Artist Information
Elza Mayhew
1916 - 2004
RCA
1916-2004
Price range: $5,000-$50,000
Photo: Karl Spreitz
My sculptures are very central. There are verticals and horizontals but few diagonals. They are highly structured and very architectural but they always relate to the human form.
Many societies found security for themselves and their towns in columns or archways. Totems give a terrific feeling of security and they also mark time. They tie people to their past and future and I feel that my works are likewise – markers in time and of a place.
As quoted by Frank Nowosad, Monday Magazine, December 1978.
Birthplace:
Victoria, British Columbia. January 19, 1916. (- death Victoria, BC 2004)
Education:
B.A. University of B.C. Double Honours, French and Latin, 1936.
Studied with Jan Zach in Victoria, 1955 - 58.
M.F.A. University of Oregon, Honours Sculpture, 1963.
Travel:
Five-month world trip, 1952; one year in Japan, 1953 - 54; several visits to Europe; Yucatan, 1963.
Work in Public Collections:
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa: Onlookers.
National Capital Commission: Meditation Piece, by the Rideau Canal, Ottawa.
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria: Demeter, Persephone, Sphinx, Board of 10.
University of Victoria: Coast Spirit, Bronze Priestess.
Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, B.C.: Guardian II.
Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario: Concordia.
Commissions (Murals, Monuments):
1967 B.C. Archives and Museum, Victoria. Spirit.
1967 Expo, Montreal. Two major commissioned works, Concordia and Meditation Piece.
1968 Bank of Canada, Vancouver. Bronze mural. In 1999, walled in by new owners of the building.
1973 Confederation Centre, Charlottetown, P.E.I. Column of the Sea, Centennial Project.
1988 University of Victoria, Bronze Priestess.
Exhibitions: Juried or Invited.
1960 Outdoor Exhibition of Sculpture, Quebec City.
1962 Contemporary Sculpture Show, Ottawa (Travelling).
1964 Sculpture Today, Dorothy Cameron Gallery, Toronto. Five Canadians.
1965 International Trade Fair, Tokyo. Aluminum sculpture.
1966 Canadian Religious Art Today, Toronto. Holy Man.
1967 Centennial Sculpture Exhibition, Vancouver.
1976 Spectrum Canada, RCA Show for the Olympic Games.
1978 Sculpture Canada ‘78, Toronto, London, Brussels, Paris.
1983 Contemporary Canadian Sculpture, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
1984 North Park Gallery, Victoria, Opening Invitational.
1986 EXPO 86, Vancouver. ZONG, Supplicant.
2005 The Limners, The Moore Gallery, Victoria BC
2009 Vision Into Reality: Art Gallery of Greater Victoria Early Years 1951 – 1973 (The Colin Graham Legacy), Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
2013 The Limners: A Victoria Legacy, Winchester Gallery, Victoria BC
2013 The Limner Group: A Passion for Art revisited, Wallace Galleries, Calgary AB
2015 Making a Scene: Victoria’s Artists in the 1960’s, University of Victoria Legacy Art Gallery, Victoria BC
2016 Eight Prints: A 1959 Print Portfolio by Artists from Victoria, Burnaby Art Gallery, Burnaby BC
One-Artist Shows:
1960 The Point Gallery, Victoria. Also in 1962.
1961 Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Indoor-Outdoor.
1961 Fine Arts Gallery, U.B.C.
1963 Lucien Campbell Plaza, University of Oregon, Eugene.
1964 Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
1964 Venice Biennale, Canadian Pavilion.
1965 Dorothy Cameron Gallery, Toronto.
1971 Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Retrospective.
1978 Backroom Gallery, Victoria. “Small Sculptures.”
1979 Burnaby Art Gallery, Burnaby, B.C.
1980 Equinox Gallery, Vancouver.
1980 Albert White Gallery, Toronto.
1981 Wallack Gallery, Ottawa.
1988 Port Angeles Fine Art Centre, Washington, U.S.
1992 Fran Willis Gallery, Victoria. With Bob de Castro.
Awards:
1962 Sir Otto Beit Medal from the Royal Society of British Sculptors.
1967 Purchase Award, B.C. Centennial Sculpture Exhibition.
1989 Honorary Doctorate, Fine Arts, University of Victoria.
Memberships:
1974 Elected to the Royal Canadian Academy.
1968 - 79 Board of Directors, International Sculpture, Kansas.
1974 - 76 Consultant, Government of British Columbia, Committee on Art.
1983 - 85 Acquisitions Committee, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
Publications/Film:
Aarons, Anita, ed. Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Allied Arts Catalogue. Toronto: Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, 1968.
Amos, Robert. “Mayhew works displayed perfectly in idyllic setting”. Times-Colonist, August 27, 1988.
Bishop, George. Northwest Bronze Foundry, Ferndale, Washington. Unpublished letters, 1977. Archive of Anne Mayhew.
Bovey, Patricia E. A Passion for Art: The Art and Dynamics of the Limners. Sono Nis Press, Victoria, B.C., 1996.
Cameron, Dorothy. Sculpture ‘67. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1967. Exhibition catalogue.
Canada: XXXII Biennale di Venezia, 1964: Harold Town and Elza Mayhew. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1964. Exhibition catalogue.
Canadian Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition 1962. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1962. Exhibition catalogue.
Canadian Sculpture: Expo 67. Edited by Nathan Karczmar. Montreal: Graph, 1967. Exhibition catalogue.
Coutts-Smith, Kenneth. “Rites of Passage: the sculpture of elza mayhew.” Unpublished essay. Archive of Anne Mayhew.
Dalsin, Melba. “Monuments to the Past, the Present and the Future: The Artistic Legacy of Elza Mayhew.” Master’s Thesis, University of Victoria, 2010.
Emery, Tony. “Elza Mayhew.” Canadian Art, Vol. XX, No. 4, July/August 1963.
Grison, Brian. “Colin Graham and West Coast Modernism.” Focus, December 2009.
Hazel, Kathryn. “The Evolving Art of Elza Mayhew.” The Daily Colonist, March 11, 1973.
Howarth, Glenn. “Spirit of Timelessness.” Victoria Daily Times, June 19, 1971.
Hughes, Mary Jo, Michael Morris and Barry Till. Vision Into Reality: Art Gallery of Greater Victoria Early Years, 1951-1973. Victoria: Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 2009.
Hull, Roger. Intersections: The Life and Art of Jan Zach. Salem, Oregon: Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette University, 2002.
Johnson, Audrey. “Creative Elsa [sic] Carves in Heroic Terms.” Times-Colonist (Victoria), June 14, 1981, 29.
Litwin, Grania. “Victorian was ‘closest thing to Emily Carr we ever had’.” Times- Colonist (Victoria), January 15, 2004.
Madden, Aaren. “Scratching the Surface: The Sculpture of Elza Mayhew.” Honours BA paper, University of Calgary, 2004.
Moir, Nikki. “Her creative talents travel the world with her.” The Women’s Province, Vancouver, BC, January 6, 1966.
Nowosad, Frank. “Honouring Elza Mayhew.” Monday Magazine, November 23, 1989.
Nowosad, Frank. “Vertical Inspiration: The Monumental Sculpture of Elza Mayhew.” Monday Magazine, December 8, 1978.
Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Allied Arts Catalogue, Vol. 2, 1968.
Skelton, Robin. “Elza Mayhew: A Language for Humanity.” The Malahat Review, No. 18 (April 1971): 58-91.
Skelton, Robin. “The universe unfolds in the palm of a hand.” Monday Magazine, October 1992.
Tuele, Nicholas and Liane Davidson. Art in Victoria 1960-1986. Victoria: Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 1986. Exhibition catalogue.
University of Victoria Alumni Quarterly, Autumn 1970.
Whittaker, Julia. “The Limners: Art in Victoria 1920-1989.” Master’s Thesis, University of Victoria, 1989.
Williams, Arthur. The Sculpture Reference: Contemporary Techniques, Terms, Tools, Materials, and Sculpture. Sculpture Books Publishing, Gulfport, MS, USA, 2005.
Film:
Time-Markers: The Sculpture of Elza Mayhew, directed and produced by Karl Spreitz and Anne Mayhew, 1985.
Listed in Canadian Who’s Who, Who’s Who in American Art, 2,000 Notable American Women, The International Who’s Who of Women, Who’s Who in the West, Dictionary of International Biography.
International Women’s Day Group Exhibition e-Catalog 2021
International Women’s Day Group Exhibition 2021: #ChooseToChallenge
International Women’s Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women’s achievements or rally for women’s equality.
For the exhibition e-Catalog click HERE
Head & Mayhew Exhibition e-Catalog 2022
These two brilliant artists come together in a unique exhibition to celebrate their life work. Albeit from different provinces, they knew each other and followed each other’s work with interest. They were tied to a similar aspiration; to make art for art’s sake. Both Head and Mayhew create works that are about the visual language of art, not the verbal. Be it painting or sculpture, the idea was to appreciate the art outside of an artist statement or explanation; to appreciate the lines, colour, and form intuitively. To immerse yourself in these works of art is like exploring the unknown and to be lost (or found) in the visual world for which they each created. Their aspiration and energy are apparent. The organic forms that they each draw upon is a link to humanity and an exploration of the unknown.