women Artists History Initiative : Artist Database : Artists : MELVIN, Grace Wilson|website=cwahi.concordia.ca|language=en|access-date=2018-03-26}}</ref> According to most sources, Melvin's date of birth was May 28, 1892; however, some sources state the year as 1896. The Scotland's People website confirms 1892 is the date.<ref>https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/record-results/34506223464fa257bad634?check_logged_in=1</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.gsaarchives.net/archon/index.php?p=creators/creator&id=487|title=Melvin, Grace (1892-1977)|work=GSA Archives|language=en|access-date=2018-03-26}}</ref> Melvin has been noted as one of two women who were responsible for bringing modern calligraphy designs to Canada (the other being Esme Davis).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/calligraphy|title=Calligraphy|last=Stevens|first=Gail|work=The Canadian Encyclopedia|access-date=2018-03-26|language=en}}</ref> She won the Lauder Prize in 1927.<ref>https://www.fecklesscollection.ca/grace-melvin</ref>
== Education == Melvin began studying art at the Glasgow School of Art in 1907.<ref name=":1" /> She took classes in drawing, painting, and design, while also attending life classes.<ref name=":1" /> Her work was influenced by the Art Nouveau period in which she was creating, which had Pre-Raphaelite influences.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.memorybc.ca/melvin-grace|title=Melvin, Grace - MemoryBC|website=www.memorybc.ca|language=en|access-date=2018-03-26}}</ref> Melvin studied under the guidance of Robert Anning Bell, Maurice Grieffenhager, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Caley Robinson,<ref name=":0" /> and Ann MacBeth.<ref name=":1" /> She graduated with honours in 1916 and received a post-graduate diploma with honours in 1918.<ref name=":1" /> Melvin discovered her passion for illumination whilst studying on scholarship to London's British Museum, and was given special permission to recreate some of the works.<ref name=":1" />
== Career == Melvin ended her studies at the Glasgow School of Art in 1918 and became a faculty member in 1920.<ref name="ScotPaint">{{cite book|author=Paul Harris & Julian Halsby|publisher=Canongate|year=1990|title=The Dictionary of Scottish Painters 1600 to the Present|isbn=1-84195-150-1}}</ref> Courses that she taught, between 1920 and 1927, included: * Lettering and Illumination (under Design and Decorative Art) (1920/1921)<ref name=":1" /> * Lettering and Illumination (under Pictorial Design and methods of production) (1926/1927)<ref name=":1" /> * History of Lettering and Illumination (1926/1927)<ref name=":1" />
Melvin also worked as a scribe for the Corporation of Glasgow, making illuminated addresses for significant people.<ref name=":1" /> She traveled to Vancouver, B.C., in 1927 for a two-year leave of absence from the Glasgow School of Art to help organize the Design Department at the Vancouver Art School.<ref name=":2" /><ref name="ScotPaint"/> According to the Canadian Women Artists History Initiative, Melvin came to Canada at the request of her brother-in-law Charles H. Scott.<ref name=":0" /> However, there is seemingly no further mention of him in her life nor of any involvement in the Vancouver Art School. There, Melvin accepted a full-time position as the Head of the Design Department in 1929. She was interested in First Nations art and encouraged her students to use such art for inspiration in their own work.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Artmaking in two Vancouver high schools, 1920 to 1950 (Dissertation)|last=Stephenson|first=D. Wendy Louise|publisher=The University of British Columbia (Canada)|year=2005|location=British Columbia (Canada)|pages=59}}</ref> She retired from the Vancouver Art School in 1952 and became a full-time painter, while also publishing and illustrating numerous books.<ref name="ScotAA">{{cite book|author=Peter J.M. McEwan|publisher=Antique Collectors' Club|year=1994|title=The Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture|isbn=1-85149-134-1}}</ref> Her main passion was lettering and illumination, but she also created many landscape, garden and urban coastal scenes.<ref name=":0" /> The mediums that Melvin worked in included watercolor, oil, and ink.<ref name=":0" />
== Publications and art work == One of Melvin's most notable works is the ''Books of Remembrance'' for the Canadian Engineers of World War I that she created, which is on display in St Paul's Cathedral in London, England.<ref name=":1" /> She completed illustrations for many books by Marius Barbeau,<ref name=":0" /> including "The Indian Speaks" from 1943,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X7TVAAAAMAAJ|title=The Indian Speaks|last1=Barbeau|first1=Marius|last2=Melvin|first2=Grace Wilson|date=1943|publisher=Caxton printers, Limited|language=en}}</ref> and "Le Rêve de Kamalmouk" from 1948.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.amazon.ca/Reve-Kamalmouk-Marius-Barbeau/dp/B007N9Q4NI|title=Le Reve De Kamalmouk|last=Barbeau|first=Marius|date=1948|publisher=Fides|others=Grace Melvin}}</ref> Her book titled ''Basic Lettering for Art Students'' from 1930 is reportedly still used in instruction today.<ref name=":1" /> She had many books commissioned for the Department of Education of British Columbia,<ref name=":2" /> including the ''Student Manual and Workbook'' from 1949 and the ''Teacher's Manual: Containing in Full 'the Student Manual and Workbook' with a Suggested Approach''.<ref name=":0" />
== Final years == Grace Wilson Melvin died in Vancouver, B.C., on March 8, 1977.<ref name=":2" />
== References == {{reflist}}
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Category:1890s births Category:Date of birth uncertain Category:1977 deaths Category:20th-century Scottish women artists Category:Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art Category:Artists from Glasgow Category:Glasgow Society of Women Artists member