Hilda Mary Woolnough (11 February 1934 12 December 2007) was an artist with a wide range of media (drawing, printmaking, painting, sculpture) as well as a teacher, who exhibited her work worldwide.A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 (online only), by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada She lived in the artistic community of

Breadalbane, Prince Edward Island Breadalbane ( ) is a municipality that holds community status in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Located in Queens County, Prince Edward Island, its population is 170. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Ca ...

, Canada. Woolnough was an art activist and supported art institutions and young artists on P.E.I.

Early life

Woolnough was born in

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

, England in 1934, to a family with a long history of painters, including her mother, uncle and brother. Beginning traditional training at the

Chelsea School of Art Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London based in London, United Kingdom, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation. It offers further and higher educat ...

in London in 1952, and studying amongst a group of renowned artists, among them

Ceri Richards Ceri Giraldus Richards (6 June 1903 – 9 November 1971) was a Welsh painter, print-maker and maker of reliefs. Biography Richards was born in 1903 in the village of Dunvant, near Swansea, the son of Thomas Coslett Richards and Sarah Ri ...

and

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi- abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced ...

, she experimented with printmaking and graduated with her focus on painting in 1955.A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 (online only), by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada She married psychiatrist Dennis Hopkins and together they had three children, Daniel, Lee, and John. Emigrating to Canada in 1957, she settled in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

, Ontario, but left in 1965 to go to San Miguel de Allende Instituto in Mexico to study experimental etching, graduating in 1967 with a focus in graphics and a Masters in Fine Arts. Returning to London, she enrolled in the

Central School of Art and Design The Central School of Art and Design was a public school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Cr ...

, where she did post-graduate technical art metal work.

Career

In 1966-1967, Woolnough established an

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

and

lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

program at the

Jamaica School of Art Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, formerly Jamaica School of Art and Crafts, is an art school in Kingston, Jamaica. In 1940, Edna Manley pioneered evening art classes at the Institute of Jamaica's Junior Centre but it was n ...

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

.A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 (online only), by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada By this time, she had remarried Reshard Gool, a Canadian who founded a publication company known as Square Deal and wrote a best-selling novel, ''Cape Town Coolie''. In 1969, Woolnough and Gool bought a home in

Charlottetown Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlottetown was an unincorporated town until it was incorporated as a city in ...

, Prince Edward Island, and taught at the

University of Prince Edward Island The University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) is a public university in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, and the only university in the province. Founded in 1969, the enabling legislation is the ''University Act, R.S.P.E.I 2000.'' H ...

, while forming a vibrant art society and starting their own newspaper that failed only after a pro-radical Quebec separationist appearance in the paper created controversy. During the 1970s, Woolnough worked with native quilting, during the Native American craft revival. In 1972, she created her "Power Totem" series, then came her "Beach" series, and then later the "Wave/Rock" series, and her "Chrysalis" series. In 1975, came her "Ring Around the Rosy", a series of collographs, and later in the 1970s, she created the "Winter Squares" series. In 1977, Woolnough moved to

, a village north west of Charlottetown. She created her "Venus" series in 1978, and continued to explore the theme of women in the 1980s. In 1986, Woolnough created "Fishtales; A Marine Mythology", an exhibition curated by

Joan Murray Joan Murray (born August 6, 1945) is an American poet, writer, playwright and editor. She is best known for her narrative poems, particularly her book-length novel-in-verse, ''Queen of the Mist''; her collection ''Looking for the Parade'' which ...

with a national tour (1987-1990). In the 1980s, she also worked in the crafts program at Holland College, in PEI. The Prince Edward Island Council of the Arts stated that, besides her career as an artist and arts advocate, she shared with her students her passion for the integration of design principles in handicraft design.School of Visual Arts/Craft: Hilda Woolnough Remembered
/ref> In 1989, her partner Reshard Gool died, and she and her family created a provincial scholarship for Prince Edward Island students in his honour. In 2001, her exhibition ''Timepiece'', which showed at the

Confederation Centre Art Gallery The Confederation Centre Art Gallery (CCAG; french: Musée d’art du Centre de la Confédération) is an art museum that forms a part of the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. The art museum pavilion f ...

, featured sculpture, sound environments, and complex multilayered prints, accompanied by a book by Linda Rae Dornan. One of Woolnough's final projects, in conjunction with

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

, concerned the crisis at the

Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...

. Titled ''Guantánamo'' (2004-2005), the 12-piece show, with a large multi-paneled theatrical installation fifteen metres long, toured worldwide, including in Japan. In it, she developed her ongoing interest in the human figure into a major political statement about injustice.

Community activism

Woolnough was a driving force in many artistic organizations in Prince Edward Island, including galleries and the PEI Printmakers’ Council, the P.E.I. Council of the Arts, and The Arts Guild. After her death from cancer on 12 December 2007, at age 73, the Hilda Woolnough Memorial Scholarship was founded in her memory. In 2013, the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in Charlottetown presented a

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...

of her work in recognition of her contributions as an artist and arts advocate on Prince Edward Island. As stated by the Prince Edward Island Council of the Arts, Woolnough "has left a wonderful legacy for artists both on the Island and throughout Canada". She had a massive impact.

Honours

Woolnough received the Father Adrien Arsenault Senior Arts Award recognizing achievement as a Prince Edward Island artist in 1999, and was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy in 2000. In 2021, the P.E.I. Gallery in The Arts Guild was named for her and held a

exhibition of her work titled ''All Things Hilda: A Retrospective''.

Collections

Woolnough's work is in the following collections: *Art Gallery of Jamaica *Art Gallery of Nova Scotia *Art Gallery of Ontario *The Confederation Centre Art Gallery *Gotland Museum, Visby, Sweden *Memorial University Art Gallery, St. John's, Newfoundland *Montreal Museum of Fine Arts *New Brunswick Art Gallery and Museum, St. John, NB *Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, Ontario *Canada Council Art Bank *Air Canada, Montreal, Quebec

Personal life

Woolnough's son is Writer/Director John Hopkins who has won over 20 Canadian and international awards. His documentary films and work as Director of Photography have been broadcast on CTV, CBC, Bravo, Arte, TVO, Documentary Channel, and Discovery Channel. He wrote, directed and lensed the NFB feature documentary Bluefin (2016) and has made a film about Woolnough titled ''Timepiece''.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woolnough, Hilda 1934 births 2007 deaths 20th-century English women artists 21st-century English women artists Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts Artists from Northampton Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts English emigrants to Canada Canadian art educators Canadian women educators