Barbara Elizabeth Mercer 1933 - 2005

Author, Poet, Visual Artist

Barbara Mercer was born in Galt/Cambridge, Ontario. In 1950, she moved to Toronto and worked for Centre Stage Theatre as a scenic artist and set/costume designer. She went on to study art in Toronto, New York, and San Francisco.

Barbara mostly painted still life and portraits. Her paintings have been described as dream-like. She is known for her vivid brilliant colours and sharply defined features.

As a visual artist, her paintings were included in public, corporate, and private collections internationally. She was also elected to the Canadian Portrait Academy.

In 2003, her My Canadian Icons: Nine Portraits In the shape of a Diamond was chosen as Canadian representative at the Biennale Internatzionale in Florence, Italy. She was very honoured to be showing her work at the age of 70, and describes her participation as “one of the most joyous experiences of her life as an artist.”

The following year she became a new member of the historic Arts & Letters Club in Toronto.

From a very early age she was writing poetry. Her first book of poems was published in 2004. She went on to write 13 books of poetry, many of them inspired by Cabbagetown: Echos from Cabbagetown, Charm of Cabbagetown, Concerto for Cabbagetown, etc.

Another highlight of her career was that she was invited in 2008 to launch her book Secrets at the International Literary Festival in Oslo, Norway.

Over the years she worked at CBC Television, TVOntario, the St. Lawrence Centre for the Performing Arts, the Canadian Opera Company, the National Ballet of Canada, and numerous theatre groups.

She was married to Gerry Moses, an official war photographer, the art director for The Imperial Oil Review and a prominent figure on the Toronto art scene. Moses died in 1994.

Barbara was a resident of Cabbagetown from the early 1990s until her death of pancreatic cancer in 2019.