Norma Dixon WHAT Painter, Poet, Photographer WHERE - Home Studio, 108 Williamson St., Fitzroy Harbour, 623-5928, norma.dixon@primus.ca - Gallery Gift Shop, 158 John St. N., Arnprior, 623-7399 WHEN - Valley Arts Council 2004 Juried Arts Exhibition & Sale, Apr. 1- May 30, Pembroke - West Carleton Arts Society Art Exhibition & Sale, Apr. 3-4, 10am - 4pm, - St. Isidore's Parish Hall, 1135 March Rd., Kanata - Arnprior League of Artists Springtime Show, Apr. 17-18, Nick Smith Arena, Arnprior WHY It connects me with kindred spirits. See samples of Norma's work

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Norma Dixon - People Your World
By Sally Hansen

After more than fifty years of painting, teaching art, writing poetry and taking photographs, Norma Dixon has concluded that capturing the likeness of a human face on a canvas is her most satisfying accomplishment. Her portrait of "Lady Diana" is at The Grove in Arnprior. Her portrait of a family of seven done in pastels hangs in a home in Barry's Bay. Last year her watercolour of a two-year-old on the beach won her first prize at the 2003 Carp Fair.

Norma has a lot of accomplishments from which to choose. Her studio in Fitzroy Harbour is packed full of paintings and photos and prints and awards. When I lean over to look at one collection of ribbons, I am startled to find out that she earned them for her golfing exploits. With typical Norma exuberance, she recounts her pleasure at winning a prize from the Madawaska Golf Club not very long after she took up the game in her fifties. This is a woman who loves to live, to challenge herself, to compete and to win.

And win is what she frequently does. She can't resist submitting works for juried shows, and she is a frequent contributor to all kinds of poetry contests. This past December she learned that her poem "Icicles" had won yet another award. To me, this excerpt from her poem captures the essence of her personality:

…short existence
life's like that!
starting unexpectedly
building - shining -
sudden awareness to be witnessed
brilliant crescendos, meeting and suddenly
disappearing again.

Ostensibly she was writing about icicles, but by the end of the interview, I realised she had crafted a synopsis of her own life into these few short lines.

Her first husband died suddenly in 1962 while they were stationed at the Air Force base at Greenwood, Nova Scotia. Norma returned to her home town of Ottawa with her 9-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter and worked for 30 years as an executive secretary and administrative assistant. She had studied life drawing with Marjorie Delacourt in the '50s, and had taught classes in art at Air Force bases, so she started teaching classes from her home and still does so to this day. In 1969 she married Doug Dixon, an avid skier and fisherman, and now a fellow golfer. In 1993 Doug fulfilled Norma's lifelong dream when he built her a wonderful studio at their new home in Fitzroy Harbour.

Kindred Spirits
Norma's life as well as her studio overflows with the fruits of all her labours of love. She loves doing art, and she loves the connections and relationships with other "kindred spirits" that her many activities engender. She is well-known on the local art scene, participating in many juried art shows and in area studio tours like the Two Rivers Artists Studio Tour. She is an associate member of the Ottawa Watercolour Society, a member of the Valley Arts Society in Pembroke, the Arnprior League of Artists, Nepean Fine Arts, and West Carleton Arts. A regular contributor to the Watercolour Gazette in Winnipeg, her lovely painting of Pakenham's stone bridge appeared on the cover of the Nov/Dec '03 issue.

This gifted and energetic granny volunteers her time and talents across a broad spectrum of causes and events. A former meals-on-wheels driver and past president and current secretary of the Fitzroy Harbour Seniors group, she taught art at the Kiwanis Centre at the Carlingwood Mall in Ottawa for 12 years. In November, 2002, she was rushing to her class when she lost her bearings and her balance, and dropped to the floor. Nine days later she was released from hospital and began her steady recuperation from a stroke that today is indiscernible. Her only long-term accommodation to this reminder that she might be mortal is that she no longer teaches outside of her own studio - where she currently teaches children on Tuesdays, and adults on Wednesdays.

She must owe part of her remarkable resilience to her insatiable appetite to embrace life and art wholeheartedly, enthusiastically, fully. She is fearless, tackling new media and new challenges wherever she encounters them. Her photographs have taken top prize at the Carp Fair twice; she created a 5-foot tulip for the 50th Anniversary of Ottawa's Tulip Festival; she is exploring e-poetry opportunities and experimenting with clayboard carving.

"sudden awareness to be witnessed"
You can encounter Norma Dixon's paintings throughout April and May in Pembroke at the Valley Arts Council 2004 Juried Arts Exhibition & Sale, Festival Hall, 401 Isabella St. On April 3-4 she will be showing works at the West Carleton Arts Society Art Exhibition & Sale from 10am - 4pm, at St. Isidore's Parish Hall, 1135 March Rd., Kanata. And on April 17-18 you can look for her at the Arnprior League of Artists Springtime Show at the Nick Smith Arena in Arnprior. For a springtime infusion of energy and inspiration or to commission a portrait, you can contact this kindred spirit at her Fitzroy Harbour studio by calling her at 623-5928 or by email at norma.dixon@primus.ca.

Humanity
Usually
Makes
Mistakes

Hiding
Under
Mixed
Messages

Help
Us
Move
Majestically.