A quick look at
The Great Women Portrait Project
The project, which launched on International Women's Day 2023 and enters its 3rd year in March 2025, began with a simple realization by a Canadian mother who'd started painting historic female pioneers for her young daughter.
"I discovered women are hungry for their history," says Jo Napier, the Halifax, Nova Scotia-based portrait artist behind the project, which lets leaders reveal the 'female face' of innovation through art.
"Back then, I was reading bedtime stories to my daughter - Caillou, Curious George, Babar... and recognized those moments as a powerful, teachable time, and I thought it would be great to use a little of that time to tell her about 'great women' of Nova Scotia.
But - after being a journalist for a dozen years in a Nova Scotia newsroom - not a single person came to mind, says Napier.
"I had nothing; no great stories bubbled up."
But she had time, at home, for the first time in years- so she started researching Nova Scotia's pioneering women.
"I went to the downtown Halifax library; left a note for a reference librarian who'd help me with a book I'd done for Harper Collins based on interviews with women tech leaders. It turns out if you leave a note like that - "I want to research the great women of this province. Any leads or suggestions?" - that's catnip for female librarians; I got a list back of 25 women I'd never heard of - all fascinating, accomplished pioneers of this province who'd never made the history books and were totally hidden from my understanding of Nova Scotia's history."
Napier started researching them, painting them and, ultimately. producing a series of "Great Women portrait shows" which she held at The Nova Scotia Archives' Chase Gallery. (After The Royal Bank acquired 'The Nova Scotia Nine' portraits for their national art collection, the Nova Scotia government created a beautiful book about them.)
Men liked the shows, but women, she recalls, "really loved" seeing the portraits, reading the women's stories...the women who came to the portrait shows asked if the shows could tour; could visit schools and universities; could be displayed in public locations.
"They left long notes in the comment books at the back of the gallery and, reading them, I could feel their hunger. I recognized it I think because I had it too.
"All these great women whose faces I'd never seen, whose accomplishments I'd never known. It was such a powerful gender gap in our history, and our consciousness. I wondered what kind of impact that was having on society."
As her daughter grew older, Jo started researching the women who'd pioneered paths in traditionally male-dominated domains like science, tech, engineering, math (STEM), medicine and finance.
That first, large-scale, collection of Great Women portraits now hung in a beautiful boardroom on the Halifax waterfront,. Jo asked Stewart Robinson, Atlantic Canada head of RBC Dominion Securities, if she could hold a meetings in his office's boardroom at Purdy's Wharf.
"I wanted to see if my idea resonated with women...community, government and industry leaders." The idea was this: invite leaders to hang great women's portrait in public and professional spaces - perhaps on October 11th, International Day of the Girl.
Napier was told staff at RBC Dominion Securities preferred to book the "The Nova Scotia Nine" boardroom or meetings because the artwork created an extra dimension in that environment: the women's portraits and stories were conversation starters and shaped the space in a powerful, inclusive-feeling way. (Recent behavioural science shows that hanging pioneering women's portraits can help shape a more inclusive professional landscape.)
If she was going to ask busy women to give her an hour of their time, Napier wanted to give them something meaningful at the end of the meeting: a keepsake that resonated.
So she got a small grant and used it to create for each meeting participant, an individual place setting: packages, each wrapped in a lovely long peony pink ribbon, that contained high-quality prints of some "Great Women portraits"; a beautiful booklet, in simple and clear language, sharing what the portrait project was about; a copy of Invisible Women, a book that captures hard data on how the world is designed for me - and the impact that bias has on women.
"I also wanted to include something whimsical - so it wasn't all...'Here's the project concept. Here's the artwork. Here's the hard data that underscores why it's vital we try and help shape a more inclusive world." She remembered a favorite pin she used to wear that said: "Uppity Women Unite"; Napier went online to order some from a small company in California. On its website, Napier saw she could order 50 pins - and, beside the pins, noticed a picture of a woman - "looking very Sixties mod, in a mini-skirt, wearing the 'Uppity Women Unite' pin. I thought: is she the women who designed this great pin, back in the day?"
In fact, the blond woman wearing the pin, was Poppy Northcutt - according to the pin maker, Poppy was "the first female engineer in NASA’s Mission Control... who went on to fight for equal rights for women."
Napier's journalistic instincts kicked in: "I was in my kitchen, in my pajamas, researching Poppy for more than an hour - such a fascinating person - and decided to send her a message via LinkedIn. My thinking was: I love this project idea - the idea of creating a constellation of women leaders who'd hang portraits of great women.
"But I really wanted a feminist STEM icon as my 'North Star' for the project. When I saw Poppy - wearing my pin - it felt like a sign: here's your North Star."
Poppy Northcutt was the first U.S. woman to join the project.
When they spoke, Northcutt asked how she could help and Napier said she'd like to bring a 30-second video clip to the meetings that inspired women to act.
"Poppy created this 2-minute video that rocked the room. It moved many of the women at those meetings to action. It moved a few - so they told me later - to tears."
The first female-led firm on board with the project was MDW Law, which commissioned a portrait of legal pioneer Frances Fish, the first woman to graduate from Dalhousie Law School. Next, Napier asked a dozen women to join the project; within an hour or so of her ask, 10 signed on. Three of the ten were Dr. Katharina Kieser, QEII gynecologic oncologist, and community health leader Dr. Margaret Casey. The doctors became part of a 4-member group that, collectively, commissioned one of the first Great Woman portraits. (Related story and video clip of installation). And local financial industry leader Anna Hounsell commissioned a portrait for finance industry pioneer Muriel Siebert for her company, Bloom Wealth Inc.
Next, Napier, received a call from Vienna; the woman at the end of the line was Rumina Velshi, then head of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
Velshi had heard about the project, and wanted the Canadian nuclear sector to be part of it. In a collaborative effort, Velshi and 4 other female industry leaders (listed below ***) commissioned an oil painting of Canada’s first female nuclear physicist, Harriet Brooks.
The intent of commissioning the portrait - and displaying Brooks' portrait prints in the boardrooms or main reception areas of 30 largest nuclear corporations - "was to recognize and celebrate," says Velshi, "the remarkable contributions of women in the nuclear industry, and more broadly in STEM, and shine a spotlight on the achievements of women in nuclear, including scientists and engineers."
Next on board: Sanofi Pharmaceuticals.
Alerted to the project by a local medical leader, Sanofi's interest was centred on honouring polio pioneer Leone Farrell with a portrait for their new conference centre and historic gallery.
In Project Year 2, Lockheed Martin Canada joined the project.
commissioning an original Great Woman portrait of Mary Ann Shadd for their Ottawa headquarters, and portrait prints of a various historic female pioneers for their facilities across Canada.
Next, Napier started to carry the project across the Canada-U.S. border by honoring American STEM icons like Glady West and sharing her portrait with U.S. leaders and STEM organizations .
What will the project look like in Year 3?
The project's first sponsor, Parkwood Home Care CEO Lorna MacMillan, commissioned a portrait of nursing pioneer and statistician Florence Nightengale, and more Canadian-based business and community leaders will be invited to join the project in 2025 - with a new focus on securing sponsorship among female CEOs in the U.S., primarily in STEM-related fields.
The project's Great Women print collections (eg Great Women of STEM, Great Women of Canada, and Great Women of Medicine) reflecting portraits already commissioned - and now hanging in public spaces, university libraries and companies across Canada - will continue to expand with the addition of new original portrait commissions.
"Art has always been a powerful tool; the project's portrait art aims to help close a gap in our consciousness: "Everyone who participates shares a similar belief," says Napier, "that we can't afford a gender gap, especially in STEM fields, in our awareness of the value and impact of inclusion; of what 'women's work' in fields like STEM, really means. We need all our talent at the table solving the world's problems. So we're working to educate and inspire; to reveal our hidden STEM history. We want girls and young women, when they think of scientists or inventors or STEM innovators, to see a female face, too."
The what: Project website
The Why: 'Why invite Great Women into the room?'
For more information, these project participants are happy to speak/connect with you:
Jo Napier
(902)209.8300
Rumina Velshi
Frances 'Poppy' Northcutt
Dr. Katharina Kieser
*** The list of 5 female CEOs in Canadian nuclear energy industry who participated in project:
Laurie Swami, President and CEO, Nuclear Waste Management Organization;
Lisa McBride, then President, Women in Nuclear Canada;
Lori Clark, CEO New Brunswick Power;
Rachna Claver, CEO, CANDU Owners Group; and
Rumina Velshi, then head of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
"Why invite Great Women into the Room?" (Great Women Productions promotional piece + research links)
