Katherine's Meuriel Roses (1886), oil on canvas, 34.8 x 44.9 cm., gift of Mrs. Audre E. Walker, London, 1987 Kay's Cottage, Caledon (n.d.), oil on canvas, 38.1 x 61 cm., gift of Mr. Clare Wood, Toronto, through the Ontario Heritage Foundation, 1983 Mary Ellen Williams Dignam (1860-1938) was born in Port Burwell and died in Toronto, Ontario. As a young girl, her art studies began in London, Ontario, probably with William Lees Judson and then at the local Western School of Art and Design. She remained here until 1886 and left to continue her training at the Art Students League in New York City under H. Thompson, William Chase and Kenyon Cox and finally studied in Paris at the atelier of Oliver Mercon and Raphael Colin. Her work was shown in the annual exhibits of the Art Association of Montreal, the Royal Canadian Academy and many one woman shows in Canada and abroad. In Toronto, Dignam organized and taught in the art department at Moulton College (now McMaster University). She devoted her life to painting and the recognition of women's rights through movements like the Women's Art Association in Canada and abroad. She painted in the Dutch style popular at the turn of the century and exhibited mainly floral, genre and landscape subjects in oil.