Trailblazing Women of BC

Trailblazing Women of BC 

Our annual challenge in QuArtz encourages us to explore artistic possibilities and push our boundaries.

This year we chose to look for inspiration to historical women of British Columbia who pushed back against societies imposed limits on women and the expected norms of the time.  It was an eye opening experience to see how so many different women worked hard to improve life for all.  Whether it was by fighting against the oppression of their people, helping others in remote communities, teaching and advocation for children or adventuring where women hadn’t gone before, they all showed great courage in the face of strong opposition.

We hope that with our quilts we can shine a light on some of these amazing and brave women of British Columbia’s past.  

Linda Kuraoka

Hide Hyoid Shimizu

This Trailblazing Woman was a Japanese Canadian (J/C).  Hide Shimizu was an educator, an activist for redress and reparation, advocate for J/C rights and enfranchisement.  She was a member of The Order of Canada, President of Ghost Town Teachers Historical Society, one of 32 women honoured by Status of Women Canada for shaping Canada’s history.  A Japanese Rock Garden was dedicated in her honour at Lord Byng Elementary School in Steveston, where Hide taught for 16 years.

I chose both a red circle and maple leaf to signify flags of Japan and Canada, and two black symbols represent education in both countries.  The Japanese Kimono has a black belt for Karate, a Japanese coin for wealth, and an authentic Pacific pearl for Pearl Harbour.  The photo was taken of Hide teaching at Hastings Park in 1941.

Linda Waters

I’ll Show You The Way

On July 29, 1924, Phyllis Munday became the first woman to reach the peak of Mt. Robson - the highest in the Rocky Mountains. I was first made aware of her when I was a Girl Guide in the 70’s.  I was inspired by her life and wanted very much to follow in her footsteps.  Phyllis Munday (1894-1990) was a scientist, cartographer, photographer, naturalist, athlete, humanitarian and adventurer.  Munday was granted the Order of Canada in 1973 for her pioneering efforts, and her dedicated service to the Girl Guides, St. John Ambulance, and the Alpine Club of Canada .  The quilt is an interpretation of the photograph of Phyllis on the Franklin glacier carrying a 70 lb. pack in 1927, which subsequently was the source of the 1998 Canada Post 45 cent stamp in her honour.  This is merged with the iconic image of Mt. Robson and an alpine meadow which brought her so much joy.

Brigitte Red

Stoney Creek Woman

Inspired by the book of the same name authored by Bridget Moran, this is my homage to Mary John Sr., a homemaker, educator, language teacher, social reformer, and advocate for her Carrier Nation people and their culture.  

Mary John Sr. believed that education was the key to rising above the barriers that face aboriginal people today.  She worked tirelessly to promote understanding between aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities.  

Thanks go to the Vanderhoof Public Library’s Mary John Collection for the articles used.  

Cath Phillips

Anchored in Time

In the 1920s and 1930s ‘Capi’ Blanchet explored the BC coast with her 5 children.  For 15 summers they rented our their house near Victoria and lived aboard a 25 foot motorboat, the Caprice.

They explored bays and native villages, weathered storms, navigated with simple instruments and braved tides and currents.  Capi kept the boat running herself and used their adventures to teach her children.  She kept a journal of their travels  and in the 1960s she turned those memories into the book “The Curve of Time” by M. Wylie Blanchet.

My husband and I spent a few summers travelling up the West coast in our retired fish boat and we would visit many of the places she and her family had been.  Each evening after dinner, safely anchored for the night, I would read a chapter of the book aloud.  

Judith Beaver

Sophie - The Legend

Sophie Morigeau is a legend.  Born in 1836, the child of a Metis woman and a French Canadian trader, the always independent Sophie was an entrepreneur and feminist long before they were talked about.  She was able to exist happily in both indigenous and white cultures and moved between them fluidly.  Married at 16, Sophie left that marriage a couple of years later to start her own pack team.  Using family connections, she packed in supplies from across the border and for many years travelled all over the East Kootenay selling those goods.  At one point she had a store in Windermere.

Always a bit wild, Sophie had many partners….some good, some bad.  In an accident, she lost an eye and took to wearing a patch and later adopted a pair of green glasses.  Legend has it that after another accident, she amputated a piece of her own rib which had protruded through the skin….later to be found hanging on the wall of her cabin.  

Sophie spent her later years on a small ranch at the south end of Lake Windermere, where she employed many Kootenai as hands.  She died in 1916 at the age of 80.

Sandie Guenette

Echos of Isabella

My Trailblazing Woman is Isabella Ross.  At the age of 36, she was widowed with nine children to support.  Eight years later she purchased 99 acres along Haro Strait.  Isabella became the first female landowner in British Columbia.  She farmed the land, and 27 acres later became the Ross Bay Cemetery.  

My piece shows Ross Bay Cemetery with an ‘echo’ of Isabella tending the farm.

Cathy Gaetz-Brothen

Good Gold, Lotsa Gold

Kate Carmack is known as the Woman of the Klondike.  Her bio is typed onto the petals of the sunflower. 

Kate's First Nation name is Shaw Tala.  She was born in 1857, and passed in 1920.  She journeyed north in search of gold, along with her husband George and brother Jim.  They would never have survived without Kate's guiding and trapping skills.  On August 17, 1896, Kate discovered 'good gold, lotsa gold' as she put it.  

Afterwards, George falsely declared that they had never been married, and he quickly married a white woman, taking all Kate's shares of the gold, as well as their daughter Graphie.  Kate lived off a government pension for the rest of her life, and survived by selling handmade leather mittens and moccasins.  

Jeanette Marten

Snow People

This quilt was inspired by the art of Daphne Odjig.

Deep, deep in the forests of British Columbia, Canada can be found strange creatures known as Snow People.  They are very shy so very few people ever see them.  Scampering around them are animal snow creatures that look like dogs or reindeer or rabbits.  Basically anything your imagination will allow.  The Snow People appear after a snowfall, especially when the sun is shining.  Other times they live in caves hidden somewhere in the forest.  They are very gentle, friendly, joyous and harmless creatures.  They will provide shelter to anyone who is in distress in the forest and needs help.  But if someone tries to harm them they will disappear not to come out again until that mean person is gone.  

So, the next time you are wandering in the forest on a sunny day after a big snowfall, look around you and you too might see the Snow People.  When you do, say Hi, and who knows they might welcome you into their home.  

Shirley Weishuhn

Helen Gregory MacGill

Helen Emma Gregory MacGill, was a judge, feminist, journalist, and musician.  She was the first woman judge in British Columbia, where she served on the juvenile court for 23 years.  She was a journalist and a publisher, she advocated for the hurt, the helpless and the exploited.  She championed women’s rights.  She was at the forefront of the fight in British Columbia which granted women the right to vote in 1917.  She inspired this quilt.

Joan Fudge

A Warrior Indeed

Marion McKinnon, this pioneer woman drove alone on narrow winter roads to reach out and help the people in the Cariboo- Chilcotin area of British Columbia.

As a young public health nurse, her vision was to travel to remote  communities educating young mothers on birth control and immunization for their babies.

Along the way she dealt with major injuries and deaths in the logging camps.

Marion always brought a candle, a candy bar and chains for her tires in case she was stranded on the remote roads in the Cariboo-Chilcotin area of British Columbia.

Christine Trory

Phyllis Munday

The QuArtz challenge this year was Trailblazing Women of British Columbia.  These were  women who made a significant contribution to BC society and culture.  I chose Phyllis Munday (1894-1990), a mountaineer, the first woman to climb Mt. Robson, who climbed and named many other BC mountains.  She was also the founder of the Girl Guides in BC and contributed in one capacity or another to guiding throughout her life.  My piece consists of commercial, hand dyed and chiffon fabric, stamping, free motor and hand embroidery and quilting.

Elisabeth Raymond

Hannah - The Photographer

Designed for the QuArtz project Trailblazing Women of BC, this quilt reflects on the life of Hannah Maynard, a portrait photographer in Victoria (1834-1918). 

She experimented with photomontage and multiple exposures.  She also photographed people using techniques that made them appear as statuary: on columns or posing as if they were made of stone.  

Jan Gardner

Living With the Sea

Kristin Miller is a Trailblazing woman of the 1970s.  After moving west, she settled in the Salt Lakes area across the bay from Prince Rupert, BC.  This area had no electricity, no running water and no public transportation.  Despite living across the bay, Kristin often had to go ‘to town’ for essentials such as food, medical attention, employment and socialization.  As a result Kristin acquired and learned how to operate her own boat.  This was definitely an essential but not without hazards.  On her first solo trip to town, Kristin found the body of a woman floating face down in the bay.  She learned a huge lesson that day; always wear a life jacket when in the boat.

Prior to moving to the area Kristin had done a lot of sewing.  She continued to do so with her treadle sewing machine and started teaching many of the new moms in the area how to make baby quilts.  Before long Kristin was teaching women, young and old as well as men, how to quilt.  She had a following and participated in many local events with her quilts.

Kristin is now and author of numerous quilting books and articles.  She continues to live on the coast of British Columbia.  

Bev Keith

Sveva Caetani

Sveva Caetani was born in Rome, Italy in 1917.  She and her parents moved to Vernon BC when she was four years old.  She was raised here and lived here until her death in 1994.

Sveva not so much inspired me but she certainly intrigued me.  Why would she allow her mother, after her father’s death, to hold her captive in the family home for twenty-five years?  She was held prisoner and not allowed to paint or express her artistic endeavours while catering to her mother’s whims.

Sveva was very creative and insightful, so after her mother died and she was relieved of her forced solitude at age 43, she took classes at the University of Victoria and got her teaching certificate.  She taught in Lumby while earning a living to maintain her family house in Vernon.  Sveva also painted in watercolours.  She painted 56 paintings over fourteen years.  She called this collection “Recapitulation” or the recounting of her experiences and perspectives on life.

Sveva died in 1994 and left her family home to the city of Vernon.  It is now the home for many creative and budding artists.