Mary Gay Brooks B.A., M.Ed.

Mary Gay was born in Sudbury Ontario in 1943 and grew up in London and Aylmer Ontario.

She has been an art educator for 32 years. She was a classroom teacher and visual arts consultant for the Toronto District School Board. Her role entailed curriculum writing, program planning, demonstration lessons and team teaching with teachers in over 52 schools. She has been a facilitator of many visual arts workshops for teachers, students and parents. She also taught art courses for the Faculty of Education at the University of Toronto, the Faculty of Education at York University, and Georgian College.

Previously she attended the Ontario College of Art and Design and did window displays for Eatons. She has completed 2 degrees at the University of Toronto, majoring in Fine Arts and Education.

She has co-authored a book titled "Images; Printmaking" on the instruction of printmaking with school children.

While living in Toronto, she participated in various group shows with her printmaking and jewelry.

As a world traveler she has been influenced and enriched by many arts and crafts, museums and galleries, and cultures throughout the world. She did some teaching in Hong Kong.

Attracted by the climate and the environment of Canada's west coast, she vacationed often in British Columbia. In 1998, when she retired from her teaching career, she moved to Gabriola Island, BC. She loves living beside the ocean and her home and studio, "Muskoka-by-the-Sea", overlook the Strait of Georgia. She is happy to have time to devote to being an artist.

Her acrylic paintings are boldly colourful and she enjoys trying to capture the exuberant joy of the flowers in her garden as well as the antics of her cats who love to play and hide there. Her paintings have been shown at group and solo shows in BC throughout the past 5 years.