Memorable Manitobans: Lillian “Lynn” Sissons (1889-1985)

Artist.

Born on a farm near Portage la Prairie on 13 September 1889, one of eight children born to Thomas Sissons (1850-1931) and Mary Ann Sutherland (1858-1937), sister of Ellen Ann Melrose Sissons, she came to Winnipeg in 1921 to study art, which had interested her since childhood. She attended the Winnipeg School of Art and the University of Manitoba Faculty of Art, studying under such teachers as Lemoine Fitzgerald, Franz Johnson, Joe Plaskett, Walter Joseph Phillips, and George Swinton.

Best known for her watercolours of nature scenes in Manitoba, her work was exhibited, and is held in public and private collections throughout Canada. She served as President of the Winnipeg Sketch Club and was a member of the Manitoba Society of Artists. She also designed sets and costumes for the Winnipeg Little Theatre and served as treasurer of the Poetry Society of Winnipeg. In recognition of her artistic excellence, she received a Citation of Merit from the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and a Centennial Medal from the Manitoba Historical Society.

She died unmarried at Winnipeg on 15 April 1985 and was buried in the Portage Hillside Cemetery.

Sources:

“Sketch club with ‘spirit’ important to Lynn Sissons,” Winnipeg Free Press, 19 October 1977, page 57.

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 17 April 1985, page 47.

Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 29 November 2022

Memorable Manitobans

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