When I walked into Eleanor Milne`s Glebe home I was confronted with a diminutive woman in a surgical mask and a belt sander in her hand working on a ten foot tall wooden sculpture. A quick tour of her house amazed me as I began to realize that every mode of visual art in the place was a testament to her talents.
We followed up with a second shoot on Parliament Hill. When we stood in the Foyer of the House of Commons and I asked her which of the various stained glass pieces, sculptures and stone carvings were hers. She replied…All of them. I stopped myself from saying I figured these were all done a hundred years ago…though knowing Eleanor, she would have laughed.
Eleanor Milne is known for her work as the first female Dominion Sculptor of Canada, a position that she held from 1961 until her retirement in 1993. She created literally thousands of works on Parliament Hill during that time.
In the ensuing years we had long chats about her work and I enjoyed introducing her to the world of digital imagery which, of course, she leapt into with fervor.
I learned a year later that she had passed away and I was sad to have missed the funeral. A few months passed and I was called by Brian McGarry of the McGarry Funeral home on Gladstone. He asked if I could come over for a quick shot of an event involving some stained glass she had done. As I walking into the room…there was Eleanor, sitting in a chair. I walked up to the two of them and exclaimed…Brian, you do incredible work. They both looked at me like I was insane, until I told them I heard she had passed months before….We all had a good laugh.