The Paris Magdalene - A Novel By Carol Reesor

Author Profile

Carol Jane Anne Harrison was born in Brockville, Ontario in 1942. Moving from Smiths Falls to Renfrew, and then to Ottawa in 1956, she graduated from Glebe Collegiate, and Ottawa Teachers' College. She taught in Kingston, and worked as a school librarian in Ottawa, and Aylmer, Quebec. University studies began at Carleton in French, art history, psychology and anthropology.

In 1974 she joined the Aylmer Arts Council, later becoming president. Art classes began at the studio of Joan Acland, in drawing and watercolour.

In 1982 Savoir Vivre was opened by Reesor as Ottawa's first professional image consultant, resulting in a monthly column in Chatelaine Magazine, and several radio programmes on CBC.

In 1985, the Legal Educational and Action Fund, a non -profit national organization, was created and committed to using the provisions of the funds for women to challenge the Canadian Charter of Rights. LEAF brought together an active group of professional women, with whom Reesor worked for some years, and subsequently chaired the opening of the new provincial courthouse.

1988 saw the opening of the National Gallery of Canada in the remarkable Moshe Safdie design, on Sussex Drive. Reesor, trained at the former Elgin St. site, worked with the Friends of the Gallery Group for the opening events.

In 1988, The Tent of Meeting, by artist Michele Zackheim, was brought to Canada from New York, to the Ottawa Union Station site, whereby Christians, Jews and Moslems met, prayed, sang and discovered their many commonalities. Reesor and Susannah Dalfen were instrumental in raising the funds for this remarkable project. A huge tent, modeled after the original Bedouin design, stayed three months in the Conference Centre, attracting large crowds for various cultural ceremonies.

After seeing her three daughters, Stephanie, Mary and Sarah, graduate from university, and inheriting her mother's art supplies, she was accepted into the Fine Arts programme at the University of Ottawa. It was there, in 1989, that the concepts of the role of the feminine throughout Western culture began to emerge and then inform her subject matter. A series of portrayals of the life Mary Magdalene, oil on copper, and oil on canvas, defined her focus. With the advent of feminist studies and the marginalized in the post-modern discourse, Reesor began to re-examine the historical role of MM, through emerging historical and academic data.

Mary Magdalene and son - oil on copper - Carol Harrison Reesor

Acceptance into the Master's Art History programme at Concordia University in Montreal, saw two years of intellectual rigour, resulting in the thesis,
The Chronicles of the National Gallery of Canada at the Venice Biennale. She graduated with an MA, art history, in 1995.

From 1994-2004, Reesor wrote the artLiaison column in the New Edinburgh News, profiling the wide range of creative talents in the Burgh, while acting as founding co-chair, with Ellen Goodman, of the Crichton Cultural Community Centre.

WaterCan, the Canadian initiative of supplying fresh water to third world communities, continues to be of special interest to Reesor.

Through the invitation of the director, Mrs. Christina Lubbock, Reesor was offered the opportunity to curate the Art For Water exhibition and sale at the Museum of Nature, in 2003. Twenty artists from across the country created new works in all media, reflecting their interpretations of water, its source and necessity.

Moving to Brockville in 2003, offered the chance to curate at the new Island City Gallery and meet another group of fine Canadian artists.

Violin studies for the author began in 2004, as did those for her youngest granddaughter, Madeline, while Charlotte and Emily play the piano. Ben, Alex and Jake play soccer, and hockey while Zachary skis and cycles in Whistler, BC.

Classical music, tennis, golf, birds, gardening, and the serenity of the great St. Lawrence offer solace to the mother of three and grandmother of seven.

The next book in the trilogy, is set in Pompeii, and the work in progress is tentatively titled Villa of The Mysteries.