British 1925-1997 

Myfanwy Spencer Pavelic and Robin Skelton at the Inaugural Limners Exhibition ca. 1972
Image courtesy of the University of Victoria Special Collections

Robin Skelton chose Victoria because “it was at its beginnings. There was much to be done. And I thought I could start things.”¹  In 1963 he was appointed as an English Professor at the University of Victoria and helped establish the Creative Writing department. Skelton wrote prolifically on art via a weekly art criticism column in the Victoria Daily Times and in his own international literary quarterly the Malahat Review. Outside of writing, Skelton made collages through the 60s, which often dealt with archetypal themes of birth, sex, and death. He and his wife Sylvia established a tight-knit artistic community in Victoria holding regular Thursday night “happenings” at their home in Oak Bay, and hosting literary events at the newly opened Ivy’s Bookshop and Munro’s Books.

¹ Robin Skelton, The Memoirs of a Literary Blockhead, 1988

The Hot Line c. 1956-1968
Collage on paper
21.5 x 12.5
University of Victoria Special Collections, Robin Skelton fonds, SC114 Acc.#1991-093, 1.1