Wendy Toogood (photo from Facebook)
Canadian textile artist Wendy Toogood died on Jan. 18, 2025 at the Arrow Lakes Hospital in Nakusp, British Columbia.
Born in Bristol, England, Toogood moved to Canada in 1952. She graduated from the Alberta College of Art (now Alberta University of the Arts) in 1969 and then did post-graduate work at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. After a few years in Toronto, she returned to Calgary, where she was an instructor at the Alberta College of Art & Design (now Alberta University of the Arts) from 1975 to 2006. She moved to Nakusp in 2006.
Her awards were many and included the Alberta Achievement Award and the Lieutenant Governor’s Award in 1984. In 2002, she received the Alberta College of Art & Design Alumni Award of Excellence. Her work was exhibited across Canada, including the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Canada, and in Calgary at The New Gallery and Stride Gallery. Most recently, a retrospective of her work was shown last year at Wallace Galleries in Calgary.
“I had a good life,” Toogood wrote shortly before her passing. The statement was shared on social media by her longtime partner and fellow artist Don Mabie. “Please feel glad that I am no longer in pain or discomfort and I hope you will have fond memories of me.”
“I am thankful for all the wonderful years that I was part of the Calgary art community; the years that I taught at the Alberta College of Art & Design; as well as my two decades living in Nakusp and volunteering at the Nakusp Thrift Shop; I am thankful for all my friends in the Kootenays and the Okanagan and across Canada.”
Sources: Facebook, Galleries West, Stride Gallery, The New Gallery
