"The Life and Art of Mary Filer" by Christina Johnson-Dean
"The Life and Art of Mary Filer"
Mother Tongue Publishing is concluding The Unheralded Artists of B.C. series in October with the release of The Life and Art of Arthur Pitts by Kerry Mason, says publisher Mona Fertig. Pitts, who lived from 1889 to 1972, documented the indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast in watercolours and photographs. The ninth book, released last fall, was The Life and Art of Mary Filer by Christina Johnson-Dean. Filer, who died in 2016, was a glass artist. Major examples of her cold glass sculpture can be seen at SFU Harbour Centre and the Vancouver General Hospital.
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Mary Filer, "Untitled," 1990
laminated float, coloured antique and textured glass with steel supports, 14’ x 18’ Photo by M.E. Linardic
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Mary Filer, "B.C. Rhythms," 1976
laminated float and antique glass, no dimensions, photo by M.E. Linardic
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Mary Filer, "Circumferential Geometries 4," 1982
laminated float glass, 13” x 15” x 11.5”Photo by M.E. Linardic
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Mary Filer, "Mystique de Eros," 2008
laminated glass, 39” x 24” x 14.5” Photo by M.E. Linardic
Her work is in numerous collections, including the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. "Mary was an extraordinary woman" says Fertig. The Unheralded Artists of B.C. is a series of full-colour books about little documented artists from the 1900s to the 1960s. Other artists in the series include David Marshall, George Fertig, Ina D.D. Uhthoff, Edythe Hembroff-Schleicher and Jack Akroyd. Mother Tongue is based on Saltspring Island.