Gathie Falk was born in Manitoba in 1928 and moved with her family to Vancouver in 1946. In 1953, she began teaching elementary school in Burnaby and continued teaching until 1965. Throughout her career as a teacher she continued to upgrade her qualifications and began to study art and seriously pursue both painting and ceramics in the Faculty of Education at UBC. In 1965, she began working full-time as an artist. 

Falk's six decade career brought a fundamental groundwork for many contemporary Canadian artists. Painter, sculptor, ceramicist, performer, Falk revealed the extraordinary embedded in everyday life: roses, shoes, benches, fruit, clouds; her work bridged the domestic and the surreal, the intimate and the mythic.

North Shore Roses  (1992) embodies Falk's lifelong interest with memory, ritual, and narrative. The work merges observed detail with imaginative space, fusing the real and the dreamlike qualities, assembling visual fragments and layered surfaces.

Gathie Falk passed in 2025 at the age of 97.

​

North Shore Roses, 1992
six-colour lithograph, ed. 150
full bleed: 22” x 18”

Call to inquire about availability (604) 903-3798

Lithography, or writing on stone is based on the resistance between grease and water. The artist uses drawing and painting materials containing grease on a limestone slab or aluminum plate to create an image. A gum arabic mixture is applied to the composition to securely bond the image to the plate. The surface is then dampened with water which adheres to the non-greasy areas. Ink is applied and only adheres to the greasy sections. Areas covered with water remain blank. The plate is then run through a press under extreme pressure. Lithograph prints are characterized by soft lines and rich textures.