| Hilda Woolnough | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Hilda Mary Woolnough |
| Born | 1934 Northhampton, England |
| Died | 2007 Charlottetown, Canada |
| Nationality | British |
| Field | Arts, Advocacy |
| Works | Guantanamo, Time Piece |
Hilda Mary Woolnough, MFA, RCA, (1934 to 2007) was a world-renowned artist with shows in Europe, Asia, the Caribbean and North America. She lived in the artistic community of Breadalbane, Prince Edward Island, Canada.
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Woolnough was born in Northhampton, England in 1934, to a family with a long history of painters, including her mother, uncle and brother. Beginning traditional training at the Chelsea School of Art in London in 1952, studying with many including Henry Moore, she experimented with printmaking and then graduated with a focus in painting in 1955. She married psychiatrist Dennis Hopkins and together they had three children, Daniel, Lee, and John and . Emigrating to Canada in 1957, she settled in Hamilton, Ontario, but then left in 1965 to go to San Miguel de Allende Instituto in Mexico to study experimental etching, graduating in 1967 with a focus on graphics and a Master's of Fine Arts. Returning to London, she did post-grad art metal technique work at the Central School of Art and Design.
She made her way to Kingston's Jamaica School of Art, creating an etching and lithography program. By this time, Woolnough had re-married to partner Reshard Gool, a Canadian poet/writer/publisher, who started a publication company known as Square Deal and wrote best-seller Cape Town Coolie.[1] The two of them bought a home in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and taught at the local university while forming a vibrant art society and creating their own newspaper, that failed only after radical Quebec separationist appearance in the paper caused a stir. During the 1970s, Hilda worked with native quilting, during the Native American craft revival.[2] In the 1980s, Hilda worked in the crafts program at Holland College, in PEI; Prince Edward Island Council of the Arts[3] said the following, "Besides her career as an artist and arts advocate, she shared her great passion with her students, for the integration of strong design principles in handcraft design." In 1989 her partner Reshard Gool died, and she and her family created a scholarship for Island students in his name.
Even those whom Woolnough did not appreciate, appreciated her. "Being new to the Island, I did not know Hilda personally. However, it was impossible not hear people speak of her and her effect on the Island's Arts landscape. We have lost a tremendous champion of the Arts and of artists. Through this scholarship, it is our hope that future generations of Island artists will also remember Hilda and her enduring contribution to the Island."[3] said one Council of the Arts member. In 2001, a biography was done by author Linda Rae Dornan of Woolnough, titled "Hilda Woolnough: Timepiece."[4]
Towards the end of her life, Woolnough could be seen swimming daily in the Atlantic Ocean off Victoria, in her home province of Prince Edward Island. When she broke her hip, it was replaced with one made from enamel, which she was known to tell came from oysters, so "now the ocean was a part [of her]." When she could swim no more, she enjoyed listening to friends play live music at her Breadalbane home, and worked hard to maintain enough strength to travel once more, and did, to Costa Rica with her partner, and was even able to swim again.
One of the last projects Hilda worked on was in conjunction with Amnesty International about the crisis at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Titled Guantanamo, the 12 piece show toured the world, including a stop in Japan. At one gallery, it was written by the gallery owner that she "first saw Hilda Woolnough’s 10-panel graphite drawing Guantanamo when it was shown at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in Charlottetown, PEI. [She] was very taken with the artistic strength behind the 33-foot piece and immediately wished to bring it."[5] A reviewer of the work described it: "The 10 panels that make up Guantanamo are a testament to Woolnough’s ongoing horror of the detainees’ treatment, an appeal to bring the human face back to these men. Each of the 576 men imprisoned at Guantanamo during the time Woolnough worked on the piece in 2004 and 2005 is represented — but as faceless figures. Paper-doll chains are cut out and stacked to replicate the chain-link fence. In spread-eagled positions, the figures appear naked and shackled to each other. Rough representations of genitals appear on the figures in two panels. Using dark black strokes behind the links in some panels, or softer billowing shadows in others, Woolnough evokes moods ranging from violence and anger to confusion and despair. Vertical black oblongs in the final two panels, which are placed to form a right angle, surround the viewer with the darkest area of the entire piece. The suggestion belies hope of release for the prisoners, and promises only death."[5]
After her death on December 12, 2007, at age 73, a Hilda Woolnough Memorial Scholarship was started. According to the Prince Edward Island Council of the Arts, Woolnough "has left a wonderful legacy for artists both on the Island and throughout Canada."[3]
Henry Moore, Bernard Meadows, Julian Trevelyan, Diederich Kortlang, Leonard Marchant, Prunella Clough, Ceri Richards, Fred Bill
Woolnough was a member or founder of:
Woolnough received awards such as:
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"I'm interested in evolution of plants, land, the world. There are stages in the growth of the brain that are reptilian or flower-like. They're proof that we are all the sum of our parts, like the land or sea." [6]
"What is most important to me as an artist are 'accidents and mistakes'. If I don't make them technically and intellectually on a regular basis I don't feel I'm going anywhere. I have lived on Prince Edward Island for about thirty three years, but I have travelled, taught, and done my own work all over the world; and been fortunate enough to have my work in many collections and exhibitions in Canada and abroad, including the Canadian Pavilion in the Spanish Biennial in Seville."[6]