Barbara "Ann" Kipling-Epp

Friends and colleagues mourn the passing of Ann Kipling, one of Canada’s most esteemed and original senior artists. Ann was born and raised in Victoria, the beloved only child of R.T. “Kip” Kipling and Jesse Murray Kipling (nee Stewart). She was always an artist, pursuing drawing and painting studies at Victoria High School and independently with Jan Zach and Herbert Siebner.  Ann formalized her art education at the Vancouver School of Art, 1955-1960, from which she graduated with honours and a record-breaking three scholarships. By that time, she had made two significant choices: to make drawing her principal means of expression and to live with the ceramic sculptor Leonhard Epp, who would be her life partner for 60 years.

Ann and Leonhard carved out a counter-culture lifestyle in North Vancouver, Sunshine Falls and Richmond before moving to the Okanagan, eventually settling on a rural property near the town of Falkland. There, Ann focused primarily on the landscape, evolving an utterly distinctive style of mark-making. Despite two significant hurdles, working exclusively on paper and living at a distance from Vancouver and other cultural centres, she exhibited widely and won many honours and awards. Her work has been collected by major public institutions across the country. In 2004, she won the inaugural Audain Prize for lifetime achievement in the visual arts.

Ann was predeceased by her parents and her husband Leonhard. She spent her final two years in a light-filled apartment in Vernon. Huge thanks go to her care aide Consuelo, the staff at The Victorian, and the generous friends who did so much for her: Daniel, Sandra, Don, and Tanneke. A memorial gathering is planned for Wednesday, October 18, 2023 at the Kelowna Art Gallery, 5-7 pm.