Elizabeth Wyn Wood

Elizabeth Winnifred Wood (October 8, 1903 – January 27, 1966), known as Elizabeth Wyn Wood, was a Canadian sculptor and advocate of art education. A notable figure in Canadian sculpture, she is primarily known for her modernist interpretation of the Canadian landscape in her works.

Early life and education Elizabeth Wyn Wood was born at her family's cottage on Cedar Island, just offshore from Orillia, Ontario, on October 8, 1903. She was the fourth child of Edward Alfred Wood (1860–1915) and Sarah Elizabeth Weafer (1864–1952). Wood had an older brother named Edward, two older sisters, Fern, and Elmo, and a younger brother named John.

Edward Wood Sr. was the proprietor of a dry-goods and women's clothing store in Orillia, Ontario. The same year that Elizabeth was born, the Woods moved into their home at 136 West Street in Orillia. The family also had two summer homes on Lake Couchiching. During the summer months, the family spent the majority of their time on the lake, and Wood learned how to swim and canoe at an early age.

Wood demonstrated an affinity for sculpture at a young age, using plasticine and clay to create art as a child. From 1910–1917, starting at the age of seven, Wood attended St. Mildred's College in Toronto, Ontario. She returned to Orillia every summer to spend time with her family in the wilderness surrounding their summer homes. Wood attended Ontario College of Art (OCA), graduating in 1926. While at OCA, Wood studied with Group of Seven artists Arthur Lismer and J.E.H. MacDonald. She studied sculpture under Emanuel Hahn (whom she married in 1926). In November 1926, Wood began a two-month placement at the Art Students League of New York, studying with Robert Laurent and Edward McCarton. While in New York, she spent time studying Ancient Egyptian art and sculpture. By 1930, Wood was described as "perhaps the most advanced and adventurous sculptor working in Canada" by art critic Blodwen Davies. Wood was a founding member of the Sculptors' Society of Canada.

Notable works and affiliations "Sculptural form is not the imitation of natural form any more than poetry is the imitation of natural conversation . . . While a piece of sculpture may contain visual forms with which we are acquainted by daily experience, it is essentially a design worked out by means of the juxtaposition of masses in space, just as poetry is a design wrought by the sounds of words in time." (Elizabeth Wyn Wood, 1935)

Passing Rain (1928) Passing Rain is a relief sculpture, designed by Elizabeth Wyn Wood. The relief was originally made from plaster, then later commissioned to be made in marble when she was 26 years old. Passing Rain is an early example of Wood's modernist style and landscape work. The relief gained praise very quickly and would win her the Lord Willingdon Award in 1929. Planned as part of a regional beautification plan for the lands along the Welland Canal, the memorial was intended to be visible and intelligible to passengers on passing boats. The memorial was the final large World War I memorial unveiled in Canada, built with over $36,000 of donations collected from the citizens from the city of Welland and Crowland during the peak of the depression. Sculpted from LaCass Granite located in Quebec, the piece was cut to size by the Thomson Monument Company based on Wood's full-size clay model. Canadian artist and sculptor, Louis Temporale, completed the fine surface carving of the monument. As chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, she participated in the organization of, and wrote the catalogue foreword for, an exhibition of 74 artists entitled Canadian Women Artists at the Riverside Museum, New York, N.Y. (April 27 – May 18, 1947). She was made a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (1948) and a member of the Ontario Society of Artists (1929). She was inducted into the Orillia Hall of Fame in 1966. Wood taught at Central Technical School in Toronto, for twenty-eight years.