On the Job - Artists



*Cartoonists* TOP OF PAGE
Marie Louise Gay	Born Quebec City, Quebec June 17, 1952. A professional illustrator and editorial cartoon artist she eventually took an interest in working on books for young readers. She soon found that she preferred to illustrate her own writings so that the pictures and words would flow together to tell a story. She does a lot of research prior to putting pen, ink and watercolours to paper. Many of her books have won awards such as the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award, the Governor General's Award, Mr. Christie's Book Award, the Ruth Schwartz Award and the Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Award!!
Lynn Johnston.	Born Collingwood, Ontario May 28, 1947. The creator of the comic strip that appears in newspapers across Canada and around the world called “For Better or Worse” The storyline and the characters lead real lives with friends admitting to being gay and the family dog dies after rescuing a child. Lynn continues to work from her home. She became the first woman to win the Reuben Award for outstanding cartoonist of the year in 1985 from the Cartoonist Society and in 1988 she became the first woman to be president of this society. She was appointed to the Order of Canada in 1992 and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1994.
Sandra Bell Lundy.	Born April 3, 1958. She studied French at Brock University but it would be her talent as an cartoonist that would become her profession. She is the author of the worldwide syndicated comic strip Between Friends. She is married and the mother of two active children.
*Designers See also Fashion Designers.* TOP OF PAGE
Sigrun Bulow-Hube	Born Linkoping, Sweden January 31, 1913. Died May 30, 1994. She studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Art, School of Architecture, Interior and Furniture Design. She was active in housing research and worked to further the recognition and professional status of designers within Canada. Coming to Canada in 1950 she won a dozen design awards in recognition of her work by the National Industry Design Council of Canada. In 1973 she was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the development of modern interior design in Canada.
Fashion Designers TOP OF PAGE
Hilary Corbett	Summerset, England 1929. Died December 5, 2004. She worked as a costume cutter in England prior to 1964 when she moved to Stratford, Ontario to work as a cutter in the costume department of the city's famous theatre. By 1967 she was principal costume designer for the fledgling Shat Theatre Festival. He work became acclaimed across the country. From 1975-1995 she was a costume designer for CBC- TV. At the end of the 1980's, not knowing how to convince her to retire, the CBC challenged her with a new show. "The Kids in the Hall. Her work was a success and there was even a new character named after her! Her talents were timeless.
Dorothy Grant	As a fashion designer she made the decision to attempt to combine high fashion with elements of her own tratitional Hiada native culture. The result is a new style that was once described as 'wearable art" and since the 1980's her fashion business has bee a leader in the Aboriginal fashion industry. Her works and designs are in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, were featured at the world EXPO 86 in Vancouver and have been successful in the international fashion scene.
Illustrators TOP OF PAGE
Ginette Anfousse	Born Montreal, Quebec 1944. She studied art at the L'Ecole de beaux arts in Montreal. As an illustrator of Children's books she is perhaps best known for her character JOJO (JIJI en française) and her lovable toy aardvark Pichou. These delightful characters first appeared in the mid 1970's. A friend sent her first two books to a publisher. The Mon Ami Pichou is a series of illustrated stories for young children published in both English and French. She was one of the first picture book artists in Quebec to receive national recognition. In 1978 she earned the Canada Council Children's Literature award and again in 1982. In 1987 she was awarded Le Prix Fleury Mesplet for the best children's author of the decade. Her works have also won the 1989 Mr. Christie's Book Award.
Carol Biberstein	Evan as a youth she enjoyed drawing. She followed her passions and studied art fundamentals and illustration at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. She enjoys working from life, photos and her imagination. While she prefers watercolours as a medium she also works in pen & ink, pastel and acrylics. From 1998 to 1996 she taught English as Second language to adult immigrants . She has done educational book illustrations for many large publishers including Scolastic Press and Oxford, Harcourt Brace, Nelson and Addison Wesley. In 2001 she wrote and illustrated her first picture book Great Grandma's Rocking Chair.
Ann Blades	Born Vancouver, British Columbia 1947. She studied for her teaching certificate at the University of British Columbia in 1967 and taught in northern regions of British Columbia. It was during this time that she began to write and illustrate stories for her students. There were very few stories written about children of northern regions of Canada and she would use some of her students as models for the characters in her books. In 1972 she wrote, illustrated and published Mary of Mile 18 which won the Children's Book of the Year Award from the Canadian Library Association. In 1974 she returned to school and became a registered nurse, never dreaming that her talent as an author and illustrator would be anything more than a hobby. In 1978 she won the Canadian Council Children's Literature award and it also won in 1979 the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award. In 1986 By the sea : an alphabet book (Toronto, 1985) won the Elizabeth Mrazlik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award. Now an established author and illustrator she could do her work full time. She continues to write and illustrate her own works and has illustrated over a dozen books by other Canadian authors.
Brenda Clark	Born Toronto, Ontario February 10, 1955. She studied the art of illustration at Sheridan College, Oakville, Ontario and has perused a successful career as an illustrator of books and magazines. Her works have been published by Ginn & Co., Macmillan, Gage, Prentice-Hall, Hold Rinehart and other well established publishers. Her first published illustrations in a book were for school readers and textbooks. While she has used various medium such as pencil crayons and chalks she finds that watercolours reproduce best in publishing. She has illustrated modern children's classics such as Franklin the Turtle in his various adventures and in his own comic strip. Her books are read to children around the world even in China and Australia.
Native Crafts TOP OF PAGE
Mary Christianne Morris	née Paul Born Steweacke, Nova Scotia (?) ca 1804. Died 1886. With an invalid husband an two young adopted children it was up to her to provide your her family. She used her knowledge of her native crafts to produce award winning needlework, quillwork and basketry. Her fine artwork on clothing was sold to leading citizens in Halifax and provided the family to a comfortable farm house in Dartmouth. In 1860 a portrait of her by William Gush was presented as a gift to the Prince of Wales by the city of Halifax. She was a favored model as several portraits by known artists have survived. It is unfortunate that only a few pieces of her own artwork survive today in Maritime Museums.
*Painters* TOP OF PAGE
Marie Elmina Anger.	Born December 24, 1844. Educated as a teenager with the Sisters of the Good Shepard in Quebec City, she entered the order and took vows and became Sister Marie de Jésus. While she became a good teacher herself she was better known for her talents in painting. She was particularly good as a portrait artist and would, in her lifetime, produce some 50 portraits of religious colleagues of her day. People who would sit for portraits included Elisabeth Bryière, Archbishop Baillagon, Cardinal Tachereau and Vicar General Cazeau. Through her own canvases and her teachings, Sister Marie de Jésus left a rich cultural and religious heritage to Quebec.
Ashevak Kenojuak.	Born Ikerrasak Camp, Baffin Island, Northwest Territories October 3, 1927. This Inuit Artist of Baffin Island is famous for the prints made of her work. Graphic art is only one of her chosen medium. She also carves sculptures. She prefers birds as subjects of her works. She is a fellow of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and a Companion of the Order of Canada.
Patricia Bates	(née Martin). Born Saint John, New Brunswick June 25, 1927. A highly innovative artist, she brought imagination to her artistic prints. Some of her works are two sided! She limits her colours to black, white, and silver and is inspired by the art of the Islamic Middle East and Zen Buddhists.
Molly Lamb Bobak.	Born Vancouver, British Columbia February 25, 1922. Her father was a geologist by profession but he also had a profound interest in the arts and the circle of family friends included many Canadian artists. This family association was no doubt a welcoming atmosphere for a young artist who studied at the Vancouver School of Art. In November 1942 she enlisted in the Canadian Women's Army Corp. Her talents did not go unnoticed and she became the first woman to be officially designated as a Canadian war artist. After VE-Day she went to Holland to record the devastation of the war. It was during her service years of World War II that she met her future husband. In 1950, with a grant from the French government she painted her impressions of this European country. In She would return often to paint in France. At home in Canada, she is busy at the design department at the Vancouver School of Art, the University of British Columbia and the Art Centre at the University of New Brunswick. She has also used her artistic talents to illustrate several books including her own Wild Flowers of Canada.
Rebecca Ann Burke.	Born October 26, 1946. This artist has shown her works in exhibitions in the Canadian Maritimes, Alberta, Quebec, British Columbia and the United States. She is currently a professor with the Department of Fine Arts at Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick.
Ghitta Calserman-Roth.	Born 1923. A very talented artist she is considered an outstanding example of creativity of women artists that have characterized a century of art in Montreal.
Florence Carlyle	Born Galt (Now Cambridge) Canada West (Ontario) 1864. Died May 7, 1923. Known by the nickname of "Bird" to her family she traveled extensively to Paris, London and New York. She is considered one of the outstanding portrait and genre painters of her era. Her most enduring works were insightful and arresting portraits of women. Samples of her work are located in the National Gallery of Canada.
Emily Carr.	Born Victoria, British Columbia December 13, 1871. Died March 2,1945. Emily is perhaps one of the most famous women painters in Canada. Her works bring alive the beautiful West Coast scenes with vibrant and distinct images. The swirling stokes of her brush created unique images of her paintings. Her canvases hang in many art galleries including the National Gallery in Ottawa. Totem poles of West Coast native peoples were also one of her favourite studies. Did you know she also wrote books? You will find books showing her art and the books she wrote at your local public library.
Jane Margaret Carson Champaign	Born Toronto, Ontario 1930. She obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Toronto and continued her studies at the Atelier d'Art Sacré in Paris, France. Her works are landscapes in watercolour and acrylic. She has had numerous solo shows and her works grace several private collections. She is also an editor and writer having worked for several Canadian publications including being assistant Editor for the Canadian Composer/Le Compositeur Canadien form 1971-1978. She contributed numerous articles to this and other publications on Canadian composers and musicians. She is a founding member of the Toronto Watercolour Society and enjoys bicycling, travel and gardening when she is not writing or painting.
Shirley Cheechoo.	(Stage name Cactus Rose). Born June 18, 1952. She is an artist, actor, writer, director, singer and a producer who has been successful in reaching back to her native roots for inspiration. She has participated in several exhibitions of her art work of acrylic, oils and mixed medium on canvas and stained glass. Her works have been used for Christmas cards by both UNICEF and Amnesty International. She has appeared in film, TV, radio and theater productions. In 1995 Laurentian University gave her an Honorary Doctorate.
Paraskeva Clark	née Plistik. Born St Petersberg, Russia. Died August 10. 1986. This accomplished painter studied in the Soviet Free Studios in Russia from 1917-1921 but left Russia for Paris, France on the death of her husband. She moved to Canada with her new Canadian husband Philip Clark in 1931. Settling in the Toronto area she brought some real flair to the Toronto art scene in the 1930's and 1940's.
Heather Collins	Born Montreal, Quebec. She has been drawing since she was very young. She has illustrated over forty children’s books over the past twenty years. She is the recipient of the 1995 Information Book Award and the 1995 Ruth Schwartz Children’s Book Award (Picture Book Category) for A Pioneer Story: The Daily Life of a Canadian Family in 1840. Heather Collins lives in Toronto with her husband and two children.
Irma Sophia Coucill.	Born August 8, 1918. An artist and editor, she began her career by working as artistic editor for various Canadian newspapers. She is mainly known for her portraits of Canadian sports figures. ( 310 completed works), prominent business figures , broadcasters and physicians. Her portraits number in the hundreds and are displayed in several Halls of Fame . Her works have been used to produce commemorative coins and are also considered prominent pieces in several museums.
Julia Crawford	Born Kingston, New Brunswick 1896. Died 1968. She began her working career as a teacher but soon entered the Pratt Institute in Boston in the United States in 1925. While at the Institute show would win honours for her Design. She returned to Saint John, New Brunswick to teach at the city's Vocational school from 1928 through 1944. While she painted in various medium perhaps her favourite was water colour.
Marion Margaret Cuming.	Born June 26, 1936. She would do her post graduate studies in teaching but chose to study art in France, Mexico and Italy before returning to Canada. She has used her artistic talents to help emotionally disturbed children and has worked with Canadian street kids. She has worked closely with UNESCO related activities. For her personal artistic expression she enjoys drawing Canadian heritage subjects.
Gertrude E. Cutts	née Spurr. Born England 1858. Died 1941. She studied in England at the Scarborough School of Art and the Lambeth Art Schools as well as in New York. This accomplished artist moved to Canada in 1891. She married Toronto Artist William Cutts in 1909. She was a member of the Ontario Society of Art and an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy.
Kathleen Frances Daly	Born Nappanee, Ontario May 28, 1889. Died August 31, 1994. As young artist she attended the University of Toronto and the Ontario College of Art in 1924. She continued her education in Europe at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris , France and in the United States at the Parsons’ School of Design in New York City. In 1929 she married a fellow artist, George Pepper and the two spent a life of travel and painting together. She is well known for her paintings of Montagnais, the Charlevoix and the Stoney Indians of Alberta. She also painted landscapes. Her paintings may be found in the Legislative Buildings in Edmonton, Alberta, the Banff Public Library, and the London Public Library as well as in major galleries such as the National Gallery in Ottawa, the Lord Beaverbrook Museum in Fredericton and in the Canadian Embassy in Denmark.
Jean Bruce Dawson.	(née Anderson). Born August 23, 1912. Died 1999. She studied as a nurse when the depression intervened with her plans to become a doctor. Her marriage to Douglas Dawson would lead to a family of four children and a relationship of some 60 years. While traveling in the tropics she gained an interest in painting. At 74 years she earned her BA in Fine Arts. She enjoyed her art but seldom showed her work. She continued her humanitarian efforts by working for Meals on Wheels in her home community.
Mary Ella Digham.	Born Ontario 1857. Died 1938. She studied art at the Ontario Western School of Art and Design with subsequent studies in New York and Paris. In addition to exhibiting her work in North America and abroad she was the first Head of the Department of Art at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, founder of the Women's Art Association of Canada and founder of the first International Society of Women Painters and Sculptors. She was the first to bring live nude models into a woman's studio in Canada. She worked tirelessly for women's equal opportunities in the art world. She spearheaded the creation of the "State Diner Service" of the Governor General, a 192 piece china dinnerware hand painted by Canadian women artists and presented to Lady Aberdeen.
Mary Alexandra Eastlake	née Bell Born Ontario 1864. Died 1951. She studied art in Montréal, New York and Paris. She returned to Montreal to teach art and married British landscape painter Charles Herbert Eastlake. She exhibited frequently in Canada, London and other places. Her works are signed with both her maiden name and her married name. Her portrait of Maude Abbott was the basis for a Canadian postage stamp tribute to Abbott.
Gathie Falk	Born January 31, 1928 An artist who works with multimedia. Her home base is in Western Canada, but she has a national reputation.
Betty Roodish Goodwin.	née Roodish. Born March 19, 1928. Evan as a young child she loved to draw and paint. She is self taught through constant reading and visiting of museums and galleries. Encouraged to express her art by her mother and then her husband when has worked with collage, assemblage, sculpture, print making, and painting. All of her works revolve around the images of an emotional human form. She is one of Canada's important and respected artists with works in the National Gallery in Ottawa, many U.S. Galleries as well as some in England and Switzerland.
Hortense Crompton Gordon	née Mattice. Born Hamilton, Ontario 1887. Died November 6, 1961. Basically a self taught painter she did attend as a youth the School of Design in Detroit Michigan, U.S.A. In 1916 she began teaching art at the Hamilton Technical Institute. By the 1930's she had produced some of their first abstract paintings and in 1952 she had earned her firs solo exhibition in New York City. She was a member of a group of painters out of Toronto who called themselves "Painters Eleven" She developed a use of complex concepts and simple strong colours. Her works were exhibited in galleries in Europe and North America. She is also considered a leader in textile design for her era and she had a reputation for her art as applied to industry. She became an associate of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1928 and a member of the International Federation of Art.
Prudence Heward	Born Montreal, Quebec 1896. Died March 19, 1947. She studied art at the Art Association of Montreal and the Académie Colarossi in Paris, France. Known for her impressive figure painting she was a member of the Canadian Group of Painters in 1933 and became a member of the Contemporary Arts Society in 1939. The National Gallery of Canada is pleased to own four of her oil paintings.
Elsie Dorothy Knowles.	Born April 7,1927. She is an artist who enjoys water colour landscapes as her form of expression. She has been able to have her works shown in Vancouver; Edmonton; London, England; Paris, France, Chicago; Los Angeles and more recently in a 1994 traveling exhibition by the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon.
Elizabeth Annie McGillivray Knowles	née Beach Born Ottawa, Ontario January 8, 1866 Died October 4, 1928. A painted of considerable recognition she specialized in nature studies. She was elected an associate of the Royal Academy of Art in 1908. Samples of her works are preserved in the National Gallery of Canada and Parkwood Museum, the home of Sam McLaughlin, Oshawa.
Rita Letendre.	Born Drummondville, Quebec November 1,1928. Originally this painter and printmaker was interested in simple shapes but as she matured her work became more austere, with large geometric forms. She is known for large interior and exterior murals.
Marion Long	Born Toronto, Ontario 1882. Died August 17, 1970. She studied art at the Ontario College of Art and in New York City. She gained a good reputation as a portrait artist and in 1913 opened her own studio in Toronto. In 1922 she became an associate of the Royal Canadian Academy and a fully elected member in 1933. She also became well known for her paintings of Toronto city life. Her works are owned y the Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery of Canada.
Laura Lyall	née Muntz. Born Radford England June 18,1860. Died December 9,1930. As a child she immigrated to Ontario with her family in 1869 and as a young woman she became a school teacher but soon was studying art in Paris where she was exposed to the impressionist style. She was one of the first Canadian artists to receive recognition abroad and the first woman asked to exhibit with the Canadian Art club. Portraits of children were a special pleasure for her. Since women could not become elected members to the Royal Canadian Academy she became an associate in the academy in 1895 At the age of 55, she gave up her art to raise the family of eleven children of her deceased sister. She returned to painting only at 64.
Pegi Nicol MacLeod	(née Margaret Kathleen Nicol). Born Listowel, Ontario January 4, 1904. Died February 12, 1949. A painter she was among the first wave of artists of Canadian modernism. She painted many works of the women’s division of the Armed Forces at the end of World War ll. She left over 1000 works of art in many media including designs for hooked rugs.
Isabel McLaughlin.	Born Oshawa, Ontario October 10, 1903. Died November 26, 2002. An important early modernist painter in Canada she used bright colours in her highly subjective paintings. In 1939 she was the first woman to hold the position of president of the Canadian Group of Painters
Marie Madeleine Maufils dit de St Louis.	Baptized December 21, 1671. She was one of the religious Hospitallers at the Hôtel-Dieu. She was known as Mother Maufils. She was a talented painter and artist who is credited with some of the artistic panels in the Chapel of the Hôpital Générale in Quebec city.
Agnes Martin	Born Macklin, Saskatchewan 1912. Died December 16, 2004. She grew up in Vancouver, then moved to Bellingham, Washington, in 1932. She earned a BA in 1942 and an MA in 1952 from the Teachers College at Columbia University, New York. She relocated to Coenties Slip in Lower Manhattan, and had her first one-person exhibition in 1958 at the Betty Parsons Gallery, New York City. Surveys of her work have been presented at venues including the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (1973), the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1991), the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1992), and the Menil Collection, Houston (2002). Martin continued to live and work in Taos, New Mexico, until her death. Some critics have labeled her one of the world's foremost abstract painters.
Maria Morris Miller.	Born Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1813. Died 1875. A woman of talent and determination she used her artistic abilities to open a school in Halifax to teach the young refined women the fine art of drawing. Combining her interest in flora and fauna with her drawing she published 146 paintings of Nova Scotia wildflowers in 1840. “Wild Flowers of North America” was published in 1867. Her works were widely accepted with and exposition at the 1867 Paris exhibition. She is considered the first professional woman artist in Nova Scotia. She was able to have financial earnings to support herself and to gain recognition of her work at a time when women were just beginning to come forward as accomplished individuals and not just daughters and wives!!
Agnes Nanogak.	(married name Agnes Nanogak Goose) Born Baillie Island, Northwest Territories, November 12, 1925. Died May 5, 2001. This Inuit artist is known for her energetic and colourful representations of native myths and legends. She was the first Inuit to receive an honorary degree from a university in Canada. You can see her work in the book she illustrated Tales from the Igloo, a book of Inuit stories.
Daphne Odjig.	Born Wikwemikong, Ontario September 11, 1919. This artist draws on her Potawatomi native heritage for her inner artistic strength. In 1970 she opened a Native Art Gallery in Winnipeg. Her own works have been exhibited in Europe, Israel and Japan. She painted a large mural at the national Arts Center in Ottawa. In 1987 she was made a Member of the Order of Canada. She has also published her memoirs “Paintbrush in My Hand” (1993). Why not check your public library for her book to learn more about this prolific Canadian artist. One of her paintings was used for Canada's Christmas stamp in 2002.
Marie "Mimi" Parent	Born Montreal, Quebec September 8, 1924. When she was at art school in Montreal she was considered undisciplined and was expelled in 1947. That same year she held her first solo exhibition in Montreal. In 1948 she married fellow art student Jean Benoit and moved permanently to Paris. She has participated in many European and North American exhibitions of her surrealist work both with colleagues and solo exhibits. She is considered on the the most original Canadian artists in the 20th Century.
Pitseolak	Pitseolak Ashoona. Born Nottingham Island, Northwest Territories circa 1904. Died May 28, 1983. She was brought up in a traditional Inuit lifestyle, traveling from camp to camp with her people. In 1922 she married and with her husband she would have 17 children. Sadly only 6 of her children would live to adulthood. After the death of her husband life became in difficult. A local civil administrator encouraged the widow to carve, sew and draw scenes from her memories of the traditional way of life. Her clothing, with telling scenes, sold and she began to work with pen, and coloured pencils. At her home in Cape Dorset she produced drawings of monsters and spirits of Inuit tales, scenes of early Inuit life and other memories from her heart. These works are now located in galleries and private collections around the world. As well as leaving her own personal works, three of her sons became gifted stone carvers and a daughter, Napadive Poottoogook, a graphic artist. In 1971 she told her story in the book : Pitseolak : Pictures out of my life. The National Film Board of Canada turned the illustrations from the book into an animated film. Pitseolak was a member of the Royal Academy of the Arts and in 1977 she received the Order of Canada. Canada Post issued a stamp in her honour March 8, 1993.
Mary Pratt	(née West) Born March 15, 1935. This artist is perhaps best described as a photo realist. Her paintings look so real, you might think that there were a photograph! Many of the subjects of her works are thins found in the kitchen of her home, like the work entitled ”Christmas Turkey” (1980).
Mary Augusta Reid	née Hiester. Born Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. 1854. Died October 4, 1921. While studying art at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art in the USA she met her future husband, Canadian artist George A. Reid. There was time to study in Paris before the Reid settled in Toronto. She was an elected member of the Ontario Society of Artists, an associate of the Royal Canadian Academy (women were not allowed to be elected to the Academy) in 1896, and was the first woman painter to have a solo show. Her art legacy includes interiors and murals as well as her landscape paintings.
Patricia Irene Rideout	Born March 16. She is an opera singer who has performed exclusively in Canada. She has performed major choral works with most of Canada’s leading orchestras and choral societies. .She specializes in contemporary Canadian music. Bruce Mather wrote Madrigals Three for her. She is a fine and committed performer of modern music.
Sarah Margaret Armor Robertson.	Born Montreal, Quebec June 16, 1891. Died December 6, 1948. This artist became a member of a group of women painters of Montreal who would study with the top Canadian painters of the day. She would be a colleague of the members of the famous Group of Seven but her approach to art was different and individualistic.
Charlotte Mount Brock Schreiber.	Born Woodham, England 1834. Died 1922. A painter of the Victorian sentimental era she painted landscapes and figures. Her works exhibited In London, England and Paris, France. She was the loan woman charter member of the Royal Canadian Academy. One of the first women book illustrators in Canada, three children’s books were published in Toronto. She was the first woman on the board of the Ontario School of Art and Design.
Marian Mildred Dale Scott.	Born Montreal, Quebec June 26, 1906. Died November 28, 1993. A painter of landscapes she also painted the people of Montreal in the depression era. Her works showed people up against machines and hard times.
Tobie Thelma Steinhouse.	(née Davis) Born Montreal, Quebec April 1, 1925. This artist was a printmaker and painter. Her specialty is intricate abstracts that gleam through effects of prism - coloured glass, fishnets or cobwebs.
Dorothy Stevens.	Born Toronto, Ontario September 2, 1888. Died June 5, 1966. This portrait and figure painter studied in London and Paris. Her early works were etchings and later she was known for her oils and pastel portraits of women in Toronto, Mexico and the West Indies. She taught children’s art classes for 15 years in Toronto but, may have been better remembered as throwing the best parties in the city of Toronto!
Françoise Sullivan	(Married name Ewan) Born Montreal, Quebec June 10, 1925. This artist was part of the famous Automatists group of Montreal. As well as her art, she pursued a career in dance after studying in New York City. After her marriage in 1949 she started a family and found it more difficult to keep up her successful dance career. She turned her artistic talents to welded metal sculptures. She created a monumental sculpture for Expo 67 in Montreal. Plexiglas was her next medium of choice. By 1980 she returned to expressing her artistic talents in her painting.
Joyce Wieland.	Born Toronto, Ontario June 30, 1931. Died June 27, 1998. This artist had her first exhibition in 1960. She went to New York City with her husband and experimented with films. She took her inspiration from Canadian history, politics and ecology. Her artistic works covered a multitude of media from canvas, quilting, and embroidery to film. Her works came in all sizes from large murals to a commissioned Canada Post World Health postage stamp. While she exhibited her works all over the world she was the first living Canadian woman artist to have a solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada (1971).
Florence Wyle.	Born November 24, 1881. Died January 14,1968. A sculptor, she preferred to work in her studio, which was once a church. She was a founding member of the Sculptor's Society of Canada in 1928. She was the first woman sculptor to become a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. She worked on numerous Canadian War Memorials for WW 1 and designed the Edith Cavel memorial. She had a love of nature that was reflected in her published poems.
Photographers TOP OF PAGE
Barbara Astman.	Born Rochester, New York U.S.A. July 12, 1950. As a photographer and multimedia artist, she is fascinated by current technological developments, which she mixes with a variety of traditional art forms. She is in the forefront of post-modern art activity.
Geneviére Cadieux.	Born July 17, 1955. She is an artist who uses large photographic pieces as her medium of expression. She is also a sculptor. Her work has been chosen to represent Canada at 3 international expositions. She also had solo exhibitions in Europe. She has been a guest professor in Paris and Grenoble, France. (1997).
Marcelle Ferron	Born January 20, 1924 Louiseville, Quebec. Died November 19, 2001. A member of a group of artists known as les Automatistes she has worked in medium such as stained glass. She is primarily known for her dynamic paintings. She uses vibrant colours and fluid forms to cover her canvases.
Dawn Elaine Goss	Born St Catherines, Ontario June 27, 1961.After her university studies at Brock and Guelph she began her career of travel and photojournalism. She co-ordinated and co-authored an 18 month photographic journey along the Trans Canada Highway. Many of her photos were displayed at the Canadian Pavilion at the World Expo '86. She was the photographer / writer of the storey of the 1987 Canadian Olympic torch relay. She has presented articles and photos for such magazines as Maclean's, Equinox, Canadian Geographic, National Geographic, Newsweek as well as being featured in several Canadian newspapers. As well as a love for travel she enjoys playing the piano and cross country skiing.
Angela Grauerholz	Born Hamburg, Germany January 10, 1952. This artistic photographer has an international reputation with major exhibitions in Canada, U.S.A. and Europe. Her works include portraits, scenes, interiors and exteriors, all with a sense of timelessness. Her works raise a question of "What is beneath the obvious". (source: the Canadian Encyclopedia Online accessed May 2003)
Zahra Kazeml	Born Shiraz, Iran 1949. Died July 10, 2003. She moved to France in 1974 to study literature and cinema at the University of Paris. She worked in Africa, Latin-America, the Caribbean and the mid east including Israel, Iraq and Afghanistan. She became a well established in film documentaries who's themes were poverty, destitution forced exile and oppression wherever it appeared in the world. She emigrated with her family to Canada in 1993. June 23, 2003 she was arrested taking photos outside Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran. She was subjected to severe torture in the prison that she was photographing. the Iranian judiciary declared her death an accident and effectively closed the case. Continued pressure from individuals and the Canadian government on behalf of its citizen finally, in February 2005, brought Iran to admit that she had been murdered.
Minna Keen.	née Bergman Born Arolsen, Germany April 5,1861. Died November 1943. A self taught photographer in the pioneering days of photography she was the first woman to become a fellow to the Royal Photographic Society. She came to Canada in 1913 where commissioned by the Canadian Pacific Railway to photograph the Rockies. She opened her studio in Toronto and was recognized with awards from Japan, South Africa, and Australia. The National Archives of Canada and the Smithsonian Institution in the U.S.A. collect her works.
Ann Martyn	née Lambly. Mrs. John Martyn. Born Quebec City 1808. She is the first Canadian woman to be active with the early photographic daguerreotype process. She worked with her husband in his studio in 1847 until his death in 1850. After the death of her husband she began to advertise under her own name that year until 1853 when she remarried and gave up the business. She falls from commercial records after her second marriage, indicating that she devoted herself to her new family life.
Hannah Maynard	née Hatherly Born Bude, England January 17, 1834. Died May 15, 1918. She and her husband, Richard, immigrated to Canada in 1852. Hannah learned photography and followed her gold prospecting husband to British Columbia where she began her own gallery. Richard leaned the trade from her and became a landscape photographer. Hannah was well known for her portraits.
Silvia Pecota	Born Toronto, Ontario. 1961. As a child he loved to draw but it was soon through the eye of a camera that she would show her artistic tendencies. Her camera is always ready by her side. Her photographic works have appeared in North American and European publications. She is the firs Canadian woman to hold an exhibition in the former Soviet Union. She has also had her works exhibited in Germany, Italy and Australia as well as at home in Canada. She enjoys portraiture and is well known for her photographs of sport figures. Her interest in sport led her to complete a short documentary on boxing. In 1994 she was introduced to the Canadian artic when doing a documentary shoot. Finding that the child did not seem to have much for entertainment she launched an effort to collect hockey equipment for the children of northern Canada. In turn this led to her first book Hockey across Canada (Mini Mundus Publishing, 2003) that includes images digitally created by combining her photographs with painting. It has since been translated into Inuktitut. Who knows what books will follow.
Nina Raginsky.	Born April 14,1941. Choosing a career as a photographer, by 1964 she was doing freelance work for the National Film Board of Canada. She first expanded her photographic expression by hand colouring sepia prints and then began to create oil paintings based on photographs. She is perhaps best known for her formal full figure portraits. She is an Officer in the Order of Canada.
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Dinah Anderson	Born Okak Bay, Labrador May 10, 1956. As a child she remembers that her family were part of a native relocation program that took them to Goose Bay, Labrador. Here they were taught English in school and even today she suffers from the loss of her maternal native language. She would go to Memorial University in Newfoundland to take the Teacher Education Program and this wetted her appetite for more education. She graduated in Fine Arts from the University of Ottawa in 1994. During her summers she had done some carving with soapstone but it was not until she began working at the Nain Carving workshop the she became dedicated to sculpting.
Sandra Bromley	A multidisciplinary artist who's works have appeared in solo and group exhibitions in Europe, Asia and North America. She graduated from the University of Alberta in 1979 with a Bachelor of Fine arts with distinction in sculpture. She has received numerous awards throughout her career, including the 2000 Salute to Excellence arts Award from the City of Edmonton and the 2002/3 Canadian Consortium on Human Security Non-academic Fellowship which she is using to create artwork on women and children in post-conflict countries.
Sylvia Daoust	Born Montréal, Québec 1902. In1915-1916 she studied at Montreal and also studied for her teaching diploma. In 1929 she was awarded a provincial government scholarship to study her art in France. While in Europe she gained a respect and deep interest in religious art carvings for altar-pieces and architectural decorations used in church ceremonies. She returned to Canada to teach at the Ecole des beaux-arts in Montreal and Ville de Québec. In 1944 she became a member of the Sculptor's Society of Canada and in 1951 she was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Art. Her liturgical carvings capture drama with grace and simplicity. She is also a talented portrait artist and has completed works in plaster and bronze. Her life-sized bronze sculpture of Nicholas Viel is part of the facade of the Quebec Assemblée Nationale.
Dora de Pédery-Hunt	Born November 16, 1913 Budapest, Hungary. She studied at the Royal School for Applied Art graduating with a Master of Fine Arts in 1943. A sculptor and designer of medals she came to Canada in 1948. She has been honoured with the Order of Ontario and the Order of Canada for her works. The Canada Centennial Medal. The Olympic Gold coin in 1976 and the Canadian National Arts Centre Medal are among her many artistic achievements. The Ontario College of Art presents an award named in her honour. She has lectured internationally for Art galleries and similar groups. Canadians carry some of her creations with them in the form of Canadian coins with the image of the Queen.
Vera Frenkel.	Born November 10, 1938. She is recognized internationally for her artistic prints and sculptures. Since 1974 she has experimented with video as an artistic medium writing and producing notable works. She is an innovative teacher and has published her poetry illustrated with her own artwork.
Elizabeth Bradford Holbrook	Born Hamilton, Ontario November 17, 1913. After high school she studied sculpture at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto, where she graduated as winner of the Lieutenant Governor's Medal for Sculpture. It would be the first of many awards recognizing her talents. She studied an additional year at the Royal College of Art in London, England. Her works have honoured numerous Canadian and Commonwealth dignitaries including Sir Winston Churchill, Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and Canadian Cabinet Minister, Ellen Fairclough, These last two works are prominent in Canada's Parliament buildings in Ottawa. She has shared her talents and knowledge with Canada's up and coming young artists. In 1995 she was awarded the Order of Canada.
Anne Kahane.	Born Vienna, Austria 1926. This sculptor emigrated from Austria with her parents in 1925. In 1953 she was winning international prizes for her works. Her woodcarvings are the decorative panels for the Winnipeg airport, Winnipeg General Hospital, and Montreal’s Place des Arts.
Maryon Kantaroff.	Born November 20, 1933. This sculptor has had showings of her works in Toronto, Los Angeles, Milan (Italy) and Japan. One of her sculptures was chosen to be installed in the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, Japan. She opened and maintained her own foundry for 14 years. Her works have been recognized with awards from the Sculptor's Society of Canada and she was the YMCA Woman of Distinction in 1992. A supporter of the feminist movement she has contributed articles on art and feminists. She is a founding member of the Toronto New Feminists and is a passionate speaker on this subject as well as the subject of art history. While she may be best known for her rather large cast art works she also had created some limited edition jewelry.
Bylee Fay Lang	Born Didsbury, Alberta 1908. Died 1963. A sculptor of significance she studied art at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto and later studied in Munich , Germany. In 1936 she established a private school of sculpture in Winnipeg and in 1939 she joined staff at the Winnipeg School of Art. She transplanted herself to Bermuda where she is remembered for a figure of Christ and the apostles in the Cathedral of Bermuda.
Frances Norma Loring.	Born Wardner, Idaho October 14, 1887. Died February 5, 1968. Educated in Switzerland, Germany, Paris, Chicago, New York, and Boston she to a studio in Toronto in 1913 to show her sculptures. The National Gallery in Ottawa has obtained her works as well as the Art Gallery of Ontario and some are on the grounds of the parliament Buildings in Ottawa. She was co-founder of the Sculptors Society of Canada in 1928.
Aiko Geraldine Suzuki	Born Vancouver, British Columbia 1937. Died December 31, 2005. As a young child she and her family lived in internment camp in British Columbia. Her parents gave their children both North American and Japanese names. In the late 1950’s , Gerry began to mesh her love of art and her family heritage, using the name Aiko. A sculptor, painter, printmaker, dance set designer, curator and teacher, her works are in private and public collections across the country. Her fabric art was a fixture at the Toronto Reference Library from 1981-2004 when the hanging was removed for cleaning. In 1994 she was given the Woman of Distinction Award (arts) from the Toronto YWCA. Always independent and strong, she raised her daughter as a single parent. Even though she suffered constant pain from rheumatoid arthritis, she worked and produced works of great beauty. She worked right to the end of her life, with her last show of her paintings opening the day of her memorial service.
Katherine Elizabeth Wallis	Born Peterborough, Canada West (Ontario) 1860. Died December 14, 1957. She studied art in Scotland and England as a young woman. It was her that she would come to love sculpting. She moved to Paris and continued her studies. Her art career was interrupted during World War l when she served as a nurse in the Canadian Hospital in Paris. She was honoured and decorated by both the French and British governments for her services. Her first Canadian exhibition of her work was in 1920. She returned to Paris and in 1929 she received her highest recognition as an artist when she was the first Canadian to be elected Societaire of the Societé Nationale de Beaux Arts for her sculpture titled "La Lutte pour la Vie". She fled from France at the beginning of World War II and settled in Santa Cruz, California in the United States. Samples of her work are held at the National Gallery in Ottawa. She also enjoyed writing verse and published Chips From the Block: Poems in New York in 1955.
Colette Whiten	Born Birmingham, England. February 7, 1945. In 1972 this author won the Governor General's Medal when she graduated from the Ontario College of Art. Her works have been exhibited across Canada and the U.S.A. as well as Europe and Brazil. She teaches at the Ontario College of art and was a teacher at York University in Toronto. Her commissioned sculptures have included a wall construction with figurative cutouts for the Mental Health centre in 1978, the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, Weathervanes or the Bankers Hall in Calgary in 1991 and Tender at the Workman's Compensation Office in Toronto.
Irene F. Whittome.	Born March 6, 1942. After her early studies in Canada and Paris, France, she chose etchings as her first major form of artistic expression. By 1975 she had produced a series of sculptures and went on to use the medium of hand made paper relief and sculptures to produce several one-woman shows in many Canadian galleries and museums. Her modern works continue to receive acclaim and awards, including the Victor-Martyn-Staunton Award in 1991.
Elizabeth Wyn Wood.	Born Orillia, Ontario October 8, 1903. Died January 27, 1966. She studied art a the Ontario College of Art in Toronto and also in New York City. As a sculptor she became involved with the Federation of Canadian Artists and the Canadian Arts Council. She toured and lectured on the subject of Canadian art throughout North America. Her own works included a bust of premier of Ontario, Leslie Frost, a monument to King George VI at Niagara Falls and several fountains including one at the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. The National Gallery of Canada also holds samples of her work. She worked in “modern” materials like tin for her sculptures.
Florence Wyle.	Born November 24, 1881. Died 1968. A sculptor who preferred to work in her studio, which was once a church. She was a founding member of the Sculptor's Society of Canada in 1928. She was the first woman sculptor to become a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. She had a love of nature that was reflected in her published poems.
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Micheline Beauchemin.	Born Longeuil, Quebec October 24, 1930. One of Canada's foremost tapestry weavers. Her works are in Place des Arts (Montreal) National Arts Center (Ottawa), Tokyo, and San Francisco.
Visual Artists
Diana Zoe Coop	Born Chicago Illinois, U.S.A. April 9, 1952. She earned her fine arts degree at the University of Manitoba in 1972 and then was off to England for post graduate studies and took her masters in fine art at Syracuse University. She has designed many of the colourful street banners that have graced the streets of Vancouver. She has had exhibits of her works across Canada. She is also an enthusiastic supporter of Rhythmic Gymnastics and is a Canadian National Judge in the sport. She enjoys a hobby of designing a painting costumes for competitors in the sport of Rhythmic Gymnastics and has produced costumes for groups in the Olympic Games and world championships.
Vera Cryderman	nee Macintyre Born Dutton, Ontario 1897. Died November 19, 1969. Known by the nickname “Mackie” She was trained in commercial art and interior decorating in both Winnipeg, Manitoba and Detroit Michigan, U.S.A. In 1927 she established the first art department for high schools in London, Ontario. The school was the first to use plastic as a medium for art projects. She set up courses in stone cutting and polishing to produce fine jewellery. In 1962 she set up and supervised the Visual Arts Department at Fanshaw College in London. Not only did she design unusual jewellery, she loved rings, but she also designed and made her own furniture. She is also known for her fine water colour paintings and prints.

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