The Women's Art Association of Canada (WAAC) is an organization founded in 1887 to promote and support women artists and craftswomen in Canada, including artists in the visual media, performance artists and writers. At one time, it had almost 1,000 members. Although smaller today, it still plays an active role in fundraising and providing scholarships for young artists.
Inception
In 1886 the young Canadian artist Mary Dignam (1857–1938) returned from six years in Europe, where she had supported herself by organizing art tours for young ladies in Italy and the Netherlands. She joined the staff of Miss E.K. Westmacott's Associated Artists' School of Art and Design, founded in Toronto in 1884, which taught handicrafts to women. She began to teach classes in drawing, painting and modelling in the school's studio on the 2nd floor of the Arcade building. In 1887 Dignam created a young women's artists organization which shared the premises of the handicrafts school. The organization was part of the Lyceum Club. After two years, Dignam replaced Miss Westmacott as president of the school.
In 1890 Dignam incorporated the artist's organization as the Women's Art Club. It was renamed the Women's art Association of Canada in 1892. Dignam wrote later, "We had a Royal Academy branch in Toronto but I found I had to do something to open the door for women and the only way seemed to be the organization of the Women's Art Association." The association adopted the motto of the Plantin Press of Antwerp, Labore et Constantia (Labour and Constancy), the colours of red and white and the wild rose as emblem.
Objectives
The goal of the association was to encourage and support Canadian women artists, including those involved in branches of fine art, applied and performance arts. According to the 1907 Bill No.30 An Act To Incorporate The Women's Art Association of Canada, "The objects of the Association shall be the creating of a general interest in art and the encouragement of women's work for the purpose of mutual help and co-operation of its members, the establishment of art lectures and reading clubs, the holding of exhibitions of painting, designs, sculpture, engraving and the industrial arts, and the encouragement and development of the art handicrafts and home industries of Canada."
In a 1917 article in Woman's Century the WAAC stated, "Service is the keynote to happiness. Every part of the Art Association's activities is based on service to the individual, to the community, and to the nation." The 1919 National Council of Women of Canada Yearbook defined the purpose of the WAAC as "to create a general interest in art, to encourage art handicrafts and home industries, and to establish art lectures and exhibitions of painting, sculpture and design." The yearbook added that "In this way it hopes to supply in some measure that great need of the artist: a public able to understand and trained to appreciate the best in art." The WAAC appreciated and promoted the different cultural heritages of native Canadians, French Canadians and immigrants from different countries.
Early years
The first branches after the 1892 incorporation in Toronto were founded in Winnipeg, London, Ontario, and Montreal. The Hamilton, branch was established in 1894. Late in 1893 the WAAC became the first women's organization to affiliate with the National Council of Women of Canada, which had been founded on the initiative of Lady Aberdeen, wife of the Governor General of Canada from 1893 to 1898. The WAAC elected Lady Aberdeen as patron. This established a tradition that has been followed since then by all the wives of Governors General. Florence Deeks, who in 1912 prepared a "historical sketch" of the early years of the association, seems likely to have joined in the mid-1890s.
The group held thirteen annual exhibitions from 1889 to 1901, and occasional loan exhibitions after that. The catalogues for the early exhibitions include paintings and sketches by members, and works on loan from private collections. Often there were also handicrafts made by members. In the 1900 exhibition there were oil and watercolour paintings, pastel drawings, designs, miniatures and 112 handicraft items. There was also a loan exhibit that showed decorative art from many different places and ages. The catalogue said these specimens were intended to show "the possibilities open to women of artistic bent". In 1896 the WAAC proposed that a State Dinner Service of painted china be made by Alice Mary Egan of Halifax, Nova Scotia and twelve other artists from Ontario and Quebec. The service was made and was a success.