Maud Lewis was a Canadian folk artist best known for her brightly coloured depiction of animals and landscapes of rural Canadian life. Born Maud Kathleen Dowley on March 7, 1903 in rural Nova Scotia, Canada, the artist spent much of her childhood alone, suffering from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis among other crippling birth defects. Maud’s mother introduced her to watercolors as a child, encouraging her to make Christmas cards to sell.  At 34, the artist married a fish monger named Everett Lewis. The married couple lived in a one-room house in the small village of Marshalltown, for the rest of their lives. Over the following decades, neighbors and passersby began showing up at the Lewis’ home to inquire about her paintings. Never usually selling her paintings for more than a few dollars, she painted diligently up until her death on July 30, 1970 in Digby, Canada. In 2017, the film Maudie was released to general audiences, recounting the late-artist’s biography through a fictional portrayal. Today, her works and tiny house are memorialized in the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax.