By Tracy Weaver
with photography by Bernard Clark
It’s a cold, crisp winter morning, and the sun is pouring into the main living area of Nancy Steele’s Wolfe Island home. Her beloved Golden Mountain (Bernese) Doodle, Matilda (Tilly), is sprawled on her daybed, her head hanging intentionally over the side onto the floor, as dogs endearingly do. She saunters over every few moments for hugs, which are willingly offered.
A self-described plein air artist, teacher, learner and jeweller, Nancy reflects on her life with great intention — just as she approaches her art.
Nancy was born in Toronto’s North York area, the middle of four children. Her father was an aeronautical engineer who worked as a young man in the design department for the Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow. He passed a love for sports along to his children — and grandchildren, as Nancy’s nephew is Olympic triathlon champion Simon Whitfield — and his favourite activity was gliding, which took him to world competition.
“We were glider brats,” she recalls with fond enthusiasm. During her dad’s local gliding competitions, her mom would pile the kids in the car, pull the glider trailer behind and follow along. “We would stop occasionally and phone back to the headquarters with a collect call. They would tell us if my dad was still up, whether he had landed. When he came down, we had to go pick him up. . . .
