Alfred Joseph Casson was born in Toronto, Ontario and spent his childhood in Guelph and Hamilton. He attended art classes and worked as a freelance commercial designer. At the age of 21 Casson was hired as a designer by the commercial art firm Rous and Mann and worked under the guidance of Franklin Carmichael. The young artist soon started taking weekend sketching trips with Carmichael and was introduced to the other members of the Group of Seven. Casson was a fine watercolourist who, together with Franklin Carmichael and F.H. Brigden, founded the Ontario Society of Painters in Water Colour in 1925. The following year Casson accepted an invitation from Carmichael to join the Group of Seven. Throughout his career Casson was an enthusiastic spokesperson for the Group’s achievements. Casson died in 1992 at the age of 94 and is buried along side other members of the Group of Seven in the cemetery located on the McMichael’s grounds.

Edwin Holgate was born in Allandale, Ontario. Holgate began his art education at the Art Association of Montreal studying under William Brymner who was also A.Y. Jackson’s teacher. In 1920,some of the Brymner graduates found a large building on Beaver Hall Hill in Montreal that could serve for a number of studios. Over the years [...]