Fellow My Art Club community member Timmy Timms asked for a bit more information about Myfanwy Pavelic. I didn’t know her personally. She travelled in much higher circles than I did. Several times when some of my paintings were exhibited amongst the works of hundreds of other artists at annual Sooke Region Museum juried fine art events, she was present at the officials table on awards nights. One of the awards in these events was a sizeable cash endowment provided by Myfanwy to a deserving artist. For the benefit of Ms. Tims and others who would care to know a little more concerning Mrs. Pavelic, I can offer the following snippets of information I gleaned from my own research. She was born April 27, 1916, in Victoria, British Columbia. In her youth she was a friend of Emily Carr. In 1937 she was presented to the court at Buckingham Palace as a debutante. She studied and practised the profession of fine artist exclusively for her entire life. In 1948 she married Nikola Pavelic, son of the former Prime Minister of Yugoslavia. In 1950 she gave birth, in Victoria, BC, to her daughter Tessa. In 1951 she donated her late father’s family home to the City of Victoria to be converted into the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Talented, connected and mentored in the arts, she became a prolific and pre-eminent portrait artist. She had a studio in New York City, where her daughter was educated, in the 1950’s and 1960’s. During that period the Pavelics spent their summers at Spencerwood, her family estate in Saanich, British Columbia. In 1971 they moved permanently to Saanich, were Myfanwy established a spectacular studio on the grounds of Spencerwood. She had many prominent friends, including Pierre Trudeau, Katharine Hepburn and Yehudi Menuhin. She lent her financial support to the Southern Vancouver Island fine arts and music community for many decades. She also donated over five hundred paintings to the University of Victoria. She had very nice one-person shows at the Victoria Art Gallery in 1976 and in 1994. I went to see the 1994 exhibit. The portion of her body of work shown there, including many self-portraits and paintings of Miss Hepburn, Mr. Menuhin and Prime Minister Trudeau was most impressive. Myfanwy Pavelic was one of the few portraitists with the ability to capture in the sitter’s eyes and facial features the real spirit of the individual being portrayed. Her husband died in 1996. Not long afterwards, finding it difficult to paint at her easel, she slowed her output. Several years ago she stopped any significant amount of painting as her health was in decline. She died peacefully at Saanich Peninsula Hospital May 7, 2007. Through shows displaying her work around the world and by making generous donations of her finances and time she was able to touch many artists and the general public with her skills and her uniquely, masterfully crafted works of art. She was a Member of the Order of Canada and was also a Member of the Order of British Columbia. DS, June 5, 2007