About Felicity Don

Felicity Don's pastels

For over 30 years I have specialized in portraits, depicting the gamut of society from movie stars to the homeless, and in the courts, from judges & lawyers to the accused.

Hollywood actor Malcolm McDowell (Clockwork Orange), who owns his portrait done by me, claimed my portrait was the best ever done of him.

One homeless woman yelled, as she was being painted, “I am going to be famous! I am going to hang in the best galleries!” (see painting, “My Pillow, My Baby”).

Majoring in sculpture, I received my BFA from Concordia University in Montreal and the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, continuing to work in concrete, fibreglass and mixed media sculpture at Emily Carr College, and studying bronze under Jack Harman, who designed the beautiful Statue of Justice at the Vancouver Supreme Court.

Even though I adored making sculpture, especially the lost wax/bronze process, over time I felt pulled towards drawing people. I concentrated on the world of painted portraiture, which led me to both the fine art and the courtroom art arena. 

For many years, I have been drawing the locals in the Downtown Eastside, setting up my large easel in their spaces. The settings are intensely urban, the people lacking in artifice. Crowds watch me draw but the intensity of the aesthetic experience soon erases the audience.

Sometimes I find people from other parts of Vancouver in the streets who fascinate me visually and I bring them to my studio for the indulgence of long poses.

To put bread and wine on the table, I have, since 1988, been freelancing, occasionally doing portraits of movie actors along with set dec paintings as props for the film industry. Consistently, I work in the local courthouses, for TV and print news, producing court sketches. My court work is on TV news, is highlighted in many crime documentaries, hangs in lawyer’s offices, is collected by the Anti Gang Squad to reflect their history of ‘busts’ and is in a large collection in our fabulous Canadian Museum of History. 

When drawing in the courts, I work closely with Global TV,  as well as with CTV, CBC, Omni, Reuters, AFP, CNN and other media both local and worldwide. See Courtroom Art

Felicity Don

“My work space is public space. I take my easel down to the library, card-playing room, or cafeteria of the Carnegie Centre at Hastings and Main (in Vancouver, Canada) and draw people. The setting is intensely urban. The people are lacking in artifice. Crowds watch me drawing but the intensity of the aesthetic experience soon erases the audience.”

– Felicity Don

EXHIBITIONS

  • Oct. 2011 – Show w/Eastside Culture Crawl, from studio
  • June/July 2011 – Solo Show at Interurban Gallery
  • March/April 2009 – “The Canadian Portrait” Cube Gallery, Ottawa Ontario (group show)         
  • Aug. 2008 – “Fearless Faces” Interurban Gallery, Vancouver BC (solo show), part of the Fearless Festival, promoted by the Community  Arts Council of Vancouver, City of Vancouver, British Columbia Arts Council        
  • May 1999 – “I.A.T.S.E.Show 2” Atrium Public Gallery, Vancouver BC (group show) 
  • Jan. 1997 – “Other Portraits” Montgomery Gallery, Vancouver BC. (group show) 
  • June 1996 – “3 Artists” Vancouver Art Gallery Rentals & Sales (group show) 
  • Aug. 1996 – “Portrait Works”. Gibsons BC (solo show) 
  • 1995-2000 – Vancouver Art Gallery Rentals Program. Work was rented & sold to private collectors & corporations. 
  • Nov. 1995 – “East Meets West”. Ferry Building Gallery, West Vancouver, B.C. (solo show)

COLLECTIONS – PUBLIC/CORPORATE

  • The Bentall Center, in Vancouver, owns Chinese Checkers, hanging in the public foyer.
  • Canadian Museum of History owns a large collection of Felicity Don’s courtroom drawings.
  • Anti Gang squad collections for The Wall of History (“Thanks! My goal is to eventually fill up the entire wall with our ‘history’…like your drawings and a few other memorable moments from our Unit’s past” – Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit ~ BC)
  • Union Gospel Mission, framed painting of one of their special outreach workers  hanging in the halls.
Solo show at Interurban Gallery
Nun Slut
Solo show at Eastside Culture Crawl

PRIVATE

  • Art owned privately by collectors, sold privately or through the Vancouver Art Gallery Rental program.

MEDIA

2020

CRITICAL REVIEWS 2020. CBC Radio Canada

2010

  • The Vancouver Sun. Full page review. (Writer Kevin Griffith)
  • One Cool Word Magazine. #12 Vancouver vs. Toronto. (Writer Graeme Fisher)
  • 24HRS. Front page + one full page review. Writer Dharm Makwana
  • Guest on the Urban Rush TV program to discuss & show art work
  • Guest on Global TV news to discuss work showing at the InterUrban Gallery

1996

  • Artichoke Magazine, full page image of “Chinese Checkers”
  • The Coast Reporter. (Writer Jane Seyd)

1995

  • Ming Pao Newspaper, Vancouver BC
Vancouver-sun-2008-1

EDUCATION

  • 1976 BFA University of Manitoba & Concordia University: Majoring in sculpture.
  • 1977-1980 Emily Carr College: Attended for further bronze sculpture & drawing study/work. Studied bronze under Jack Harman.
  • 1982 Capilano College. Extensive course in ceramic sculpture with the fabulous James Arden Thornsbury.