Nova ScotiaWhile artwork by Maud Lewis routinely sells for tens of thousands of dollars, rising interest in other Nova Scotian folk artists means their work is now selling for thousands of dollars.Painting by Everett Lewis recently sold for $18,400, roughly quadruple what was expectedRichard Woodbury · CBC News · Posted: Oct 19, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours agoImages of Everett and Maud Lewis are shown from a 1965 CBC program. After Maud Lewis’s death in 1970, Everett started producing original pieces of art that strongly resembled his wife’s work. (CBC)A painting of two black cats by a Nova Scotian with the last name of Lewis recently sold for around $18,000 at auction.But it wasn’t a Maud Lewis painting — it was a piece by her husband, Everett Lewis.While Maud Lewis paintings routinely sell for tens of thousands of dollars, rising interest in some other Nova Scotian folk artists means their work is now selling for thousands of dollars.That includes Everett Lewis, who traditionally has been better known for forging his wife’s work than his originals, which bear an uncanny resemblance to Maud’s style.At a recent auction in Saint John, a painting by Everett Lewis that was expected to sell for around $4,500 ended up going for $18,400.This painting by Everett Lewis recently sold for $18,400 through a Saint John auction house. (Jones Auction House)”He’s more infamous than famous. People have mixed reactions and certainly his name elicits a great deal of controversy,” said Ethan Miller, the CEO of Miller & Miller, a New Hamburg, Ont., auction house.”But, at the end of the day, a lot of folk art collectors would agree that his work has a certain charm. In its own right, it is or it seems to be from the heart.”Miller isn’t surprised by how much the Everett Lewis painting sold for. In fact, he said it’s a sign of the growing interest in Nova Scotian and Canadian folk art.At a recent Miller & Miller auction, a painting by Nova Scotian Joe Norris that was expected to sell for between $9,000 and $12,000 sold for $23,600.Summer Cove, Flowers in Bloom by the late Nova Scotian Joe Norris, sold for $23,600 at a recent auction in Ontario. (Jon Dunford, Miller & Miller Auctions)Norris was a fisherman who turned to painting after a heart attack, said Miller. “Folk art is as much about the artists as it is about the art,” said Miller, who sold another Morris painting for $30,680 in February 2024.There’s no one single reason behind the spike in value for some Nova Scotia folk art, but Miller pegs the turning point as 2022 when a Maud Lewis painting that was once traded for a grilled cheese sandwich sold for $350,000 at auction.Three Black Cats by Maud Lewis sold at a 2017 Toronto auction for $36,800. (Consignor Canadian Fine Art)He said that sale drew more attention to folk art, but the timing also coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic.”In an uncertain world and in a world filled with chaos and uncertainty, these paintings most definitely bring a certain kind of light, a certain kind of optimism and a certain kind of honesty to the world,” said Miller.Sarah Jones is the co-owner and curator of Jones Auction House in Saint John, the auction house that recently sold the Everett Lewis painting for $18,400. She believes the rising interest in folk art is being driven by a few things.This Maud Lewis painting sold for $350,000 in 2022. (Submitted by Miller & Miller Auctions Ltd.)Jones said that when there are fluctuations in financial markets or world turmoil, art is seen as a stable investment.Another is that as the work of one artist attracts a lot of attention — such as Maud Lewis — it has a spillover effect.”That leaves them to discover other artists from Nova Scotia, other artists from New Brunswick,” Jones told CBC’s Information Morning Saint John.Jones said the auction with the $18,400 Everett Lewis painting also saw artwork by other Atlantic Canadian artists sell for a lot more than expected.Ethan Miller says the way Joe Norris painted was ‘unquestionably from the heart.’ (© Art Gallery of Nova Scotia)This included a watercolour by New Brunswick artist David McKay that sold for $24,150, despite having an estimated selling value of between $1,200 and $1,500. A pastel by Newfoundland artist Mary Pratt sold for $9,200, compared to the estimate of $3,000 to $5,000.”Certainly, there’s been artists in Atlantic Canada, like, say, Alex Colville or the Pratts [Christopher and Mary], who have had the recognition they deserve, but there are lots of other artists as well who deserve our attention and praise,” said Jones.MORE TOP STORIESABOUT THE AUTHORRichard Woodbury is a journalist with CBC Nova Scotia’s digital team. He can be reached at richard.woodbury@cbc.ca.With files from Information Morning Saint John
Work of folk artists generates big bids at auctions and its not just Maud Lewis paintings
