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Gathie Falk, CM, OBC, artist (born 31 January 1928 in in Alexander (west of Brandon), Manitoba; died 22 December 2025 in Vancouver, BC). A multimedia artist with a strong national reputation, Gathie Falk’s work has been recognized, rewarded and celebrated for more than 50 years. She won the Gershon Iskowitz Prize (1990), the Governor General’s Award in Visual Arts (2003), and the Vancouver Art Gallery’s Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts (2013). Falk was named to the Order of Canada in 1997 and the Order of British Columbia in 2002.
Career Highlights
Gathie Falk began a successful artistic career in 1965 when she left teaching to study art. In 1967 she abandoned formal studies at the University of British Columbia to become a self-supporting artist.
In 1968 Falk’s Home Environment show at the Douglas Gallery, Vancouver, established her reputation. From 1968 to 1977 her many exhibitions were counterpointed by her work as a performance artist. After 1974 she turned to drawing, watercolour and oil-painted images in an impressionist vein. Her works are owned by major public galleries, including the National Gallery of Canada.
Honours
The Vancouver Art Gallery staged several solo exhibitions of Gathie Falk’s work (1981–83, 1985, 1987) and in 1990 she won the Gershon Iskowitz Prize for her contribution to Canadian art. In 1997 she was named to the Order of Canada, in 2002, to the Order of British Columbia, and in 2003 won the Governor General's Award in Visual Arts. In 2000, the Vancouver Art Gallery together with the National Gallery of Canada mounted a major retrospective of her work that toured the country. In 2013 she was one of the two recipients of the Vancouver Art Gallery’s Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts.
