Obituary Overview
Forever Cherished
Elizabeth Lydia Forsell Allen nee Ainsworth
London, England 1 November 1932 – Calgary, Alberta 19 March 2018
Artist
Elizabeth was born within the sound of Bow Bells in London and could rightly call herself a Londoner. When she first tried to pronounce her name it came out beautifully as “Ibis” and to her close family she has been “Ibis” ever since. Friends around the world knew her as “Liz”. In August 1940 she, together with her brother John and mother Dorothy (nee Forsell), were evacuated to Jamaica where they remained until October 1943. They then returned safely to England on one ship of a large convoy. Her father Norman John Ainsworth, a dental surgeon with practice in London, had remained in England. Elizabeth went back to English schooling with what she described as a thick Jamaican accent. Very sadly her mother died of meningitis in late December 1944 – a great loss which Elizabeth felt all her life.
The family was now living in the beautiful countryside of Buckinghamshire. During their teens Elizabeth and John acquired a boat on the Thames and taught themselves to sail. She always loved sailing while John really got involved and later made many long holiday voyages with his wife Mel. Elizabeth also found great pleasure horseback riding in Leicestershire where her Forsell grandfather kept excellent hunters. She adored the English countryside and in later life produced a number of fine English landscapes.
Norman remarried in 1949. His new wife Frances Palmer (“Posie”) nee Gordon-Duff already had a son Andrew Palmer and later Norman and Posie had a son Charles. So Elizabeth had a full brother John, a step brother Andrew and a half brother Charles. She was quite proud of this.
From 1944 to 1949 Elizabeth was educated at Godstowe School in High Wycombe and Farringtons School in Chislehurst. After completing her Higher Schools Certificate she took a years training in Home Economics at Becket Lodge in Worthing, Sus. Also during that year she attended a Life Drawing class at Worthing School of Art. She loved the challenge of drawing the human body for the rest of her life.
From 1950 to 1955 she was a full time student at Chelsea School of Art in London. At first she travelled back and forth from Buckinghamshire. This involved a bicycle ride in the dark past a displaced persons camp. She soon shared a nice but rather bare flat with another art student. Chelsea was the heart of the London art world and she immediately became part of the vibrant student community. She made many lifetime friends there and had a most happy time. Also during that time she met her future husband Desmond, a geology student. They became engaged in 1953.
After leaving art college Elizabeth worked as a layout artist for George Godman’s an advertising studio in the Kensington district of London. Desmond had graduated and they considered the prospects which might or might not suit both. Jobs were offered in Australia, West Africa, Trinidad and Kuwait. All would have meant long periods of separation. Western Canada however was more hospitable so shortly after their March 3, 1956 marriage Des took a freighter to Halifax and made his way to Calgary where he found his first job. Elizabeth followed that summer. It was a far cry from the studios of London to the then tiny, dusty and windy town of Pincher Creek in southern Alberta but she turned out to be made of very good pioneering stuff. One story she often told involved a gust of wind blowing her New Look skirt above her head next to a couple of cowboys tying their horses to the rail at the King Eddy Hotel. She soon made good friends and fell in love with the new landscape. Her love of Alberta’s foothill shapes was to appear in her watercolours, drawings and prints in later years. Also at this time she started to store a knowledge of Alberta’s wild plants which later would be used to help in the preservation of Nose Hill and other Calgary natural parks. For readers in England, Nose Hill Park is now surrounded by city and is larger than Richmond Park in London.
There were many oil company moves in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan before the family could finally settle in Calgary in 1964. By that time Elizabeth had three children Peter John Allen, Nicholas Gibbon Allen and Jennifer Dorothy Allen but she was now able to join the Life Drawing Workshop at the Allied Art Centre. The Workshop was started by Henry Glyde in 1937 and carried on through the 40’s by Maxwell Bates, John Snow and other well known artists. It’s purpose was to provide models for groups of artists on a drop-in basis (pay per attendance – no seasonal fees) at minimum cost. Hard to organize but it suited artists and it lasted until a few months after Elizabeth first went into hospital in November 2015. For about 40 years Elizabeth ran the Life Drawing Workshop on a no profit, no loss basis. It entailed hiring models, arranging long and short poses, renting space, providing and repairing easels etc., ensuring privacy, providing break refreshments, taking the nightly money on not too strict a basis, paying the model and providing 50 sessions per year. It required a great deal of work and occasionally some delicate handling but Elizabeth never faltered in providing the service. She herself would do as many as ten drawings in an evening many of them very beautiful indeed.
The family bought a house close to the University of Calgary campus in 1966 and this was Elizabeth’s home for the rest of her life. Using her design skills and botany knowledge she planned a lovely garden under the adverse climatic conditions of Calgary.
During the 70’s family commitments eased as the children grew and she was able to take up studies at the nearby University. In 1978 she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts majoring in drawing and printmaking. While at the University of Calgary she made friends with many who would later become her partners in creating new artistic enterprises such as the Station Studio and the Alberta Printmakers Society.
Before her graduation, Elizabeth had made plans with a colleague (Andie Wicherts) to find space for printmaking where each would acquire a printing press for her own chosen medium and to which they would invite other artists who did not have their own equipment or space. They found a suitable place where Andie installed her etching press and Elizabeth her large lithography press. Everything was running by the spring of 1979 and the Station Studio was born. This is thought to have been the first formal printing studio available to artists in Calgary. Initially two other artists rented space but over the years more than sixty artists produced fine work at the Station Studio. Elizabeth and her partner worked very hard on the studio, at the same time finding their own creative directions after the somewhat regimented years at University. Elizabeth found great affinity with the landscape of the Alberta foothills which appears in many of her prints, drawings and watercolours. Desmond remembers that she would often drive in her truck towards the Wildcat Hills northwest of Calgary and come back in the evening with four or five beautiful watercolour sketches. At sales most of these were snapped up immediately and few remain in the family’s possession. Later Andie moved on to a new phase of her art practice but Elizabeth continued to manage the studio with Carole Bondaroff as partner.
In 1988 after ten years of operation the Station Studio was fully occupied. There were now many more print artists in Calgary, there were no opportunities for specialised print exhibitions, and many graduating printmaking students could not find affordable space in which to work. Elizabeth with members of Station Studio, three other print artists and three art students established a society for printmakers. The Alberta Printmakers Society (A/P) was incorporated and has helped print artists ever since. Elizabeth was a founding member of the Board and served in many capacities for many years. In 1998 the Society’s secretary-treasurer was transferred unexpectedly and the Society also lost most of its funding grants. Elizabeth showing her usual indomitable spirit, made a life-saving donation, injected a huge amount of work and together with other members kept the facilities going. She continued as president and financial manager for many years. One big problem was the ever increasing Calgary rent situation as the city grew and Elizabeth had to arrange moves in 1999 and 2001. A/P continues to serve artists and flourishes.
Elizabeth’s efforts for the art world of Calgary had included and were to include many other avenues. When the Allied Art Centre closed in 1970 the Muttart Gallery which occupied the top floor of Central Park Library provided space for the Life Drawing Workshop and for thirteen years Elizabeth was involved as a member and in 1985 became President of the Muttart Gallery Board. She also served for two years as Vice President and then as President of the Alberta Society of Artists (ASA). During this tenure, in order that ASA and other art group funding would continue, it became necessary to create a “Provincial Arts Service Organisation”. Elizabeth was a founding member and later became Vice President of Visual Arts Alberta Association. From time to time she also served as one of the artists and architects in Co-Design which contracted with municipal planners and developers to meet with the public and interpret the public’s ideas and wishes in drawings.These dynamic brainstorming sessions helped in the design of the surroundings of the Performing Arts Centre, the Eau Claire riverbank area and the old General Hospital land. Many participants were happy to see their ideas come to life.
Much of her time in the organisations was aimed at raising funds. She wrote many grant applications, achieved government charitable status where necessary, arranged bingo and casino events and organised shows where artists could display and sell work.
In recognition of her tireless, selfless work Elizabeth was awarded the 2003 Immigrant of Distinction Award in Arts & Culture.
Elizabeth’s own artwork was very representational though occasionally she would produce an abstract. She loved natural subjects such as the human body, animals and gentle curves of foothill landscapes. She seldom touched Rocky Mountain or forest subjects. Her life drawings gave the feeling that the subject might become alive and move at any moment – a rare quality. She had the ability to use a single line to great effect as is also seen in some of her landscape works. When life drawing she favoured the drag of charcoal on newsprint paper. The fact that this paper was very cheap tended to free her from that care and she could be as exuberant as she wished. Life drawings were executed entirely for her own great pleasure.The fact that the newsprint was not acid free and would change colour never worried her. There are many hundreds of beautiful drawings of the human body on newsprint piled in her home. Few were signed. Elizabeth didn’t create them with sales in mind. However some were acquired by discerning friends because of their existing beauty.
Elizabeth’s other great love was in printmaking. Quoting from a resume she said of herself:
“She has always wished to make her own work accessible as much as possible; not to be too obscure, while maintaining artistic integrity. She chose to specialise in printmaking, partly because of her love of the process, but also because prints would be more affordable to a wider public.”
In the main she chose the traditional methods of Lithography because she liked the intricate process and the texture given by the use of stone. Stones were difficult to find and Elizabeth told an amusing story about one. She had driven down to the States in her pickup and was bringing back an enormous stone. Approaching the border she was very worried as to how she could explain lithography to a possibly doubtful intelligence. At the last moment the answer came. “It’s a gravestone” she said and she was passed through with great solemnity.
Some years ago Elizabeth found an old unused general store in the tiny hamlet of Madden about thirty five miles north and west of Calgary. She rented it and turned it into her private studio where she banished mice and worked for the rest of her life. She bravely drove to and from Madden on lonely roads,some of them gravel, in all weathers.
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In 1972 the Calgary Field Naturalists Society formed a natural areas committee whose purpose was to compile inventories of wildlife species and identify the various natural habitats of undeveloped areas within and at the edge of the developing city. Elizabeth joined this committee and was soon helping to identify plant species and prepare illustrations of plant and other wildlife for publications aimed at preservation of the natural areas. Because of topographic and access difficulties most of these areas were not prime targets for developers but Nose Hill was. The committee worked hard and were involved in many presentations to City Council. Individual people and other groups also worked to save Nose Hill. Most people now take Nose Hill park for granted but it survived through hard work and good city government. Elizabeth was justly proud of her part in the fight to save the 1128 hectares of upland prairie as one of the largest urban parks in Canada. She also had a delightful memory of one lovely July day on Nose Hill. She and Desmond were picking Saskatoon berries when a singing, dancing figure arrived from down the valley. It was a beautiful young First Nations man who said “ Don’t worry, I’m just high on summer”. He stayed and chatted for the next hour or so and then said “You’re nice people. I’m going to give you names”. He looked at Elizabeth and immediately came up with “Pretty Wolverine Woman”. Whether or not he could really give Indian names to just anyone didn’t matter in the slightest. Either way it was an honour and Elizabeth treasured it from then on.The young man disappeared, singing and dancing, over the brow of the hill.
In 1978 the family bought land on Lasqueti Island which lies in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia. There they built a simple cabin in the forest by the sea where Elizabeth spent many happy times. One beautiful night provided a delightful memory to Elizabeth and Desmond. They had paddled around to visit their neighbours to the west, stayed too late and had to paddle the mile back in the dark. The sea was full of plankton and water dripping from the paddles lit up like strings of pearls. At the same time the northern lights were dancing to the north. Lasqueti is very undeveloped – no electricity supply or other utilities – but Elizabeth loved it and as usual made good friends. She would read late at night by candle light with the sound of the waves lapping or sometimes crashing on the rocks below.
Elizabeth stayed in touch with her large family in England and made a point of visiting them every three years if she could. She would rent a car and drive extensively to see as many relatives and friends as possible. As well as her own family she would visit her lifetime friend from Chelsea days Gill Alexander nee Levin in Norfolk and sister-in-law Joan Chasin nee Allen in London. She was very fond of both these people who incidentally were her bridesmaids!
Elizabeth will be greatly missed by her extended family and friends everywhere. She is deeply mourned by her close family members in both Canada and England. In Canada close family and family connections include Desmond Allen – husband, Peter Allen -son, Nicholas Allen – son, Jennifer Allen – daughter, Judy Breese – ex wife of Peter and mother of two grandsons, Patti Heaton – Peter’s second wife, Hana Allen – granddaughter (Jennifer), Rory Allen – grandson (Peter & Judy), Bruce Allen – grandson (Peter & Judy), Alexander – grandson (Nicholas and Sanaa his wife who died too early in 2016), Marquessa and Jordana – step granddaughters (Patti by a previous marriage), Weldon Hogue – Hana’s partner, Nesreen Ali – Rory’s partner.
In England close family members and family connections include John Ainsworth – brother, “Mel” Ainsworth nee Mary Ann Redfern- sister-in-law (John), Andrew Palmer – step brother, Charles Ainsworth – half brother, Davina – Andrew’s wife, Leslie – Charles’ wife, Tom Ainsworth – nephew (John & Mel), Kate Dixon nee Ainsworth – niece (John & Mel), Patrick Ainsworth – nephew (John & Mel), Joan Chasin nee Allen – sister-in-law.
In lieu of flowers please give to the charity of your choice or take a private memory walk on Nose Hill. The family also suggests that donations could be made to the Institute for Wildlife Conservation which treats injured and orphaned animals or to the Rosedale Hospice which gave Elizabeth’s daughter-in-law Sanaa such sweet care.
A Celebration of Elizabeth’s life will take place at 2.00 pm on May 3, 2018 at the Eden Brook funeral home premises.
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Elizabeth Lydia Forsell Allen 2018.source
Death notice for the town of: Calgary, Province: Alberta