The Life and Art of Mildred Valley Thornton (The Unheralded Artists of BC ) - Softcover

Sheryl Salloum

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1896949053 ISBN 13: 9781896949055

Publisher: Mother Tongue Publishing, 2011

Synopsis

Short-listed for the 2012 Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize

Mildred Valley Thornton (1890¬1967) (HON. CPA, FRSA) was born in Ontario. Portraits of the First Nations peoples of Western Canada became the genius loci of her oeuvre. During the Depression, her family moved to Vancouver. She became an advocate for First Nations peoples and made important historical contributions to British Columbian art and culture. Thornton was also a noted journalist, Vancouver Sun art critic(1944¬1959), book reviewer and published poet.

Before she died, Thornton unsuccessfully tried to interest Canadian institutions in purchasing her collection of approximately 300 portraits of First Nations peoples of Canada. Identified in her work are ancestors from twenty-four Western First Nations, including, Haida, Kwakwaka'wakw, Squamish, Stó:lo, on the plains these include the Cree, Kainai, Piikani, Saulteaux, Sitsika and Tsuu T'ina. When she realized no government agency or gallery was going to purchase her work, she was so anguished that she wrote a codicil to her will. The codicil was improperly witnessed; the work remained intact. Her work is in the Royal B.C. Museum and Archives, the Glenbow Museum, the Heiltsuk Nation, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, the National Gallery of Canada, the Simon Fraser University Gallery, the Squamish Nation and the Vancouver Art Gallery. Introduction by Sherrill Grace.

About this title

About the Author:

Sheryl Salloum was born and raised in British Columbia. Sheryl graduated from Simon Fraser University and taught in the public school and college systems. A freelance writer for over twenty years, Sheryl published Underlying Vibrations: The Photography and Life of John Vanderpant (Horsdal & Schubart) which was a finalist for the Hubert Evans Non-fiction Book Prize. The Life and Art of Mildred Valley Thornton was short-listed for the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize in 2012.

About this edition

• Publisher: Mother Tongue Publishing
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1896949053
• ISBN 13: 9781896949055
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176