Art that bridges generations
In the fall of 1959, Kamalasena Pinnedoowe arrived in Sackville from Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), ready to embrace a new chapter at ýapp. A mature student and already a respected art educator, Pinnedoowe came to Canada to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts — and to experience his first Canadian winter. “I don’t know how I’ll like the cold weather,” he remarked at the time, “but I’m told the winter snow scenes are beautiful.”
By the time he reached Mount Allison, Pinnedoowe had already served as director of education and inspector of art education for more than 1,200 schools in Ceylon, authored several books on children’s art education, and co-edited the Journal of the International Society for Education through Art. During his time in Sackville, he shared his expertise widely, lecturing in the community and appearing in local media to discuss his work in art education.
When he graduated in 1960, The Mount Allison Record praised both his talent and his international perspective, describing him as “a very capable, learned and widely travelled man with an international reputation in the field of child art education.” The article noted his “brilliant, almost incandescent use of colour” and a “particularly striking mural decoration” displayed at his graduation exhibition at the Owens Art Gallery. “While Mr. Pinnedoowe learned something from us at Mount Allison,” the article concluded, “we probably learned much more from him.”
After completing his BFA, Pinnedoowe went on to earn a master’s degree at Pennsylvania State University before returning to Ceylon to continue his work in education and painting. He later married and raised a family, remaining connected to Mount Allison from afar. “Every issue of The Record I read with great interest,” he once wrote. “I am always happy to receive news of Mount Allison and its growth.”
Decades later, in 2005, his daughter, Samanthi Ranmuthu, reached out to the Owens Art Gallery in search of her father’s self-portrait. When she saw an image of it, she said, “I was quite surprised to see my father in his traditional dress. As far as I can remember, he has always worn a suit. This is quite unexpected — I am now seeing him in a different light.”
Twenty years after that discovery, in 2025, Ranmuthu and her family travelled from London, England, to Sackville, NB to see the portrait in person. The painting was part of the Owens Art Gallery’s annual display of self-portraits by Mount Allison BFA graduates — a fitting tribute marking the 65th anniversary of Kamalasena Pinnedoowe’s graduation, and a homecoming that bridged generations, continents, and a shared love of art.
This and more than 60 other works from the Owens will from November 1, 2025 to February 16, 2026.
