ROY AUSTIN: ARTIST

Did you know... there was a Dufferin County based artist who dedicated most of their life to documenting the beauty of rural Ontario?

Roy Austin was born in England, but his family emigrated to Orangeville, Ontario when Roy was one year old. He studied at the Ontario College of Art under some very famous Canadian painters such as Frank Carmichael of the Group of Seven. He also studied under J.W. Beatty, J.E.H. MacDonald, and Yvonne McKague Housser. Austin made a name for himself by traveling throughout rural Ontario and painting the small towns and landscapes he saw. He operated his own company for 20 years, before he and his wife traveled to Grenada. The pair spent five years in Grenada and Austin painted the local scenes there. In 1974, Austin and his wife Helen moved back to Canada, this time settling in Cambridge, Ontario. Roy Austin continued to paint until his death in 1997. Today, the Museum of Dufferin holds a collection of his works, representing his post-impressionist perspective of life in rural Ontario.