Media Release - For Immediate Release
March 8 2010
Honorary Degree Recipient Jane Shaw Law Passes
It is with regret we note the passing of Jane Shaw Law, a 1993 Doctor of Letters recipient and a loyal friend of Saint Mary's University. She passed away peacefully on March 6, at the age of 92.
Born in Philadelphia, Penn. on September 1, 1917, she was the only daughter of Milton Morris Shaw and Florence Brumm Shaw. She was predeceased in 1996 by her husband, Naval War Artist, Cdr. C. Anthony Law.
Jane was a noted artist, potter, sculptor, and weaver. Her last exhibit of watercolours was at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in 2002. Her formal art education began at Eliot O’Hara’s watercolour school and at the Portland School of Fine and Applied Art, in Maine. She received a diploma in Design and Art Education at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Quebec City. It was here she met and married Cdr. Anthony 'Tony' Law. Their relationship was always one of mutual respect and support for each other’s art career.
Her association with Saint Mary’s began when her husband was appointed the first Curator of the Art Gallery in 1968. She taught classes here in watercolours in the 1970s, assisted her husband with scenery for the Drama Society, as well as with the redesign of the old Theatre Auditorium. She was a long serving member of the Faculty Women’s Association, serving as its President for five years. Exhibitions of Jane Shaw’s work were held at the University Art Gallery in 1970, 1977 and 1987, and her paintings were always a highlight of the annual Faculty, Alumni, Student, and Staff Art Exhibition.
The catalogue for the 1987 exhibition states, “Shaw has no ideologies, she simply paints what she loves…She loves personal things and she loves flowers.”
She was an Honorary Governor of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.
Jane will be remembered by her students at the Halifax Ladies College (later Armbrae Academy), where she taught art classes for 21 years. Jane leaves to mourn her dear friends, neighbours and caregivers, as well as Tony’s relatives in England, Ontario and Nova Scotia. There will be visitation in J. A. Snow Funeral Home, 339 Lacewood Dr. on Tuesday, March 9, from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. A service in St. Augustine Anglican Church on Purcell’s Cove Road, in Halifax has been arranged for Wednesday, March 10, at 11 a.m., Rev. Doug Chard officiating. In lieu of flowers, Jane had requested donations be made to the Canadian National Iinstitute for the Blind, Halifax, 2717 Gladstone St., or to Salvation Army.
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For More Information:
Steve Proctor
External Affairs
Saint Mary's University
(902) 420.5513
E-mail: steve.proctor@smu.ca
www.smu.ca
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