February is African Heritage Month in Nova Scotia, and Black History Month across Canada. In celebration, 泡芙短视频 University is profiling Black artists who will reflect on their careers and time at 泡芙短视频.
Audrey Dear Hesson, the first Black student to graduate from 泡芙短视频 (1951), was conferred as a 泡芙短视频 Life Fellow in 2017. To honour her, the 泡芙短视频 Alumni Association established the Audrey Dear Hesson Scholarship, an undergraduate entrance scholarship for new and transfer students, who self-identify as Black and African Nova Scotian. The following article was originally written in 2013, and it still resonates poignantly.
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Audrey knew why the waitress wasn鈥檛 coming to take their order.
At the time, she was a young student from Halifax鈥檚 north end on a full scholarship at the Nova Scotia College of Art. She and few of the young women in her class, along with their instructor, decided to go out for lunch. They set out from the art college, which was located where the Five Fishermen Restaurant is today, to a popular spot on Barrington Street.
And there, settled into a booth, they waited and waited and waited. But the waitress wouldn鈥檛 even catch their eye.
鈥淢y classmates didn鈥檛 know what was going on but I did,鈥� says Audrey Dear Hesson, 83, recalling the long-ago lunch 65 or so years ago.
She was first Black student to graduate from the art college. Audrey says incidents like that didn鈥檛 happen within the school but segregation and prejudice were her daily realities in 1940s Halifax once she stepped beyond its heavy wooden doors.
鈥淭he students at the art college were more open-minded, more mature. I think the ex-servicemen studying there made a difference,鈥� says Audrey, settled in her favorite recliner in the corner of her living room. Some examples of her work鈥攕creen printed linens, hand-crafted silverware and tooled leather satchels鈥攆rom her student days are on the coffee table; her pottery is displayed in the picture window of her Dartmouth home.
鈥淲ithin the art college, I didn鈥檛 feel racial tension at all.鈥�
More than a half-century since she graduated with the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia鈥檚 medal for highest standing at the college, Audrey is enjoying renewed interest in her work.
The spotlight has been beaming on and off since 1998鈥檚 In This Place exhibition at the Anna Leonowens Gallery; in preparing for the exhibition, curator David Woods discovered the picture of a young Black woman sitting at a loom in a 1951 edition of The Chronicle Herald and tracked her down. Subsequent exhibitions include The Art of Audrey Dear Hesson at the Halifax North Branch Library in 1999 and The Soul Speaks at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in 2007.
All the work featured in those shows dates to her student days. After graduation, she worked for six years as a 鈥渃raft worker鈥� in the occupational therapy department at the Nova Scotia Hospital and left when she and husband Bob Hesson, who worked聽in the navy, started their family. The couple has three daughters.
鈥淚鈥檝e always knitted and sewed and made clothes for the kids 鈥� later, I was the volunteer who designed the posters and the tickets. And when a float for the Natal Day parade was needed, guess who got called?鈥� says Audrey, with a laugh. 鈥淐reativity has always been a part of my life. I wasn鈥檛 a practicing artist but I was an active volunteer and I took on leadership roles. I can鈥檛 look back with regret because I have a wonderful life.鈥�
Lately, she鈥檚 been getting lots of attention from friends and neighbors who didn鈥檛 know about her artistic past.
鈥淚鈥檓 a part of history and it鈥檚 kind of cool,鈥� she says. 鈥淎nd here I am still kicking!鈥�
Even so, she sometimes wonders 鈥榳hat if?鈥� What if she had been able to further her studies as D.C. MacKay, the principal of the art college, had urged her? She still has the glowing letter of recommendation he wrote for her, along with certificates of each of the classes she took. As well as being the school鈥檚 first black graduate, she was also among the first to enroll in the school鈥檚 new four-year art education program.
鈥淚鈥檓 proud of what I accomplished and I feel emotionally connected to the things I made. They鈥檙e an expression of me. No, I don鈥檛 look back and regret but I can鈥檛 help but wonder how much more I might have done given the opportunity. Everyone looks over their shoulder I guess.鈥�
