Sidney Spit

Sidney Spit, 1983. Pastel on paper by Lillian Irene Hoffar Reid (1908-1994)

Sidney Spit, 1983. Pastel on paper by Lillian Irene Hoffar Reid (1908-1994)

Name/Title

Sidney Spit

Entry/Object ID

2016.01.15

Description

Drawing This Impressionistic wide vista landscape image in Pointillist-like strokes depicts Sidney Spit, located on the north end of Sidney Island, part of the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve in B.C. It is a spare image and the landscape is carefully depicted in a wide variety of softly muted colours with linear and sponge-like textures. The viewer's eye is led from the foreground to the end of the spit by a curving line of darker green foliage growth.

Artwork Details

Medium

Pastel on paper

Subject

Sidney Island is five km by sea from Sidney on Vancouver Island, and can be accessed via a walk-on ferry service from May to September, where there are multiple campsites, dock space and mooring buoys. The spit is a sandy, narrow and long strip of land that stretches into the sea, and is located on the edge of the Pacific flyway. The spit’s tidal flats and salt marshes are often full with shorebirds during the migrations in spring and fall.

Subject Place

Region

Pacific Northwest

Continent

North America

Made/Created

Artist Information

Artist

Lillian Irene Hoffar Reid (1908-1994)

Role

Artist

Date made

1983

Time Period

20th Century

Notes

ARTIST STATEMENT “In 1928, at the Pacific National Exhibition, I viewed paintings by the Group of Seven. I saw a large painting of a mountain by Lawren Harris and I felt that I had never seen a mountain before. I was influenced by the Group and began to paint larger and more boldly designed canvases.” ARTIST BIOGRAPHY Born in Vancouver, Lillian Irene Hoffar Reid was a celebrated Canadian painter of portraits, murals, and decorative panels, as well as an educator. She attended the newly opened Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts (VSDAA, now Emily Carr University of Art and Design), where she was trained by Jock Macdonald RCA, (1897-1960), Frederick Varley RCA, (1881-1969) and Charles H. Scott (1886-1964), and learned about the famed Canadian Group of Seven. Of note, Scott served as principal from 1926 until 1952 and was key in getting Macdonald and Varley to teach at the school. In 1929, she and 11 of her classmates were the VSDAA's first graduating class. Following her graduation, she helped form the “Pioneer Art Students of the Vancouver Art School’ group that mounted annual exhibits. Reid took sketching trips to the North Vancouver Indian Reservation, Burrard Street Bridge squatter's huts and shorelines around Vancouver. In 1930, she was awarded a scholarship for a year’s study at the Royal Academy, London for a year. Reid first worked in oil, and later focused on drawing in graphite, pastels and painting in watercolours. The subject matter of her paintings shifted as well as domestic life took up more time. However she still managed to make sketching trips such as to the Cariboo, Jervis inlet and Bowen Island. On her return from London, Reid established a studio and became a teacher of drawing and painting at her alma mater (1933-1937). A significant and active member of the Vancouver art community, she was a member of both the British Columbia Society of Artists (1940-1967, and president 1965-1967) and the Canadian Group of Painters (1959-1967, and president in 1958, 1960, and 1966-1967). She showed extensively in solo and group exhibitions in Vancouver, central and western Canada and once in the United States. Reid received the Beatrice Stone Medal at the B.C. Artists' Annual (1940), and the Canadian Centennial Medal for her contribution to the arts in Canada. Her work is represented in a number of private and public collections. Reid and the other women in her graduating class were awarded honorary diplomas in 1989 from the Emily Carr College of Art and Design (previously VSDAA). She died in Sidney, B.C. at age 86.

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Type

Inscription, Signature

Location

Titled lower left: Sidney Spit Signed lower right: Irene Hoffar-Reid

Dimensions

Dimension Description

Support

Height

36.8 cm

Width

58.4 cm

Acquisition

Acquisition Method

Purchase

Date

Dec 8, 2015

Notes

From Estate of I. H. Reid. Lunds Lot # 172

Relationships

Related Entries

Notes

By Lillian Irene Hoffar Reid: 2016.01.15 Sidney Spit 2016.01.17 Spanish Banks Looking toward the City 2016.04.09 Princess Louisa Inlet 2016.04.10 Mist: Princess Louisa Inlet