Nora Collyer

[2] Nora Collyer was the youngest of the ten women artists who today are commonly referred to as the Beaver Hall Group.

[2] Her father, Alfred Collyer (1872–1946), left England at the age of sixteen, and after graduating from McGill University he joined the General Electric Company of Canada.

Collyer, an only child until the age of twelve, and very shy, benefited from the small classes and intimate atmosphere of a private school.

[1] Collyer, along with other artists Anne Savage, Sarah Robertson, Mabel Lockerby, and Kathleen Morris, received virtually all their professional training at the Art Association of Montreal (AAM).

[4] Brymner, who was a director for thirty-five years, had previously trained in Paris at the Académie Julian and organized the Montreal school on the Parisian model.

[1][clarification needed] The sketching trips Collyer took as a student with Maurice Cullen resulted in a harmonious and rhythmic technique.

[1] Anne Savage had claimed that Collyer's work had a "freshness and vitality" that convey a lively sensitivity to both the rural and urban environments.

[1] After five years, her teaching career was brought to an abrupt halt due to the passing of her mother, Gertrude Palmer Collyer, on September 20, 1930.

Inspired by her mother's volunteer work with the Anglican Church, Nora began to teach art at the Children's Memorial Hospital and other institutions.

[1][clarification needed] Four years later, the two women bought a lot overlooking Lake Memphremagog where they built a summer cottage they called Strawberry Hill.