It is with deep sadness that we mourn the passing of Gathie Falk, one of Canada’s most inventive and beloved artists, whose work and spirit left an enduring mark on generations of artists and audiences. Gathie died in Vancouver on Dec. 22, 2025, at the age of 97.

Across a career spanning more than six decades, Gathie’s practice embraced painting, ceramics, installation, performance, and writing, always returning to the quiet power of everyday things. Her iconic apples, cabbages, shoes, and domestic forms reflected a lifelong commitment to observation, care, and making — a joyful attentiveness to the world as it is lived.

At Figure 1, we were deeply honoured to publish two books with Gathie: Apples, etc., her candid and lyrical memoir written with Robin Laurence, and Gathie Falk: Revelations, a co-publication with the McMichael Canadian Art Collection celebrating the breadth of her extraordinary practice. 

In Apples, etc., she reflected on receiving the Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in 2013, noting that the honour did not signal an ending. “This does not feel like the end of my story,” she wrote, explaining that despite suggestions she might finally rest, there was still “too much to do: too many more things popping into my head, demanding to be seen.” That restless curiosity remained central to who she was.

Gathie Falk’s work affirmed the dignity of labour, the beauty of repetition, and the quiet wonder of ordinary life. Her generosity, humour, and unwavering commitment to art will be profoundly missed, and her legacy will continue to resonate.