(1903-1985)
Olivia McConnell, a local watercolorist, was born in 1903 in St. Joseph, Michigan. Her interest in art blossomed in her early childhood in Chicago, where she took weekend art classes at the Art Institute. She graduated from Skidmore College, and became a resident of Lockport in 1920 where she gave weekly art classes in her home studio for many years. She has studied with many renown local artists such as Raphael Beck, Robert Blair, and Charles Burchfield, and is known for her watercolor and oil interpretations of the area. She considered herself a realistic impressionist, with the particular influence of Cezanne. Her work has been exhibited at the Albright-Knox, Museum of Science in Buffalo, Syracuse State Art Exhibit, the National Institute of Rehabilitation in New York City, along with various one-man shows in Lockport. She also has won top awards at the Buffalo Society of Artists Show and exhibit in 1951, and top prize in the Niagara Arts Guild Show in 1965.