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ARISS, Margot (Philipps)
- Born
- Belleville, Ontario, 1929
- Died
- London, Ontario, 2013
- Biography synopsis
- After studying at the H.B. Beal Technical School in London, Ontario in 1940, Margot Ariss (nee Philipps) initially produced ceramic objects before turning to sculpture in the late 1950s. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, she created intricate text-based clay wall panels, pots and cubes by scratching, stenciling or stamping her own poems or quotations into the clay. She was included in “Ceramics 69” at the Vancouver Art Gallery and selected ceramic group exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Ontario in the early 1970s. In the 1980s she began combining clay with cloth and paper mache to create rounded designs on sculptural surfaces. In 1989, the London Regional Art and Historical Museum had a solo retrospective exhibition entitled “Zen Song” referring to her use of organic forms, white surfaces, and meditative pieces. Margot Ariss’s work is held in the collections of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada Council Art Bank and the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. The commission for the London courthouse incorporates letters cut from clay. Her work is included in the 2024 exhibition “Canadian Women Modernists” at the Beaverbrook Gallery.
- Media used
- Ceramics
- Sculpture
- Education
- H.B. Beal Secondary School, 1940 - ? (under Herb Ariss)
- Memberships
- Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
- File & Archive locations
- Calgary Public Library, AB - Arts Department
- Edmonton Art Gallery, AB - Library
- Hamilton Public Library, ON - Local History and Archives Department
- London Public Library, ON
- Art Gallery of Ontario - Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives
- Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, QC - Media Centre
- University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
- Vancouver Art Gallery, BC - Library
- Winnipeg Art Gallery, MA - Clara Lander Library
- Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, ON
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Writings about- Aarons, Anita. "What is a Wall?" Architecture Canada (RAIC) 46.09 (Oct. 1969): 10-12
- Bruce, John. "Margot Ariss: Words and Things." Artscanada 26.4 (Aug. 1969): 14-16
- Godden, Ted. "Zen Song." Ontario Craft 14.4 (1989) 34-36.
- Gwyn, Sandra. Women in the Arts in Canada Ottawa: Royal Commission on the Status of Women, 1971
- Heller, Jules and Nancy. North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century New York: Garland, 1995
- 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
- McCutcheon, Sarah, et al. Women’s Bookworks : A Survey of Contemporary 4 by Canadian Women Including Unique Book-Objects and Printed Editions Montreal: Galerie Powerhouse, 1979
- McIntosh Art Gallery. Margot Ariss, Margaret Rossiter : [Exhibition] McIntosh Gallery, Feb. 12 - March 9, 1975 London, ON: [The Gallery], 1975
- O'Brien, Paddy. ZEN SONG: A Retrospective Exhibition of Wall Panels by Margot Ariss London, ON: London Regional Art and Historical Museum, 1989
- Poole, Nancy Geddes. "Lives Lived: Margot Joan Phillips Ariss, 84." The Globe and Mail 20 Dec. 2013
- Poole, Nancy Geddes. "London Women and Art." The Art of London: 1830-1980 London: Blackpool Press, 1984
- Wallace, Janis. "Gallery highlights Trailblazing Female Artists." Londoner 05 Apr 2018: A3
