Renowned Wellesley bronze sculptor with connection to Stratford Festival appointed to Order of Canada

Wellesley bronze sculptor Ruth Abernethy, who got her start in bronze sculpting with a commission for the Stratford Festival, will be appointed as a member of the Order of Canada at a ceremony in Ottawa later this year. Contributed photo

Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

With her extended family from across the province and in the U.S. once again gathered at her rural Wellesley home over the holiday season, renowned bronze sculptor Ruth Abernethy had a lot more to celebrate this year than Christmas and New Year’s.

In October, Abernethy received a phone call out of the blue from the governor general of Canada’s office. The staffer on the other end of the line told the sculptor, known across the country and beyond for her work memorializing in bronze important Canadians from the past and other historical figures from around the world, that she would be appointed as a member of the Order of Canada as part of the 2024 cohort.

“It’s a real honour and, to be fair, it’s lovely to share the news at last because we were notified in October, and we were sort of sworn to silence. I wasn’t terribly good at that,” Abernethy said. “But there weren’t that many people to tell. I have a few repeat clients who waited on news and mostly it was just a mention to family, but lovely to share that news at last and indeed an honour.

“ … To be honest, it sounds a bit grand, but that’s not wrong. I tend to just take forward steps and I’m not one to really look back. I think the career is something you end up with, not something you hunt down.”

For more than three decades, Abernethy has been commissioned to memorialize in bronze Canadians of note who have made an outsized impact well beyond their home communities. From Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister John A. Macdonald to Oscar Peterson and Margaret Atwood, Abernathy’s incredibly lifelike sculptures give visitors to and residents of villages, towns and cities from coast to coast a reason to pause and consider their lasting legacies, good and bad.

While working in the prop department for the Stratford Festival in the 1990s, Abernethy started her career as a bronze sculptor with the commission of “Raising the Tent,” a sculpture that sits outside the Festival Theatre in Upper Queen’s Park. Since then, she has carved and cast numerous sculptures of Canadians wearing the Order of Canada pin on their lapels.

Now, she can consider herself as worthy of being among their ranks.

“I’m working with people who are a humbling lot,” Abernethy said. “They are overachievers in their own right … and they are hoping I can portray Canadians whom they admire. The company I keep either theoretically as portrait subjects or collaborate with in the doing are a pretty humbling lot of overachievers. The people I’m sculpting and the people that I’m talking to; you meet them at a reception here or there and there’s usually a couple of pins in the crowd.

“It’s a bit of an adjustment to imagine that I’m on the same guest list now. In a curious way, it is a good fit in that I was lucky enough to have family and acquaintances across the country. … When you go from one region of Canada to the other, you always represent from that which you come. … I have felt that over travels for a lifetime and if I’m at an international conference or I’m in Europe, people are kind of knocked sideways by the portfolio and I do kind of represent Canada. … You carry that with you, and it really is an honour to have that recognized in any other way beyond my own musings.”

Last month, Canadian Governor General Mary Simon announced 88 new appointments to the Order of Canada, including one companion, 24 officers and 63 members. Three appointments are promotions within the order.

The Order of Canada is the cornerstone of the Canadian Honours System. Thanks to nominators across the country, it has celebrated the outstanding achievements and wide-ranging contributions of over 8,000 people since its creation in 1967.

“Members of the Order of Canada are builders of hope for a better future,” Simon said in a press release. “Each in their own way, they broaden the realm of possibilities and inspire others to continue pushing its boundaries. Thank you for your perseverance, fearless leadership and visionary spirit, and welcome to the Order of Canada.”

Though a date for the official Order of Canada appointment ceremony has not yet been announced, Abernethy says she plans to travel to Ottawa to receive the honour in person.