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Grace Olsen
Port Alice BC

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Grace was born in Trail, BC, in 1948 on a wet and snowy February 29. She was at least two weeks overdue and the way her mother tells it, her arrival was none too soon!

When Grace was three, she attempted her first major art project. It was drawn on her grandfather’s freshly painted white bathroom walls. Grace thought the blank walls were a perfect canvas and studiously drew on them for the entire day. Since the bathroom was a spare one, no one noticed the undertaking until it was almost completed. Grace produced a magnificent 360º wall mural of naked Hawaiian women in grass skirts dancing amidst waving palm trees. Although the work was largely unappreciated by most critics, her grandfather, a true art patron, preserved a small section of the mural up until the time the house was sold.

Self-taught, Grace has been an artist all of her life. She has worked with oils, acrylics, and ceramics. Her favourite subjects are flowers and local scenery. Recently she has started to paint with watercolours. Grace has lived and taught on the northern part of Vancouver Island for the last 32 years.