Original Collage & Watercolour on Card 'Rocks on Estuary' by Eric (Erica) Rutherford - Signed & Dated 1963

Great abstract watercolour and applied paper collage by this transgender artist. Eric was born in 1923 in Edinburgh and studied at the Slade in London in 1959 he shared a show at the New Vision gallery followed by a number of solo shows at the Leicester Galleries, one of which was bought by the Arts Council. He taught at Farnham art school. In 1959 Rutherford met Australian-born artist Gail Turner and the couple moved to Ibiza, Spain. There Rutherford concentrated on painting and exhibited widely throughout Europe. At this time Rutherford's artwork started receiving significant recognition with a series of solo exhibits at London's Leicester Galleries. Briefly returning to England in 1964, Rutherford taught painting at the West Surrey College of Art in Farnham, but soon the couple went back to Spain where in 1966 their daughter Susana was born. The family returned to London in 1967, but being unable to find a job in local art schools Rutherford decided to move to the United States. Rutherford started teaching at the Louisville School of Art in Kentucky in 1968, and by 1969 was a visiting professor at West Virginia University. In 1971, Rutherford became Associate Professor in the Art Department at the University of Missouri in Columbia. In 1975 Rutherford legally separated from Gail and then adopted the name Erica. She underwent gender affirming surgery during 1976 in St. Louis, Missouri. After the surgery, Rutherford moved to Canada taking temporary teaching positions at the University of Guelph and Sheridan College in Ontario. In 1985 she settled in Prince Edward Island purchasing a property in Pinette. Eventually, her ex-wife Gail returned to live with her as a life partner and friend. In 1987 they opened an art studio and an artist's retreat at their Pinette property. Upon moving to Prince Edward Island, Rutherford started illustrating children's books such as The Owl and the Pussycat (1986). In following years she also wrote and illustrated two humour books, Yoga for Cats (1987) and Dance for Cats (1988). In 1994 her children's book An Island Alphabet was published. In 1993 Rutherford published her autobiography, Nine Lives: The Autobiography of Erica Rutherford, in which she discusses what she described as gender dysphoria. In the book, she also documented the details of her first visit to Prince Edward Island in 1970 that in 1985 became her permanent home.