Irene Hoffar Reid

Biography

Reid was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1908. She left King George High School early to attend the newly opened Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts (VSDAA). There she was trained by Frederick Varley and Jock Macdonald and learned about the Group of Seven (artists). Reid is quoted saying: "In 1928, at the Pacific National Exhibition, I viewed paintings by the Group of Seven. I saw a large painting of a mountain by Lawren Harris and I felt that I had never seen a mountain before. I was influenced by the Group and began to paint larger and more boldly designed canvases". In 1929, she and 11 of her classmate were the VSDAA's first graduating class. Following her graduation, she helped form PASOVAS, Pioneer Art Students of the Vancouver Art School which put on annual exhibits. Four years later in 1933, she married Nevile Reid and later had two children, Linda (1942) and Catherine (1946). She came back to the VSDAA to teach painting between 1933-1938. B.C. Binning was also a teacher at VSDAA and designed at studio at Reid's house in West Vancouver which was built between 1935-36 in West Vancouver. She worked in oils until the lead in the paint started to cause health problems and later focused on pastels and watercolours. The subject matter of her paintings shifted as she had kids and domestic life took up more of her time. Her works became smaller and she would sketch what was around her instead of taking sketching trips to place like North Vancouver Indian Reservation, Burrard Street Bridge squatter's huts or the shoreline around Vancouver. She was the president of the B.C. Society of Artists in the 1960s. Reid and her graduating class were all awarded honorary diplomas in 1989 from the Emily Carr College of Art and Design. Like many Canadian women in her generation, Reid's work is often overlooked even though she was a significant member of the Vancouver art community.

Awards

1931 Postgraduate scholarship, Royal Academy of Painting in London, England.

1940 Beatrice Stone Medal for her drawing The Valley

1967 Centennial Medal for Service to the Nation in Arts

Exhibitions

1929 Vancouver Art Gallery with the B.C. Society of Artists (1940-43, 1945, 1948-49, 1950-59, 1960-64, 1966-67)

1930 Pasovas Art Club Exhibition, British Columbia Art League -- mural Sun Bathers

1931 Annual Exhibition of Canadian Art, National Gallery, Ottawa -- Mural Decoration

1932 Pasovas Art Club Exhibition, Vancouver Art Gallery

1933 Vancouver Art Gallery B.C. Artists Annual (1933, 1934, 1937, 1938, 1940-41, 1951, 1954-57)

1934 Twentieth Annual Exhibition of Northwest Artists, Seattle Art Museum, Volunteer Park

1957 The Winnipeg Exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery

1958 100 Years of B.C. Art at the Vancouver Art Gallery

1961 Canadian Group of Painters at the Vancouver Art Gallery

1962 Canadian Group of Painters at London Public Library & Art Museum

1964 Canadian Group of Painters at the Art Gallery of Hamilton and the Confederation Art Gallery and Museum, Charlottetown, P.E.I

1969 Marpole Art Gallery, Vancouver -- exhibited with Grace Melvin

1974 Studio Gallery, West Vancouver

1978 Studio Gallery, West Vancouver

1979 Studio Gallery, West Vancouver

1980 Vancouver School of Art Early Years, 1925-1939, Charles Scott Gallery, Emily Carr College of Art, Vancouver

1982 B.C. Provincial Exhibition at Robson Square, Vancouver

1983 Vancouver: Art and Artists 1931-1983, Vancouver Art Gallery

1984 Richmond Interpretations : Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond, B.C.

1987 First Class: Four Graduates from the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts, 1929: The Floating Curatorial Gallery, Women in Focus, Vancouver, B.C.

1988 B.C. Artist, Vancouver Art Gallery

1989 Heffel Gallery Limited, Vancouver, B.C.

1995 Four Women, Vancouver Art Gallery

2015 Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery