Mary Filer (1920-2016) trained as a nurse and an artist and lived a vibrant and intellectually stimulating life creating dazzling pioneer work in 'cool' glass art sculpture in Victoria and Vancouver. During the 1950s, Filer studied under Group of Seven artist Arthur Lismer and painter John Lyman and taught university art. Her involvement with architects and her partnership with Harold Spence-Sales, who started the first School of Urban Planning in Canada at McGill University, led to a honourary doctorate from Simon Fraser University in 1991 and an Allied Arts Silver Medal from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in 1992. Major examples of her sculpture are at SFU Harbour Centre and the Vancouver General Hospital. Her work is in numerous collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Toronto Art Gallery, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.