Euphemia McNaught

Euphemia (Betty) McNaught was born in Glenmorris, Ontario in 1902. In 1912, Euphemia and her family left Ontario and travelled west to Edson by train. From there, they travelled by ox cart on the newly opened Edson Trail, eventually settling in the area of Beaverlodge. Euphemia, the youngest of six children, would later become known as "Betty from Beaverlodge."

Having studied to become a teacher, McNaught taught for two years before deciding she would rather be an artist. Having saved her money, she enrolled at the Ontario College of Art (OCA), where she was influenced by such artists as Emmanual Hahn, J.E.H. MacDonald, and Arthur Lismer. Upon graduating from the OCA in 1929, McNaught went on to teach at Mount Royal College in Calgary and exhibited, in 1931, with the Alberta Society of Artists at the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede.

In 1935, McNaught went to teach at the Ontario Ladies College in Whitby, Ontario but returned to Alberta the following year, upon the death of her father.

In 1942, McNaught and her former student Evelyn (Evy) McBryan were commissioned by then-Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King to document, in paintings, the construction of the Alaska Highway.

For her dedication to pioneering art in the Peace Region of Alberta, McNaught was awarded the Alberta Achievement Award of Excellence (1977) and the Sir Frederick Haultain Prize (1982). A founder of the Grande Prairie Art Club and the Beaverlodge Art Club and an active member of the Peace Watercolour Society, McNaught, in 1985, became a lifetime member of the Alberta Society of Artists.

Euphemia McNaught, well-known artist and naturalist whose Peace Country landscapes and pioneer scenes in watercolour, oils, pen and ink are found in many private collections in Alberta and around the world, passed away in May 2002. She was 100.

Euphemia McNaught Painting Gallery