Her oldest brother, Clement jr., was killed in 1916 in World War I. Higgs briefly enrolled in the Grahamstown School of Art[1] in 1918, however in 1920 she sailed to England and stayed abroad for 13 years.
Higgs was called back to South Africa, however, due to the illness of her mother, who died in 1934.
Higgs held her first solo exhibition in the Domestic Science hall of Stellenbosch University in 1935, meeting the painter Wolf Kibel and the sculptor Lippy Lipshitz.
Higgs was eventually diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and in 1984 she moved to Protea Park Nursing Home, where she died on 16 June 1986.
In 1964, Higgs was awarded the gold medal of the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie van Wetenskap en Kuns.