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Formed by Lady Kemp in 1945 at the request of the Art Gallery of Toronto’s (now the Art Gallery of Ontario) President of the Council, the Women’s Committee functioned to foster interest in the Art Gallery of Toronto, promote membership, and host fundraising activities. These high-level functions distinguished the volunteers on the Women’s Committee from the volunteer docents and other volunteer roles within the Gallery. The Committee reported directly to the AGT’s governing council and included some of Toronto’s most prominent women. Over the years, the Committee managed many projects and consisted of the following sub-committees: Education, Art Rental, Membership, Gallery Shop, Grange Restoration, Purchasing, Men’s Luncheon, Exhibitions, House, Communications, and Nominations.

In 1950, the Women’s Committee formed the Junior Women’s Committee to provide mentorship opportunities for younger women. The Junior Women’s Committee provided help to the Women’s Committee with various annual events such as the Men’s Luncheon.

In 1974, the Women’s Committee was renamed the Volunteer Committee and the Junior Women’s Committee renamed the Junior Volunteer Committee in an attempt to be more inclusive and reach out to more members. No other significant changes were made to either Committee otherwise.

The Board of Trustees disbanded both Committees in 1998, and their functions were taken over by departments of paid staff within the Gallery. Another volunteer committee oversaw the work of docents.

The Women's Art Resource Centre (WARC) was a nonprofit, artist run organization founded in 1984 in Toronto, Ontario with the goal of addressing the effacement of women from art history.
Dedicated to advancing contemporary Canadian women's art practice and recognition, WARC's activities included establishing gallery spaces and organizing exhibitions, public discussions and educational programming, professional development opportunities, conferences, the publication of Matriart magazine (1990-[1999?]), a survey of gender representation at the National Gallery of Canada (“Who Counts and Who’s Counting”), as well as the development of a Curatorial Research Library documenting women artists. WARC was dissolved in 2015.

Winsom (1946 - ) is a prominent Jamaican-born Canadian multi-media artist, activist, and arts educator. She studied at the Jamaica School of Art (1965-1968) in Kingston (now the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts), where she majored in mural painting, before moving to Canada in 1969. From 2004 to 2022 Winsom split her time between Canada and Belize, where she established the Winsom Foundation. Since 2022 she has been based in the Toronto area.

Winsom’s work is known for spiritual symbolism, particularly reflecting Yoruba and Arawak traditions, and for the use of multiple media including painting, textiles, sculpture and video. Her practice, especially her work with textiles, is influenced by her travels across Ghana and West Africa, where she worked with master dyers and Adrinka printers. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions across Canada and internationally, including the United States and the Caribbean. Some of her solo exhibitions include Jumping the Big Boa at the Image Factory Gallery in Belize, The Masks We Wear at the Agnes Etherington Art Gallery at Queen’s University in Kingston, and Winsom: I Rise at the AGO. She has also been involved with several theatre and dance productions as a designer and artist, predominantly with the Nightwood Theatre in Toronto.

In addition to her work as an artist, Winsom has made significant contributions to the arts community as a longtime teacher, mentor, and activist. She has taught in schools, workshops, festivals, and other programs to students of all ages. In 1992, Winsom was an instructor and founding member of the Fresh Arts collective, which established programs for Black youth in Toronto to receive mentorship in the arts. She was also a founding member of the Draw It Black Artist’s Collective (DIBAC), a not-for-profit group launched in 2000 that was dedicated to promoting the work of African Canadian artists. Winsom is the Founder and Director of the Winsom Foundation, a Belize-based non-profit organization established in 2007. Through this foundation she supports arts education for young people in the Cristo Rey Village area. Winsom has worked with many education and community-oriented organizations as an educator and artist, including the YMCA and the Jamaica National Commission for UNESCO.

Winsom has been recognized with several awards, including an Honorary Doctorate from the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCAD) in 2015, the Marilyn Lastman Award from the City of Toronto Arts Foundation in 2002, and a Canada Council Visual Arts “A” Grant in 2003. Her long career as an artist and activist has had tremendous impact on subsequent generations of artists.

‘Scottie’ Wilson (1888-1972) was born Louis Freeman in Glasgow, Scotland. He stayed in Canada ca. 1932-1945 and then lived in England. He was associated with Douglas Duncan and the Picture Loan Society chiefly during 1942-1945 and corresponded with Norman Endicott up to the time of his death in London at the age of 84.

Elizabeth Fraser Williamson (1914-2000) was a sculptor and educator who worked as artist in residence for many years at the Guild Inn, Scarborough.

Colette Whiten (Birmingham, England 1945- ) is a Toronto-based sculptor and educator.

painter; b. c. 1817 in London, England, the son of Elizabeth Harlow, an older sister of artist George Henry Harlow. George Harlow White entered the Royal Academy schools, London, on 2 Jan. 1836. On 17 Sept. 1871 he arrived in Quebec and is thought to have settled in Oro Township, Ont. from 1871 to 1876. White was elected a member of the Ontario Society of Artists in March 1873 and continued to exhibit with the society until 1886.

Jules Frederic Wegman was a Swiss-born architect who practiced in Canada at the firm of Darling and Pearson from 1905 until his death in 1931. Born in Neuchatel, he immigrated to Chicago at the age of 10 with his architect father, who undertook his training. At one point he was sent to Jerusalem to measure the city and its buildings, and his drawings were used to reproduce the city at the Worlds’ Fair at St. Louis in 1904. He spent several years at the Chicago firm of D.H. Burnham before moving to Toronto to join Darling and Pearson, where he became a partner in 1924. He worked on the Sun Life Building in Montreal, the North Toronto Station at Yonge and Summerhill, and the 1925 expansion of the Art Gallery of Toronto. He spoke at least four languages fluently and traveled widely, collecting photographs and drawings of architectural details. In 1911 he joined the Arts and Letters Club and lunched there regularly. In 1912 he was Chairman of the Toronto Chapter of the Ontario Association of Architects and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada shortly before his death.