Elizabeth Wyn Wood

She was made a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (1948) and a member of the Ontario Society of Artists (1929). She was inducted into the Orillia Hall of Fame in 1966.

Together with Alfred Laliberté, Frances Loring, Florence Wyle and Henri Hébert, Wyn Wood was a founding member of the Sculptors' Society of Canada. In 1945, she was a founding member of the Canadian Arts Council (renamed the Canadian Conference of the Arts in 1958). As a Council member, she served as Organizing Secretary (1944–45), Chair of the International Relations Committee (1945–48), and Vice President (1945–48). As chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, she participated in the organization of, and wrote the catalogue foreword for, an exhibition of 74 artists entitled Canadian Women Artists at the Riverside Museum, New York, N.Y. (April 27 – May 18, 1947).

Among her major public works are the Welland-Crowland War Memorial in Chippawa Park, Welland, Ontario, dedicated in 1939, and the 1962 bas-relief sculptures at Toronto Metropolitan University in Toronto.

The Welland Crowland War Memorial designed by Elizabeth Wyn Wood, features 2 heroic figures, Man the Defender and Woman the Giver, set against the Canadian landscape. Planned as part of a regional beautification plan for the lands along the Welland Canal, the memorial was intended to be visible and intelligible to passengers on passing boats. The Welland Crowland War Memorial was unveiled on 2 September 1939.

Wood demonstrated an affinity for sculpture at a young age, using plasticine and clay to create art as a child. From the age of seven to 1917, Wood attended St. Mildred's College in Toronto, Ontario. She returned to Orillia every summer to spend time with her family, and in the wilderness surrounding their summer homes. Wood graduated from Ontario College of Art (OCA) in 1925. While at OCA, Wyn Wood studied under Group of Seven artists Arthur Lismer and J.E.H. MacDonald. She studied sculpture under Emanuel Hahn. In November 1926, Wyn Wood began a two-month placement at the Art Students League of New York, studying under Robert Laurent and Edward McCarton. While in New York she spent time studying Ancient Egyptian art and sculpture.

Elizabeth Winnifred Wood RCA (October 8, 1903 – January 27, 1966), known as Elizabeth Wyn Wood, was a Canadian sculptor and advocate of art education. A notable figure in Canadian sculpture, she is primarily known for her modernist interpretation of the Canadian landscape in her works.

Elizabeth Wyn Wood was born at her family's cottage on Cedar Island, just offshore from Orillia, Ontario, on October 8, 1903. She was the fourth child of Edward Alfred Wood (1860–1915) and Sarah Elizabeth Weafer (1864-1952). There was a ten-year gap between Wyn Wood and her next youngest sister Elmo. She had an older brother named Edward and another older sister named Fern.