Famous Torontonians: Beyond the Icons

Who comes to mind when you think of famous Torontonians?
Drake?
Mike Myers?
Margaret Atwood?

Beyond the musicians, actors, and literary icons, Toronto is also home to many visionary artists who helped shape Canada’s cultural identity, and Joyce Wieland is a significant part of this cultural tapestry.

Joyce Wieland: Visionary Canadian Artist

Joyce Wieland is one of those visionary artists — a groundbreaking multimedia artist and one of Canada’s most prominent and prolific twentieth-century artists. Currently, her legacy is prominently featured at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Currently on display until January 4, 2026, Joyce Wieland: Heart On is a large-scale exhibition that encompasses her entire career, spanning over four decades, and brings together more than 100 works, including drawings, paintings, films, prints, collages, and quilts. The title “Heart On” refers to Wieland‘s unapologetic position on political and social issues, as well as her profoundly personal and emotional position in relation to art. It embodies a facet of Wieland‘s oeuvre that relates as much to and reflects her life and emotions, and thus art in general. This personal and emotional aspect of her art will surely connect with you on a deeper level.

Exhibition Overview: Heart On at the AGO

In this long-overdue retrospective — the first at the AGO since 1987 — Wieland’s work is brought together to demonstrate just how unique, wide-ranging, and original her artwork truly was. The series not only positions her work in its art historical, political, and social context but also shows how ahead of her time she was in addressing issues of feminism, nationhood, environmentalism, and social justice that are still relevant today. Her work is not only unique, but important, giving us a glimpse into the past as it encourages us toward the future.
Fashion Ecstasy had the opportunity to see a preview of this exhibit in private on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. It was held in the beautiful surroundings of the Art Gallery of Ontario, with a thought-provoking and educational discussion with the show’s curators, who provided informative details and personal insight to Wieland’s work. The preview was succeeded by a self-tour of the exhibition, in which invited guests were encouraged to observe and enjoy the artwork at their convenience, forming a holistic understanding of Wieland’s artistic growth and the theme that suffuses her artwork.

Highlights from the Exhibition

Tell Us More About Joyce Wieland

Joyce Wieland was born in 1930 in Toronto to British immigrant parents. At an early age – seven – she was orphaned; she experienced a great deal of hardship growing up during the Great Depression with her siblings. This environment instilled an early understanding of and respect for perseverance and creativity. Even as a child, her artistic talents—and entrepreneurial spirit—were apparent; her male classmates paid her 5¢ to draw nude women, a cheeky glimpse into her future as a bold and boundary-pushing artist.
She lived in The Annex and studied at Central Technical School, where artist Dorothy McCarthy became a mentor and helped steer her toward a career in commercial art and design. After graduating in 1948, Wieland worked in graphic design while steadily developing her own art practice. Her background in graphic design heavily influenced her style. A job at the animation studio, Graphics Associates, introduced her to filmmaking—and to artist Michael Snow, whom she later married.
By the late 1950s, Wieland was gaining recognition by becoming the first woman represented by the Isaacs Gallery. After moving to New York in the early 1960s, she expanded her practice to include experimental film, textiles, and assemblage. In 1968, her short titled “Rat Life and Diet in North America” playfully used cats and mice to examine themes of oppression and freedom, combining political critique with humour and metaphor. In 1971, she and her husband returned to Toronto. In an interview with Chatelaine in Winter 1973, she cited the reason for her move as no longer wanting to ‘be part of the corporate structure which makes Vietnam‘. The move came shortly after her work was displayed at the National Gallery of Canada. True Patriot Love was the inaugural solo show by a then-living Canadian woman artist presented by the National Gallery of Canada. The AGO, which mounted a major exhibition of her paintings and films, and was the first exhibition of a living female artist in the AGO’s history, was dedicated solely to their work. After transitioning to a residential life and remaining in Canada for the rest of her life, Wieland had a prolific career as one of Canada’s most original and influential artists. Her work not only emphasized the margins, engaged protagonists and norms, and foregrounded political issues, but it also established a vital contemporary identity for Canadian art. Wieland passed away on June 27, 1998, in Toronto, at the age of 67. Her death was due to complications of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Joyce Wieland – The Artist and Activist

Wieland’s strong political beliefs were not just a part of her life, but also a driving force behind her work. War, gender, nationalism, and ecology were not just subjects, but also proud and emphatic assertions in her work. These convictions didn’t just guide her life — they came alive in her artwork, which utilized a variety of media, including textiles, collages, film, and mixed media.

Political Quilts

Some of her most powerful political works are quilts. One of her most striking examples of this is the quilt, Barren Ground Caribou (1977-1978). This 9-meter-long quilt was first displayed on the mezzanine level of Spadina Subway Station as a commission by the TTC. Placed behind a glass window, the quilt featured a herd of caribou roaming across the Arctic landscape underneath a pale blue sky. In her 1975 proposal to the TTC, which commissioned this piece from her, she stated, “While running down the ramp toward the lower platform to catch a train on a subway, one is confronted with a vision of a herd of Barren Ground Caribou in quilted form. Like ancient beasts, they are present in the modern technological cave of the subway. Let us remember these marvellous beasts before they are no more.” In true Wieland fashion, the piece is both a celebration and a warning—a tribute to the beauty of the North and a quiet yet urgent call to protect what is at risk of disappearing. The piece is also a bold challenge to those who dismiss quilting as merely a domestic craft. By working with fabric—a medium traditionally associated with women’s work—Wieland brought the language of high art and political protest into a form that had long been overlooked by the art world. In the exhibition, the quilt is displayed without glass, allowing visitors to get up close and see the fine stitching and one unexpected detail: a single caribou with baby pink antlers. In the exhibition, this quilt is displayed without glass, allowing visitors to get up close and see the stitching, as well as one caribou sporting baby pink antlers. 

Perhaps her most famous work is the quilt Reason over passion / La Raison avant la passion (1968). This quilt was inspired by Trudeaumania, a period when the public was intensely fascinated with the late Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. The statement “Reason over Passion” was Trudeau’sTrudeau’s motto and governing principle, where he valued reason over emotion in decision-making. The quilt featured the words “Reason over Passion” spelled out in huge, multicoloured lettering with little red hearts scattered all over the background. In the exhibition, the French version of this quilt is accompanied by the English version. 

The original quilt with the French wording was destroyed by Margaret Trudeau, the wife of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, during a fiery argument over clothing. She recounted the fight in her biography, Beyond Reason (1979). The quilt was gifted to Pierre, which he hung in his official residence. During the fight, the way he acted towards her was so cold and devoid of empathy that she went upstairs to grab the quilt off the wall, ripped the letters off one by one, and threw them at him, one letter at a time. She explained that her actions were her attempts to get Pierre to show some semblance of a heart, but he wouldn’t budge. He looked at her as if she were an enraged vandal, viewing the act as a shocking desecration of art. The day after their fight, the quilt was quickly and quietly repaired. In that moment, the quilt became more than just a piece of art. It became a highly charged, emotional battleground between two opposing values, proving that Wieland’sWieland’s art—even in quilted form—could powerfully provoke such strong reactions from others. 

A Worthy Tribute to a Canadian Art Legend

These two fabulous artworks are just a very small sampling of the hundreds of pieces currently on display at the AGO. Joyce Wieland: Heart On is currently on display until January 4, 2026. Catch this wonderful and immersive exhibition while it’s still on and running.