Kaija Sanelma Harris

Obituary: Kaija Sanelma Harris

December 20, 1939 – August 20, 2022

On August 27th, 2022, Kaija Sanelma Harris, of Saskatoon, passed away at the age of 82.

Kaija had an education in textiles in Finland and apprenticed in Iceland. Circumstances brought her to Saskatoon in 1973. She was smitten with the landscape in Saskatchewan, and her love for the prairies never faltered. While she was a textile artist, the true medium of her work was colour; the colour of the ground, the light falling on grasses, the moods of the sky, the sun, and the undulations of the prairies permeated her weavings. 

One of Kaija’s greatest professional achievements occurred in the mid 1980’s, when she was one of a select group of Canadian artists commissioned to create site-specific works for the Toronto Dominion headquarters, TD Centre, in Toronto. Her work was featured in many traveling exhibitions, and her pieces reside in a number of prestigious Canadian art collections. 

During her career, Kaija was a prominent figure in the Saskatchewan craft community. She taught courses on weaving and was engaged in regular dialogue with other artisans. Kaija contributed greatly to the Saskatchewan Craft Council as a volunteer. She received many awards for her work in Saskatchewan and beyond, and in 2008 she received the SCC’s Lifetime Honorary Member Award.  Regrettably, her health forced an early retirement from weaving in 2008.

Kaija lived her life the way she practiced her art form: quietly, but with dignity and loyalty. She is greatly missed by devoted friends and family.

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Kaija Sanelma Harris was a Finnish-born Saskatchewan-based textile artist, and a Lifetime Honorary Member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council. Kaija’s weavings have been exhibited in group and solo shows, and included in prestigious collections on a National and International scale. Over the years, Kaija took part in 14 Dimensions juried competitions and her participation garnered numerous awards, including four Dimensions’ Premier’s Prizes, five Merit Awards, and numerous merit awards from the Handweavers’ Guild of America. Her remarkable career as one of Canada’s finest textile artists is currently being archived by the SCC in an extensive research project.