AN ARTISTIC LEGACY

Following the death of Homer Watson’s sister Phoebe Watson in 1947, Ross and Bess Hamilton in 1948 bought the former Watson home from the Waterloo Trust bank and opened the Doon School of Fine Arts. Modelled after The Banff School of Fine Arts, it aspired to keep Homer Watson’s legacy alive and his home a place of artistic learning. One of its first art instructors was Group of Seven member Frederick Varley. Group members A.Y. Jackson and A.J. Casson sat on the school’s newly formed board of directors and taught art classes during its operation from 1948 to 1966. –– Nichole Martin

Group of Seven member Frederick Varley teaches Jane Van Every, Homer Watson’s niece, at the Doon School of Fine Arts, circa 1948.