Gathie Falk was born in 1928 in Manitoba, Canada, the daughter of Russian Mennonite parents. She began working in warehouses and packing plants at the age of sixteen, while completing her education at night, and came to Vancouver, Canada in 1947 where she trained and worked as an elementary school teacher.

In the 1950s, Falk began taking painting courses, subsequently studying pottery and sculpture at the University of British Columbia under the tutelage of local artist Glenn Lewis. In 1968, Gathie Falk was introduced to performance art through workshops given by American dancer Deborah Hay. By 1976, she had created fifteen meticulous performances, as well as many of her signature sculptural works including Home Environment, Herd, Veneration of the White Collar Worker, Single Men’s Shoes, and the Fruit Piles.

After many years of being a sculptor and performance artist, Falk returned to painting for nearly two decades, producing the renowned exhibitions Pieces of Water, Night Skies, and Cement. Since the 1990s, she has skillfully alternated between two- and three-dimensional work, creating her most significant papier-mâché and bronze works, and continuing her evocative exploration of paint.

In addition to over 50 solo exhibitions, Gathie Falk has received many awards, including the Gershon Iskowitz Prize (1990), Order of Canada (1997), Order of British Columbia (2002), Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts (2003), Viva Award for Lifetime Achievement (2012), and the Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts (2013).

Falk has been the subject of two retrospective exhibitions at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1985 and 2000 (traveling to the National Gallery of Canada, Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and Musée des Beaux Arts de Montréal). Her works are included in numerous private and public collections, including the Vancouver Art Gallery, National Gallery of Canada, Glenbow Art Gallery, McMichael Canadian Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, and many more.

Gathie Falk lives and works in Vancouver.