Violet Gillett

Violet Amy Gillett (1898–1996) was a Canadian artist and educator known for her encouragement of the arts in New Brunswick.

Early life and education Gillett was born in Liverpool, England in 1898. Her parents, Walter Gillett and Ada Syson, had been married in 1893 and her sister Beatrice was born two years before Violet. Her early childhood was spent in Gloucester, England, where her father worked at the John Bellows printing company.

Gillett participated in the formation of the Maritime Art Association. She was invited to write a curriculum for art education in New Brunswick public schools. Written in collaboration with her fellow artist Miller Brittain and drawing on the ideas of the Austrian art educator Franz Cižek, this curriculum was adopted by the New Brunswick Department of Education in 1939.

Selected works

Freedom from Want, June 1944

This sculpture is a painted plaster that was produced in response to Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1941 Four Freedoms speech. Gillett's inspiration and rationale behind this piece was to include both food and love through mother and the child, symbolizing differing freedoms from want. This piece is part of the New Brunswick Museum collection.

"Where the Wild Flowers Grow," 1966 and "In the Fields and Woods," 1967

She wrote both of these children's books which contained her artwork.

Winter Night, Old Methodist Church, Andover, N.B.

This is a linocut artwork on paper in white and blue paint. It was included in Maritime Art: A Canadian Art Magazine in December–January 1942 – 1943.

Honours Member of the Order of Canada (1976) New Brunswick Teacher's Centennial Award (1976) Queen's Jubilee Medal (1977) Governor General's Medal (1977)