25 Facts About Byllee Lang

Evelyn Fay "Byllee" Lang was a Canadian sculptor who spent the last twenty years of her life in Bermuda.

Evelyn Fay "Byllee" Lang was born near Didsbury, Alberta, on 4 December 1908.

Byllee Lang's father was a rancher, and she grew up at ease handling a rifle and riding a horse.

Byllee Lang studied at the Winnipeg School of Art from 1926 to 1930, and paid her way by painting people's pets.

Byllee Lang became interested in sculpture, which was not taught at the WSA at that time.

Byllee Lang therefore moved to the Ontario College of Art in Toronto and studied under Emanuel Hahn.

Byllee Lang gained commissions to make sculptures of the pet dogs of wealthy women in Toronto, and used her savings to travel to Europe.

Byllee Lang's ability was recognized after her return to Winnipeg.

Byllee Lang's work was exhibited in eastern Canada and with the Manitoba Society of Artists.

In 1936 Byllee Lang founded the deMarin School of Sculpture in Winnipeg, where she taught both children and adults.

Byllee Lang was drawing students away from the Winnipeg School of Art, which invited her to join the faculty and move her studio there.

Byllee Lang was an inspiring teacher, and the move proved good for her and for the school.

However, at the end of 1943 the WSA decided that there were not enough students to justify the sculpture class, and Byllee Lang lost her job.

In 1942 Byllee Lang became convenor of the Manitoba Regional Group of the Federation of Canadian Artists.

Byllee Lang worked for a while at the National Film Board in Ottawa.

Byllee Lang made an acclaimed bas-relief called Coal Miner, on the basis of which she was given employment in Montreal by the Canadian National Railway.

In 1945 Byllee Lang moved to Bermuda, which would be her home for the rest of her life.

Byllee Lang rented studio space from Sir Gilbert Cooper and his brother Arthur on the second floor of their department store, and worked for them as a window dresser.

Byllee Lang joined the Bermuda Society of Arts and worked on productions of the Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society, where she helped design and make sets and costumes.

Byllee Lang moved her studio three times, each time teaching racially integrated classes, even though other schools in Bermuda were segregated at the time.

In 1958 Byllee Lang was given a commission to create the reredos for the Anglican Cathedral, which would consist of an altar screen, a statue of Christ and statues of fourteen saints.

Byllee Lang took a break from the stress and went to Mexico.

Byllee Lang returned to Bermuda and continued to work on the reredos, where individual donors paid for two more statutes.

Byllee Lang died on 3 December 1966 of a heart attack following gall bladder surgery, and is buried at St John's Church in Pembroke, Bermuda.

Byllee Lang was skilled in modeling and had the ability to capture the personality of the subjects of her portraits.