From 1966 to 1978, Jean Armstrong Brydon offered progressive and thought-provoking discussions as an advice columnist named Elizabeth Thompson in The Globe and Mail.
Now, 60 years after they were first written, those letters are being shared again — this time as part of her artist daughter JoEllen Brydon’s latest multimedia exhibition.
“Elizabeth Thompson Advises” displays more than 20 columns Jean penned throughout those 12 years, alongside bold paintings by JoEllen and other interactive components that bring to life the stories of the letters.
The exhibition is being held at the Art Gallery of Peterborough from Saturday, April 18 to Sunday, June 28, with an opening reception on April 18 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The reception is free to attend and open to the public.
Born and raised on a fruit farm in Beamsville, Ontario as a first-generation Canadian, Jean began her career as a reporter for the London Free Press out of university before working on a government newsletter in Regina.
Later, she worked for The Globe and Mail where she met JoEllen’s father, subsequently forcing her to leave the staff position because of a company policy restricting married couples from working together.
Turning to freelance, Jean took over as the newspaper’s advice columnist under the pseudonym Elizabeth Thompson in 1966. When she stopped dispensing advice in 1978, the paper ended the column.
“She always had an office set up somewhere, but most of the time she was just at the kitchen table writing with her little typewriter,” recalls JoEllen, who lives in Cavan Monaghan Township. “She took her typewriter everywhere — to the cottage and on trips.”
Aside from the allure of having a mother with a secret second identity, JoEllen didn’t think much of her mother’s work while growing up. It was only much later, just years ago, when she was moving her mother into a condo and was given the boxes of old letters and original copies when JoEllen began to think more about her mother’s writing.
“We knew it was there, but I didn’t realize how much she’d saved — she seems to have saved just about every clipping that she ever had,” says JoEllen. “A couple of years later after she died (in 2019), I started pulling it out and looking through it. I was thinking that I work in stories and this is a treasure trove of stories. I love to work in stories that are anecdotal or true stories.”
As JoEllen read through the letters, she began to notice her mother was not only a good writer, but very forward-thinking for the time they were written.
“She was interesting because she was, I believe, the first advice columnist to tackle social issues head on. She wrote fairly progressive answers to a lot of questions. She did anything that women were concerned about.”
The letters explore bra-burning, parenting, and stray husbands, and, in one, Jean encouraged a couple to accept their lesbian daughter. While progressive, Jean’s responses were at times humorous, sarcastic, or witty.
JoEllen recalls her mother wanting to “initiate” certain conversations, so she would encourage friends and family to write to Elizabeth Thompson.
As she read through them, JoEllen says it was “mind-boggling” when she discovered that, in some of the letters, her mother seemed to be referring to her own daughter using the pseudonym “Jenny” and seemed to be “struggling to advise herself.”
“I found so many letters that were to do with things that happened between her and I, and sometimes our family,” JoEllen explains. “Some of them were great, some of them were funny, but it was interesting to find my whole life spread through these 12 years.”
“There was a progression. When I was little, they were sweet, and she was very supportive of this little girl (“Jenny”), and then there was this progression of our difficulties.”
Some of these stories will be visualized through JoEllen’s signature colourful paintings in her exhibit at the Art Gallery of Peterborough. Each one will have a QR code connected to it so audiences can hear the letters read aloud by professional and amateur voice actors.
There will also be two interactive installations where visitors can lift a phone receiver to listen to a whole thread of letters centred on a single topic. While one is a lighthearted thread about lace knitting, which includes a sample a reader sent by mail to Jean, the other is a compilation of letters from readers both against and in support of child spanking.
There will also be four short (minutes-long) films done with cinematographer Ainsley Boyd and JoEllen’s daughters Eva and Georgia Fisher.
“She (Jean) had a good relationship with both of them (Eva and Georgia), so this whole thing has been important to them, too,” says JoEllen.
Throughout the five years it has taken JoEllen to put the exhibition together, which began with a Trent Radio residency in 2021, JoEllen says it was challenging to read some of the letters and be brought back to her relationship with her mother which, at times, was “a bit troubled.”
“It was very difficult, and I did really struggle,” she says, about putting the exhibition together.
“But I admired her, and she knew that I know she was an amazing woman. I’ve been able to put it at peace, putting this work together.”
In addition to the opening reception on April 18, the Art Gallery of Peterborough will be hosting an artist’s talk, an evening of readings with the voice actors, and a catalogue launch and panel discussion throughout the exhibition dates. Visit agp.on.ca for event announcements.
It’s fitting that “Elizabeth Thompson Advises” will be exhibited at the Art Gallery of Peterborough given that Jean spent her retirement volunteering at the gallery.
“She loved the AGP so it’s great that’s it’s happening, and it’s come full circle,” says JoEllen.
