‘The fact there are 42 million Americans on the SNAP program is appalling’
NEW HAMBURG, ONTARIO, CANADA, February 9, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — A painting worth an estimated CA$20,000 to $25,000 by one of Canada’s most prominent folk artists is being sent back to Canada and sold by its American owner who plans to donate the proceeds to the needy in her home state of Connecticut.
“Recently, I’d been wondering how I could make a significant difference in this troubled world,” says Beth Chipman, 82. “Then, one night I had an epiphany at two in the morning. I thought, ‘that’s it’. I couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night.”
The painting is by the late Maud Lewis (1903-1970), who lived alongside her illiterate husband in a tiny one room house with no running water in Marshalltown, Nova Scotia. She lived in poverty and despite being crippled with rheumatoid arthritis, a painful and debilitating condition, she spent her time painting cheerful, colourful pictures of her surroundings and the local landscape. A 2017 movie about her life, called Maudie, starring Oscar-nominated actors Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke, helped to escalate interest in her life and work.
Chipman’s mother bought ‘Cat with Yarn, Butterflies, Flowers’ directly from the artist outside her home almost 60 years ago. Both bedazzled by the artist’s work and deeply touched by her living conditions, she was happy to pay the asking price of $10. The painting hung in her parents’ home in Atlantic Canada for as long as Chipman can remember and when her mother died in 2007 she inherited it and brought it back to her own home in the U.S., treasuring it as a familiar family fixture, ever-present during their many family get togethers over the years.
The painting will now be sent back to Canada and sold by New Hamburg, Ontario based Miller & Miller Auctions on Feb. 12, 2026 at its Canadian Folk Art auction. (Miller & Miller holds the world record for a Maud Lewis painting after selling her ‘Black Truck’ in 2022 for CA$350,000 – a painting that was once traded for a few grilled lunches.)
In the spirit of generosity, Chipman plans to donate the proceeds in memory of her mother to help feed the hungry and support the homeless in Connecticut, inspired by her mother’s own kindness and a growing need in the United States. “The fact that there are 42 million Americans on the SNAP program is appalling,” she says, referring to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, still commonly referred to as the food stamp program. “Here in the small state of Connecticut, there are 360,000 people in the program – that’s one in nine residents. It’s disgraceful and we can do better.” She says there are several non-profit organizations in her area which may receive funds from the sale of the painting.
Chipman remembers her mother as a kind and generous person. One of her early childhood memories dates back to the 1940s when her mother gave her a plate of food “to take out to a hobo sitting under the apple tree in the backyard. We lived close to the railway tracks and occasionally a hobo would visit looking for food. Mum was always happy to share what we had with those less fortunate.”
Chipman knows there are many other ways to spend the auction proceeds but her mind has been made up. “This just feels right,” she says. “The original $10 that Mum spent has been turned into much more. It reminds me of the tale of the loaves and fish.” (A reference to the biblical story of Jesus miraculously feeding a crowd of 5,000 people with just a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish.) “Miracles do happen.”
For more information, please contact Ethan Miller at 1-519-573-3710.
Ethan Miller
Miller & Miller Auctions
+1 519-573-3710
info@millerandmillerauctions.com
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