Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
By Bill Van Tassel
AUBURN — Auburn resident and artist Teresa Cavendish died Oct. 31 after a two-year period of serious health issues, including a heart attack and a stroke.
She passed away surrounded by her loved ones from both Brazil and Maine.
Born in Brazil, Cavendish lived there until 2012, when she moved to Auburn to live with her daughter Isabella.
An internationally recognized artist, Cavendish learned her art in her hometown of Recife, Pernambuco Brazil. She began painting at the age of 12. In 1945 she started training with Prof. Alvaro Amorim at the Pernambuco School of Fine Arts. After marriage to João Cavendish, she took a sabbatical to raise her children. Upon returning to the art world when the children had grown, she opened Atelier Art Gallery with some fellow artists in Recife.
She was also exhibiting her work in other parts of Brazil as well as selling paintings to patrons in other countries.
When her husband died in 2012, her daughter convinced Cavendish to come to the United States, where Isabella had been living for some time.
Though losing her husband to a long illness in Brazil had diminished her motivation, the spark was still there. Isabella recognized that spark and helped her mother regain her artistic vision; Cavendish began painting again, even after suffering her stroke and heart attack. In 2016, her artwork was included in one of the Lewiston/Auburn summer Art Walks.
The artwork and life of Teresa Cavendish is being remembered through a special display featuring several of her paintings at Photo Finish in the Auburn Mall. The exhibit will run through April 15. Store employee Manuel Santiago put together the display from several of the prints Photo Finish had processed for Isabella. T-shirts and coffee mugs also have been imprinted with some of Cavendish’s artwork.
PHOTO: Isabella Cavendish of Auburn stands by a poster printed with one of her mother’s last paintings before Teresa Cavendish, a native of Brazil, passed away in October 2018. The poster also announced an exhibit of Teresa’s artwork at Auburn Mall’s Photo Finish. (Bill Van Tassel photo)
