Friend and donor, Estelle Beverley Morton
June 6, 1950 – November 19, 2021
Bev Morton established Winnipeg’s Wayne Arthur Gallery as a legacy for her first husband. Bev opened the gallery on their acreage near Oak Hammock Marsh, showcasing and selling works of Manitoba artists and craftspeople. Later, the gallery was relocated to the charming Provencher Boulevard in St. Boniface.
Bev was an artist of some note, beginning her work in acrylics and later moving onto fabric collages. She was also a mentor who nurtured many emerging artists, young and old, several who got their start exhibiting at the Wayne Arthur Gallery. Art was her passion, and the gallery became a cultural hub for artist's exhibitions, coffee breaks, workshops, and for poetry and novel readings.
Bev gifted the building that housed her gallery to the Forum Art Institute, where she first studied art in the 1970s. This extraordinary donation will support opportunities for Manitoba artists and community art projects that commemorate Bev's legacy.
Bev was a fierce supporter and champion of local artists. Her gift will benefit the Manitoba arts community with the same generosity and spirit she showed to hundreds of local creators over the years.
Forum Art Centre established this permanent endowment fund to honour Bev’s memory and to support their programs. Gifts to this fund are invested in perpetuity and the annual income generated for grantmaking is distributed to Forum Art Centre to be used at their discretion.
