Sask. trailblazer Lyn Goldman dies after establishing major award for Canadian artists
The former broadcaster was 93. Her red lipstick and devotion to the arts were legendary
Marilyn ‘Lyn’ Goldman is remembered for her colourful personality, for empowering other women, and for championing the arts and artists.
Just days before her death in Regina on Jan. 13, she launched the $50,000 Thorn Prize for artists, in honour of her late brother Anthony.
She said she was inspired to create the award by seeing him struggle for artistic recognition.
“I would like to do something for up-and-coming artists that gives them a relief period and something to strive for,” Goldman said in a recent interview with Saskatchewan Weekend host Shauna Powers.
When asked why she formed the awards now, more than a decade after her brother’s death, she simply said, “Because I'm 93, and it's time for that to happen.”
The Thorn Prize will be given out every other year to support an artist through a “self-directed period of exploration,” which includes travel and living expenses, as well as a solo exhibition at the Mackenzie Art Gallery in Regina.
Establishing the award was only the last of a long line of services she gave to the community, said her longtime friend and former neighbour Susan Swedberg-Kohli, who’s writing a book about Goldman.
“A feeling I had immediately [is] that a light had gone out in the city of Regina,” Swedberg-Kohli said.
Her friend was a joyful person who "always wore red lipstick and enjoyed drinking martinis on her porch," she said.
“She liked to drink, and she liked to smoke, and she liked to have fun.”
Goldman was a travel writer and spent time in broadcasting in Regina, Toronto, and Los Angeles, and was instrumental in helping found the University of Regina's School of Journalism. She spent many years working as a freelance writer and broadcaster for various outlets, including the CBC, CKCK, and CJTR Community Radio.
Working in the 1950s in the broadcast industry, Goldman had to deal with the challenges of sexism and misogyny, which "was just considered part of the game,” Swedberg-Kohli said.
“By becoming one of the boys, she let them know that she wasn’t necessarily going to put up with that stuff that they had been used to.”
Having personally experienced gender discrimination throughout her career, Goldman co-founded the Regina Women's Network, which allows professionals in the city to connect, network and support one another.
“She was a trailblazer when it came to women's rights,” Swedberg-Kohli said.
Goldman served as an associate professor at the U of R, where her career included roles in public relations, teaching and administration before she retired in 1989. At the age of 83, she received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the U of R in recognition of her accomplishments.
In the year before her death, Goldman and Swedberg-Kohli collaborated on an upcoming book about the chapters of her life. Swedberg-Kohli said she hopes it will capture her friend’s spirit.
The inaugural exhibition for the Thorn Prize is scheduled to open at the MacKenzie Art Gallery in 2027.
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With files from Shauna Powers