Helen Goodwin (July 14, 1927 – December 18, 1985) was an English-born,

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

-based artist, dancer, teacher, and organizer who specialized in dance and

choreography Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design ...

. Goodwin was an active member of

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

experimental art community in the 1960s and 1970s, organizing and performing at festivals, exhibitions and artist-run centres. She is best known for co-founding Intermedia and for forming TheCo, a dance troupe.

Biography

Goodwin was born on July 14, 1927, in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, where she was trained in

Laban Laban is a French surname. It may refer to: Places * Laban-e Olya, a village in Iran * Laban-e Sofla, a village in Iran * Laban, Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States * 8539 Laban, main-belt asteroid People Surname *Ahm ...

movement analysis. She moved to Vancouver in 1955. That year, she became a faculty member at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

(UBC) in the Physical Education Department, and taught stage movement with the Theatre Department. She taught at The University of British Columbia for almost 20 years. In 1970, Goodwin moved to New York City where she was asked to chair the Dance Department of

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

's Tisch School of the Arts.

Projects

Goodwin was involved in the organization of the Festival of Contemporary Arts at UBC, in February 1965. The festival was nicknamed ''The Medium is the Message'' (after

Marshall McLuhan Herbert Marshall McLuhan (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media theory. He studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of Cambridge. He began his ...

's work). In 1965, Goodwin along with Al Neil and Sam Perry founded the Sound Gallery and Goodwin founded her dance troupe, TheCo. Perry committed suicide at the end of 1966 and Sound Gallery dissolved. In 1967, Intermedia was incorporated as a non-profit society under the BC Societies Act, which was the first artist-run centre in Canada to receive funding from the

Canada Council for the Arts The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the federal government's principal in ...

. Goodwin was a founder and member of the Board of Directors. Goodwin was known for collaborating with other artists to create “environments” with which her dance troupe, TheCo, would interact. In 1968, the Vancouver Art Gallery hosted ''Intermedia Nights,'' where TheCo (including

Evelyn Roth Evelyn Roth (born December 27, 1936) is an interdisciplinary artist who has worked in the areas of textiles, sculpture, performance, dance and interactive fabric arts. She specializes in environmentally sensitive events, festivals, school program ...

) performed ''Plus Minus 216'' and ''A Space''. ''The Intermedia Spring Show'' - ''Dome Show'' was exhibited between May 19-31, 1970, and included Goodwin's work, ''City Feast'', which involved participants from around the city to engage in communal dining, conceptualized as "an experiment in large-group choreography". In 1971, Goodwin created and directed ''Environmental Opera'', a performance by TheCo and other artists at Spanish Banks on June 21.

Death and legacy

On December 18, 1985, Goodwin drowned herself near

Spanish Banks Spanish Banks are a series of beaches in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, located along the shores of English Bay in the West Point Grey neighbourhood. Spanish Banks is located between Locarno Beach to the east and the grounds ...

in Vancouver. On December 21, 1987, at 3:45pm, ''Winter Solstice'' was performed in her memory at the

Museum of Anthropology at UBC The Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) campus in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is renowned for its displays of world arts and cultures, in particular works by First Nations of the Pacific Northwest. As well as ...

. She was described in ''

The Province ''The Province'' is a daily newspaper published in tabloid format in British Columbia by Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, alongside the ''Vancouver Sun'' broadsheet newspaper. Together, they are British Columbia's only ...

'' as "one of the prime forces in new and experimental art in Vancouver in the 1960s and 1970s." In 2018, Goodwin was a subject for the exhibition, ''Beginning with the Seventies: Radial Change'', curated by

Lorna Brown Lorna Brown (born 1958) is a Canadian artist, curator and writer. Her work focuses on public space, social phenomena such as boredom, and institutional structures and systems. Background Lorna Brown was born in Oxbow, Saskatchewan, Canada. She ...

at the

Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia, on the campus of the University of British Columbia. The gallery is housed in an award-winning building designed by architect Peter Cardew and o ...

at UBC. The exhibition featured a work by artist

Evann Siebens Evann Siebens is a Canadian media artist with a background in dancing based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Her current practice cross-references dance performance and media. Siebens' film works have been shown both nationally and intern ...

, titled ''Plus TheCo, Minus Helen Goodwin''.

Notable works

*''Plus Minus 216'' (1968) at the Vancouver Art Gallery *''Pas de Deux'' (1968) *''A Space'' (1968) at the Douglas Gallery and Vancouver Art Gallery *''City Feast'' (1970) *''Environmental Opera'' (1971) at

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodwin, Helen 1927 births 1985 deaths Artists from British Columbia British emigrants to Canada Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Tisch School of the Arts faculty 20th-century Canadian women artists 20th-century English women artists Suicides by drowning in Canada