Dean, Ankaret Helen

We are very sad to announce the passing of Ankaret Helen Dean, beloved sister, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, innovative fibre artist, and inspiring teacher, on September 27, 2026.

Ankaret was born on July 26, 1932, in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, daughter of John Arthur Chetwynd-Talbot and the former Helen Mary Townsend. She leaves her sister Susan Thomson, her children Joanna Dean (David Wilson), Pippa Dean-Veerman, (Keith Veerman), Louise Moody and Anthony Dean (Ann Anderson), grandchildren Jonathon Moody, Jasmine Georget, Amanda Wilson, Adam Moody, Matthew Pedley, Lucas Wilson, Simon Moody, Basil Veerman, Marlow Wilson, Blake Veerman, Sarah Dean and John Dean, and 16 great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her husband, John Orcheston Dean, son-in-law Russell Pedley, and brother, John Edward Chetwyn-Talbot.

Ankaret remembers an idyllic childhood in wartime England, keeping goats and riding ponies on Dartmoor. She attended St. Swithun’s School, where she was “noisy and exuberant” and loved lacrosse. (In 2025, she was thrilled to see that the school was still using a wooden letter box she had given them in 1947.) Her father, who did not believe in educating girls, took her out of school early and enlisted her as an apprentice beekeeper. Instead of settling down in England, she trained as a radiographer at Middlesex Hospital, and set out to travel the world. She didn’t get far: she met John Dean on the boat to Canada, married a year later, and raised a family beside Lake Ontario in Oakville. In 1992 they moved to High Valley Farm near McDonald’s Corners. She lived in the Corners until 2026: years that Ankaret remembered as the happiest ones of her life.

She taught herself to spin, starting with the undercoat of her Samoyed dog (and the Oakville Weavers became the Oakville Weavers and Spinners). Then she learned and began to teach macrame. Three years studying textiles at the Sheridan School of Design (1972-1975) changed her life. “I learned to see things differently, to draw, to use colour and appreciate good design.” She began to teach weaving at Sheridan, breaking new ground by focusing on handwoven clothing.

Ankaret went on to have tremendous impact as a fibre artist. Her creations spanned the worlds of craft and art, moving beyond mere technique to express her own voice. Her woven bedspreads were inspired by Lake Ontario, her cathedral banners gave contemporary expression to the church year, and her aerial installations suggested a life beyond. She always loved color, but she turned early to natural dyes and over time came to focus on natural materials, leading students into bogs and ditches to gather native willow, cedar and ash bark, grapevines, cattails and reeds. She played with traditional basketry, creating a coracle and a bee skep, and spinning bedbug traps and fish traps into art forms. Birds were an ongoing theme; her final unrealised project was to be an exhibit of basketry birds.

She inspired generations of weavers and basket makers, giving workshops at elementary schools and community centres, summer classes at Haliburton School of the Arts, and courses at such institutions as the Royal Ontario Museum and Harbourfront. She travelled to Sweden and Japan, sharing her knowledge while learning new techniques and inspiring others. She worked in India and Bangladesh with CESO, and was grateful to have seen the world “as a volunteer rather than a tourist.” She wrote a series of articles about crafts for Chatelaine (1976-1981), and a weekly column for the Toronto Star (1981-1986), and published a newsletter Basketry Express (1985-2000), a blog, Threads (2017-2026), and several books.

Much of her work was collaborative public art: she brought play into the practice and empowered others to consider themselves artists. In 1995 she co-founded McDonalds Corners and Elphin Recreation and Arts (MERA), which continues to be a hub of creativity and community. There she worked with others to create a grapevine Minotaur, a living willow, and thyme labyrinth, and large public murals, and organise a children’s summer school. In 2017, in her mid-80s, she opened Lanark Highlands Basketry Museum in an old stable. (See https://www.lanarkhighlandsbasketrymuseum.ca/) Her collection of 300 baskets found a new home at the Middleville Museum in 2026.

She was also a beekeeper, master gardener, farmer (Muscovy ducks, Romney sheep), musician (flamenco guitar, ukelele and recorder). Always adventurous, Ankaret took up paddleboarding in her 90s.

We will miss her infectious energy, creativity and boundless curiosity.

Thank you to Glynnis Bruschett Scrafano for making it possible for Ankaret to remain home in the Corners as long as she did, to the kind staff at Lanark Lifestyles, and her health care team.

Donations in Ankaret’s memory can be made to MERA and Middleville Museum.

Her motto: busy hands, happy heart.

A celebration of life will be held at the McDonalds Corner Agricultural Hall on October 24, 2026 from 6 PM. Please wear bright colours, and bring your favourite memories of Ankaret.