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FARLEY, Lilias Marianne Ar de Soif
- Born
- Ottawa, Ontario, 1907
- Died
- Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, 1989
- Biography synopsis
- Lilias Farley was born in Ottawa and moved to Vancouver with her family in 1924 where she studied painting and sculpture at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts (now the Emily Carr University of Art and Design) from 1925 to 1929. She studied architectural sculpture at the University of British Columbia and completed post-graduate studies in theatre design and puppetry. In the 1930s she began to show her work at the Vancouver Art Gallery and from 1933-1935 she taught classes in design at the newly opened British Columbia College of Art. Farley was a founding member of the Federation of Canadian Artists in 1941. She was elected a member of the Sculptors Society of Canada in the 1940s, and was elected a Life Fellow of the International Institute of Arts and Letters at Lindau, Lake of Constance in 1960. In 1948, Farley moved from British Columbia to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, where she taught art at Whitehorse High School until 1972 and served as the first director for the Yukon of Canadian Crafts Council from 1973-74. She resided there until her death at the age of eighty-three. In Vancouver, Farley painted two murals, with accompanying bronze details, for the new Hotel Vancouver in 1939 and carved patterns for the Vancouver Post Office. In Whitehorse, she painted murals of the History of the Yukon for the Supreme Court Chambers in the Federal Building in 1955. In Ottawa, she completed colour plates for the Department of Indian Affairs (now Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada).
- Media used
- Painting
- Puppetry
- Sculpture
- Textiles
- Education
- Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts (VSDAA), 1925 - 1929 (under Jock MacDonald, Frederick Horsman Varley)
- Memberships
- Federation of Canadian Artists, 1941
- File & Archive locations
- Art Gallery of Ontario - Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives
- Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, QC
- National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
- University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
- Vancouver Art Gallery, BC - Library
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Writings about- Colgate, William. Canadian Art, its Origin and Development Toronto: Ryerson, 1943
- MacDonald, Colin S. The Dictionary of Canadian Artists. (Volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker) Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2009
- Richardson, Leila and Lilias Farley. First Class: Four Graduates from the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts, 1929: Lilias Farley, Irene Hoffar Reid, Beatrice Lennie, Vera Weatherbie. Vancouver, B.C.: Floating Curatorial Gallery, Women in Focus, 1987
- Thom, Ian M. Art BC : Masterworks from British Columbia Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2000
Full text pdfs of exhibition reviews- Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (, 1936) Fred H. Brigden. "The Fifty-Seventh Annual Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts." Royal Architectural Institute of Canada December 1936. 13.12: pp.216-223. Full-text pdf
- Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (Montreal, November 18, 1937) "Royal Canadian Academy Show is Opened at Art Association. Portraiture Represented by Good Examples and Landscapes as Usual Predominate." Gazette (Montreal) November 19, 1937. p.12. Full-text pdf
- Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (Montreal, November 18, 1937) Lucien Desbiens. "Les expositions. Le Salon de l'Académie." Le Devoir (Montreal) November 26, 1937. p.2. Full-text pdf
- Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (, November 16, 1939) "R.C.A. Exhibition Has Private View. Over 300 Works in Galleries of Art Association of Montreal. Standard Maintained." Gazette (Montreal) November 17, 1939. p.5. Full-text pdf
- Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (, November 16, 1939) "Canadian Academy Opens Sixtieth Exhibition." Montreal Star November 17, 1939. p.11. Full-text pdf
- Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (, November 16, 1939) Reynald. "Le 60e Salon de l'Académie." La Presse November 17, 1939. pp.9,16. Full-text pdf
