Una Mavis Ehlert (30 January 1922 – 14 December 2007) was a British-Canadian sculptor.

Early life and education

Ehlert was born in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England. Her brother, John Sander, a painter, introduced her to the art world. Ehlert specialized in commercial art and sculpture at

St. Martin's School of Art Saint Martin's School of Art was an art college in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1854, initially under the aegis of the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Saint Martin's became part of t ...

and Chelsea School of Art in England.

Career

Ehlert moved to

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada in 1952. She maintained a studio behind her home in Westdale.Artist sculpts By Sandee Ewasiuk THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR Friday Oct, 15, 1999 She mounted her first solo exhibition in 1966. Ehlert's sculpture known as 'Dianne' sits on a boulder outside the

Hamilton Public Library The Hamilton Public Library (HPL) is the public library system of Hamilton, Ontario. Services HPL services include the Local History and Archives department (formerly called Special Collections), which houses an extensive collection of local his ...

in Ancaster, Ontario. The statue was purchased and donated by Ancaster and Hilltop Garden Clubs for the Canadian Centennial in 1967. Ehlert made a terracotta sculpture called 'Reflections of a Little Boy' that is on permanent display in a glass box at the Central branch of the Hamilton Public Library in downtown

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

. A bust of former hockey coach Reginald Hennessy, sculpted by Ehlert, was installed at the Burlington Central Arena, but was later stolen. Her sculpted beaver was presented to Kaga, Japan, the twin city of

Dundas, Ontario : ''For the county in eastern Ontario see Dundas County, Ontario. For the upper tier county, see United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry.'' Dundas is a community and town in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is nicknamed the ''Valley Town' ...

circa 1968. A terracotta bust of

Terry Fox Terrance Stanley Fox (July 28, 1958 June 28, 1981) was a Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer research activist. In 1980, with one leg having been amputated due to cancer, he embarked on an east-to-west cross-Canada run to raise money ...

by Ehlert was donated by Juliet Margaret Gordon to the Recreational Therapy program of the psychiatric ward at St. Joseph's Hospital in Hamilton. The Hamilton Club of Hamilton, Ontario bought a bronze reclining figure of a woman for their permanent collection. The Grimsby Art Gallery owns a piece of Ehlert's art, a

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

figure called 'Karen', as part of their collection. Hamilton-Wentworth Creative Arts and

CKOC CKOC (1150 AM) is a radio station in Hamilton, Ontario. Owned by Bell Media, it broadcasts a business news format. CKOC is a 50,000-watt, Class B station operating on a Regional (not clear-channel) broadcast frequency, with transmitters located ...

radio nominated Ehlert for her Sculpture in the Excellence in the Arts search. She received a Sculptor of the Year award for her contribution to the Artistic Community at the First Awards Banquet in 1980. Ehlert was presented with a plaque by CJJD radio, (now known as CHAM), CKOC and Creative Arts. An article by Andrew Dreschel, staff writer for the West Hamilton Journal, credited Ehlert for her large body of work, her many exhibitions in art galleries throughout Ontario. and her representation in both private and public collections. Ehlert taught sculpture and ceramics at the Jewish Community Centre and Central Secondary School in Hamilton, Ontario. Artist Emy Singer was one of Mavis Ehlert's sculpture students at the Jewish Community Centre. Moura Wolpert of the Jewish Canadian News called Mavis Ehlert a "quiet genius". Ehlert's work was displayed at a number of solo and group exhibitions. She shared a show at the Art Gallery of Hamilton with Canadian painter

Emily Carr Emily Carr (or M. Emily Carr as she sometimes signed her work) (December 13, 1871 – March 2, 1945) was a Canadian artist and writer who was inspired by the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. One of the painters in Canada to ado ...

. In the 1990s Ehlert exhibited annually at the J.B. Aird Gallery in Toronto. Her 2001 exhibit Bird Forms at the Art Gallery of Hamilton attracted critical acclaim."Bird Forms take flight", ''Hamilton Spectator'', 20 January 2001, page W06

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ehlert, Mavis 1922 births 2007 deaths British emigrants to Canada English sculptors 20th-century Canadian sculptors 21st-century Canadian sculptors Artists from Bristol