52 WEEKS::Mary Cassatt

Women should be someone and not something.

~ Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt was probably one of the first female artists I was introduced to as a woman who exhibited with the early impressionists like Degas,  She was born in the United States and travelled extensively in order to study, but, like me, also considered giving up her creative career at one point and also could not help herself and returned to it.  I was especially drawn to her work for her use of colour and her representation of educated women, known as 'the new woman'.  She was another woman invested in supporting the women's suffrage movement and inspired many Canadian artists who were part of the Beaver Hall Group - an exhibit currently taking place at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary.