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The Illuminated Life of Maud Lewis
Reviewed by Joyce Cameron, Instructor

This fifty-minute video tells the life story of Maud Lewis, Canada's foremost folk artist. The video focuses on Maud Lewis and uses original photos and film footage, interviews with people who knew her, and actors to depict her arduous but wonderfully creative life. It begins with her pleasant childhood and follows her as she develops her artistic abilities despite the onset of the rheumatoid arthritis that crippled her.

The story is both sad and inspirational. As a young woman, she bore a child, and because she was not married, the doctor and her father told her that it was a stillborn baby boy. The real baby, a healthy girl, was given up for adoption, and Maude was never told about her. It was also sad that her husband, who was devoted to her in some ways, was a miser, and they lived out their lives in a tiny shack without electricity or running water. But the joy in the choice of subjects and strong colours in her paintings are inspiring in and of themselves, and more so when you think of the obstacles that Maud overcame to create them.

Many of Maud's paintings are shown, along with her tiny house that she painted inside and out in the bright, happy colours that characterize her work. There were several things that fascinated all of us as we watched the film: Maud's perseverance despite her severe disability, the amazing little house she and her husband lived in, and the relationship between the two of them.

The students in my class agreed that they would recommend the video. One student from a Victoria READ class said: "I would give four stars to this video. Even though I am not an art admirer myself, it really held my attention all the way through."