Melvin (Mel) Kero (1925-1998)

Please click here to see Mel Kero’s works.

Mel Kero was born in 1925 at Sicamous, B.C. He graduated from the Vancouver Technical School in 1942 and studied mechanical drafting and arc welding the following year at night school. In 1944 he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and earned the rank of sergeant.

In 1945 he enrolled at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Art on a Department of Veteran Affairs grant, and studied under Group of Seven member Frederick H. Varley and alongside Jack Shadbolt, George Norris and other prominent painters of the day. Fred Ames, principal of the school at the time gave Mel a glowing letter of recommendation upon his graduation in 1949. Mel began painting earnestly following his graduation, taking a studio space at 10 th and Alma. While hoping to make a career as an artist, and arguably producing over the ensuing ten years or so some of his finest work, he found it difficult to make ends meet and was forced to seek regular employment. He worked for the T. Eaton Company in Vancouver as an interior and exterior designer, assisting the company’s resident architect until September, 1951 when he went back to school to earn his teaching degree. He took a sabbatical in 1953-54 to travel to Europe to study the history of art and architecture.

While teaching art in the Vancouver school system Mel attended UBC night classes and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1963. In 1964 he received the Queen Elizabeth UBC and H.R. MacMillan Scholarship for graduate Fellowship and became a resident scholar at UBC. He earned his Master of Arts degree in 1970.

Between 1965 and his retirement in 1989, Mel taught English and English Literature at Vancouver Community College, and Langara Community College. In 1985 he took a sabbatical from Langara College to study and research Arch Construction in Romanesque and Gothic Cathedrals and their influence on Literature. After his retirement he traveled and painted extensively including visits to England, various countries in continental Europe, Egypt, Greece, Guatemala, Morocco and Tangiers. Most of these paintings were in watercolour because they were easy to transport and dried quickly.

While Mel’s later watercolours are pleasing and well-executed, it is the paintings, both oil and watercolour, from his active and vibrant period following his graduation from art school in the 1950s and early 1960s that are considered to be his most important works. His subjects are haunting, his palette sparse and at times somber and his forms simplistic, lineal, and often metaphorical. It was very much the art of the day and Mel Kero was an excellent proponent of it.

In 1950 his watercolour of the Burrard Street Bridge was exhibited at the Vancouver Art Gallery and each year when he returned from a summer painting trip he was invited to exhibit his latest works at the Faculty Lounge, Vancouver Community College. Mel sold many paintings during his career but unfortunately kept no records of sale.

His works are to be found in private collections in Vancouver, throughout Europe and the United States.

Mel Kero’s work is represented exclusively by Westbridge Fine Art Ltd.

Please click here to see Mel Kero’s works.