Heliconian Club
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| Formation | 1909 |
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| Purpose | Social |
| Headquarters | Helconian Hall |
| Location |
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| Coordinates | 43°40′19″N 79°23′36″W / 43.671822°N 79.393384°WCoordinates: 43°40′19″N 79°23′36″W / 43.671822°N 79.393384°W |
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Region
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Toronto |
| Website | heliconianclub |
The Heliconian Club of Toronto is an association of women involved in the arts and letters based in Toronto, Canada.
Women were excluded from clubs such as The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto, founded in 1908 as an association of musicians, artists, writers and architects. In response, the Heliconian Club was founded in 1909. At first members were professional female musicians, writers, painters and actors. Later it was opened to other occupations related to the humanities such as dance, sculpture and architecture. The name "Heliconian Club" comes from Mount Helicon, the abode of the muses.
Mary Hewitt Smart, who taught singing at the Toronto Conservatory of Music, arranged the first meeting on 20 January 1909 and was elected first president of the club. Executive members included the professional artists Estelle Kerr, Dorothy Stevens, Mabel Cawthra, Marion Long, Elizabeth McGillivray Knowles, Rody Kenny Courtice, Isabel McLaughlin and Kathleen Daly Pepper.Lorrie Dunington-Grubb, co-founder with her husband of Sheridan Nurseries, was another active member of the Heliconian Club. She was president of the Women's Art Association of Canada from 1925 to 1930.
Membership was restricted to women and was by invitation only, but the club was open to most women who had become distinguished is activities such as painting, journalism, writing, music and drama. The club held concerts and social events, held exhibitions and arranged art lessons. In 1916 the club exhibited landscape paintings by Tom Thomson, a precursor of the Group of Seven, drawing an enthusiastic review from Estelle Kerr.
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