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Photo credit: Eleanor Lazare, 1985.

In Memoriam: Isla Burns

We join the arts community in mourning the loss of Isla Burns - one of Canada's great abstract sculptors, a trailblazer for women and a mentor to countless students.

Born in 1952 in Calcutta, Isla traveled frequently between multiple cities, including Mumbai (then called Bombay), Monghyr, Saharanpur, and Gauhati. These places later became a deep source of inspiration for her sculptures. Upon arriving in Canada, Isla studied figurative and abstract sculpture at the Alberta College of Art (ACA) in Calgary. She later continued her education at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), becoming one of the first women to enroll in the welding program.

Isla took on numerous welding jobs, including building freight carriers for Boeing, where she was their first female welder. She later taught riveting techniques and worked in the oil industry before debuting her artwork for the first time at City of Saskatoon’s public gallery (now the Remai Modern Art Museum). Isla went on to collaborate multiple times with Sir Anthony Caro, regarded as one of Britain’s greatest sculptors, before returning in Edmonton to mentor new artists at the University of Alberta.

In 2002, she received an Award for Excellence from the AUArts and in 2013 was inducted into Edmonton’s Cultural Hall of Fame in Edmonton. Unlike other steel sculptors of her generation from the region, Burns found inspiration in organic and botanical forms as well as architecture. Her large-scale public sculpture - Caravel, 1992 - can be found across the street in front of city hall.

Burns’ sculptures are found in numerous private and public collections and has been shown in well over 30 exhibitions, across Canada in Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Sault Saint Marie and Ottawa, and globally in the US, UK, Spain and Greece. The AGA is honoured to have her work in our Collection, including Oblation #1 which is currently on view in AGA100: Act 1 Earth to Eternity.

We remember Isla Burns' legacy and offer our condolences to her family and friends.