{{short description|Canadian sculptor (1916-2004)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Elza Mayhew | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Elza Edith Lovitt | birth_date = {{birth date|1916|01|19}} | birth_place = Victoria, British Columbia | death_date = {{death date and age|2004|01|11|1916|01|19|mf=y}} | death_place = Victoria, British Columbia | nationality = | spouse = Charles Alan Mayhew (d. 1943) | education = BA from the University of British Columbia in 1937 and a MFA from the University of Oregon in 1963 | awards = | known_for = sculptor }}

'''Elza Edith Mayhew''' {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|RCA|size=100%}} (January 19, 1916 &ndash; January 11, 2004) was a Canadian sculptor who worked mainly in bronze.<ref name=who/><ref name=obit/>

==Life== The daughter of Alice Bordman and George Lovitt, She was born '''Elza Edith Lovitt''' in Victoria, British Columbia. Mayhew received a BA from the University of British Columbia in 1937 and a MFA from the University of Oregon in 1963. From 1955 to 1958, she studied with Jan Zach, a Czech-born sculptor based in Oregon.<ref name=who>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6J8xDWDqOkEC&pg=PA370 |title=The International Who's Who of Women 2002 |page=370 |last=Sleeman |first=Elizabeth |year=2001 |isbn=1857431227}}</ref>

In 1938, she married Charles Alan Mayhew, the son of Robert Mayhew; the couple had two children. He died in June 1943 when his plane went down during a hurricane while he was serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force.<ref name=uvic/><ref>{{CWGC|id=1815549|name=Mayhew, Charles Alan|access-date=18 November 2024}}</ref>

In later life, Mayhew suffered from brain damage brought on by styrene poisoning from the styrofoam moulds that she used during the sculpting process.<ref name=uvic>{{cite web |url=http://uvac.uvic.ca/gallery/spreitz/biography/elza-mayhew/ |title=Elza Mayhew (1916-2004) |publisher=University of Victoria}}</ref> She died at the Lodge at Broadmead in Victoria at the age of 87.<ref name=obit>{{cite news |url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/timescolonist/obituary.aspx?n=elza-mayhew&pid=157446026 |title=Eliza Mayhew |newspaper=The Times Colonist |date=January 15, 2004}}</ref>

Her former studio in Victoria has been designated as a heritage building by the city of Victoria.<ref name=heritage/>

== Work == Mayhew, who produced her sculptures from the mid-1950s to the 1980s, is best known for her large-scale abstract bronze sculptures which were mainly cast at a foundry in Eugene, Oregon.<ref name=uvic/> She produced commissioned works for international events such as Expo 67, Expo 86 and an international trade fair in Tokyo, as well as for public institutions such as the Bank of Canada, the University of Victoria,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mercurio.ca/Limners---Company.html |title=Limners and Company |publisher=Mercurio Art}}</ref> the Canadian National Capital Commission and the Royal British Columbia Museum.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://collection.legacy.uvic.ca/index.php?artist_id=343&artist_action=info |title=Mayhew, Elza 1916-2004 RCA |publisher=University of Victoria}}</ref>

Colin Graham of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria described her sculptures as "modern in concept yet having affinities with the past, with totemic poles, Mayan stelae, Egyptian stone sculpture, and other hieratic forms".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.winchestergalleriesltd.com/artists/mayhew/2009/index.php |title=Elza Mayhew (1916 – 2004) |publisher=Winchester Galleries |access-date=2016-03-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403114735/http://www.winchestergalleriesltd.com/artists/mayhew/2009/index.php |archive-date=2016-04-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Awards and service== In 1962, she received the Otto Beit Medal from the Royal Society of British Sculptors. In 1964, with Harold Town, she represented Canada at the Venice Biennale.<ref>{{cite web |title=Venice Biennale, 1964 |url=http://www.gallery.ca/venice/80.htm |publisher=National Gallery of Canada |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131013125245/http://www.gallery.ca/venice/80.htm |access-date=2021-05-11|archive-date=2013-10-13 }}</ref> She served on the board of directors for the International Sculpture Center in Kansas from 1968 to 1979.<ref name=uvic/> She was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.<ref name=heritage>{{cite web |url=http://www.victoriaheritagefoundation.ca/HReg/JamesB/StLawrence330.html |title=330 St Lawrence Street |work=Heritage Register, James Bay |publisher=Victoria Heritage Foundation}}</ref>

Mayhew was the subject of the 1985 film ''Time-Markers: The Sculpture of Elza Mayhew''.<ref name=uvic/>

==Collections== Her work is included in the collections of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the National Gallery of Canada, Simon Fraser University and the University of Victoria.<ref name=heritage/> Her sculpture ''Column of the Sea'' is located at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in Charlottetown.<ref name=uvic/>

== References == {{reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayhew, Elza}} Category:1916 births Category:2004 deaths Category:Artists from Victoria, British Columbia Category:Canadian women sculptors Category:University of British Columbia alumni Category:University of Oregon alumni Category:Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Category:Canadian contemporary artists