Unity Bainbridge  OBC, VSA
1916 - ? in West Vancouver, BC
An amateur ethnologist and painter, Bainbridge studied at the Vancouver School of Art and graduated in 1936. During the 1930s she travelled alone through the interior of British Columbia, up and down the coast and across to Vancouver Island for the sole purpose of painting the native peoples in their own environment. Her subjects include squatters' shacks, Japanese and native villages, and portraits. She published two books: The Lullaby of Lillooet and Songs of Seton. An art teacher and author, Bainbridge received the Order of British Columbia in 1993 and a Queen's Jubilee medal. She lives in West Vancouver, British Columbia.
http://50svanartscene.blogspot.com/2008/04/artists-donate-work-for-unheralded-bc.html  
http://www.westbridge-fineart.com/auctions/bio.php?artistID=344
http://www.nanaimoartscouncil.ca/umbrella/NACJUL08.pdf

Elisabeth Hopkins (Hopy)
1894 in Gilkicker, England - 1991 on Saltspring Island, BC
Elisabeth M. Hopkins immigrated to Canada in 1954. She began painting early in childhood and her paintings remained a naive or primitive style. Her career began late in her life at 81, when a small painting was bought for $5 at a local arts and crafts fair. Soon after, Xisa Huang, the director of a Vancouver art gallery, visited Hopkins and purchased all of her paintings. She exhibited in the 1970s and 80s at the Bau Xi Galleries (Toronto and Vancouver), and her children's book "The Painted Cougar" was published in 1977 by Talon Books. At the age of 88 she was the subject of a National Film Board documentary entitled, "Hoppy: A Portrait of Elisabeth Hopkins" in which she is interviewed while painting.
From: Canadian Women Aritsts: Artist Database
http://cwahi.concordia.ca/sources/artists/displayArtist.php?ID_artist=179
She admitted she’d been a “naughty outspoken child”, her rebellion held down by God. She grew into a kind but querulous spinster who only gave into the urge to paint when her wild English garden became too much for her. She hated being called “Canada’s Grandma Moses”.
From: "The Broad Canvas" by Linda Rogers http://www.sononis.com/book060.stm
http://www.library.ubc.ca/spcoll/AZ/PDF/H/Hopkins_Elisabeth_Margaret.pdf

Phyllis Webb
1927 in Victoria - resides on Salt Spring Island, BC
A life-long poetess, Phyllis Webb in her 60’s became a painter - an easy transition, starting with collages. In her paintings her palette was like full of light with little evidence of the darkness of her depression. There is a feeling of the possibilities for joy, the potential in us for being uplifted. Before her time, Phyllis painted with exuberance a whirlpool with the feminine as the goddess, the swirling centre. In 1999 she suddenly stopped smoking. And painting.
http://www.mothertonguepublishing.com/#/phylliswebb/4526909392
See too: The Broad Canvas by Linda Rogers http://www.sononis.com/book060.stm

Edythe Hembroff-Schleicher
Edythe Hembroff-Schleicher was a writer and artist from Victoria, B.C. She is the author of two books on her friend Emily Carr: "A Portrait of Emily Carr" and "Emily Carr, the Untold Story". Hembroff-Schleicher was also Emily Carr's only sketching partner. Written as a friendly appreciation of the character of Emily Carr rather than her life "A Portrait of Emily Carr" (1969), it contains edited versions of 20 letters written by Carr to her friend. The University of Victoria provides Edythe Hembroff-Schleicher scholarships to undergraduate or graduate female students registered in pre-medicine disciplines.
From: http://www.abcbookworld.com/view_author.php?id=7951
Her painting "Mrs. Woo Waiting For Tea" is a lovely portrait of Carr's pet monkey:
http://collection.aggv.bc.ca/explore/12623