Biographies > Nora Edna Craven

Nora Edna Craven first started drawing while in public school. She began by copying comic strip characters and her parents always encouraged her to draw and write. In her later years she studied with Ernest Sawford-Dye who introduced her to painting with oils. She often wished she had also asked him to teach her watercolour. It wasn’t until after she retired that she tried watercolours for herself and later on she experimented with egg tempera. Her drawing here captures those northern post-storm days with snow clogging trees. 

Craven also was a writer, with over ten books including poetry anthologies, flower identification and children’s science fiction books. She illustrated her book with her own sketches. Despite all her accomplishments the artist still felt inadequate. She said “I am often frustrated at my inability to capture what I see and put it on paper. But I keep trying”. 

Nora E. Craven was born in New Liskeard, Ontario on January first, 1913. She grew up and was schooled in New Liskeard, later attending McMaster University and graduating with a degree in science in 1934. From 1934-35 she attended the Ontario Centre for Excellence and in 1937 Toronto Teachers’ College. Up until her retirement in 1972 she taught in various places across Northern Ontario.