Eve Apostoll was born Evanthia Apostoll in Detroit, Michigan of a Greek/Albanian father and Swedish/American mother. Her formative years were spent in the Royal Oak area of Detroit.

Apostoll studied drama at Michigan State College from 1949 to 1951 and at Wayne State University in 1952. From theatre, she switched to Fine Arts and attended the Society of Arts and Crafts School at Cranbrook, Michigan from 1954 to 1958. Between 1952 and 1959, Apostoll attended and graduated from the Detroit police academy, joining the Dearborn, Michigan police department as a policewoman in the detective bureau, dealing with crimes committed by and against women.

In 1959 Apostoll married Ian Turnbull, a military musician with the Canadian Armed Forces. She moved to Canada in 1960 as a landed immigrant and for several years taught in northern Ontario communities. In 1963, she moved to London, Ontario with her husband, where she taught art classes organized by the London Public Utilities Commission, the Ontario Department of Education, and Fanshawe College, in addition to teaching privately in her own studio.

Between 1968 and 1969, Apostoll travelled in Europe and painted in England, Italy, and Greece. She spent a complete year in a studio in Athens, Greece painting, drawing, and exhibiting at the Diogenes Gallery.

After Apostoll returned to Canada, her husband was transferred by the military, first
to New Brunswick, and then to Ottawa, Ontario where she joined him in 1972. They returned to London, Ontario upon her husband’s retirement in 1976.

Apostoll’s first solo exhibition was held at the Raven Gallery in Detroit, Michigan in 1964. This was followed by exhibitions at the London Art Gallery (1965), the Sobot Gallery, Toronto (1967), The Penell Gallery, Toronto (1969), and the Art Gallery, St. Thomas-Elgin, Ontario (1977). She participated in numerous group exhibitions across Canada and is represented in many private and corporate collections.

Eve Apostoll passed away in 1995.

Biography by Ian Turnbull

SOURCES

Flanagan, April. “A Retrospective Celebration of Eve Apostoll.” Scene Magazine (September 18, 1996): p.7.

Turnbull, Ian. Eve Apostoll (1931-1995): A Short Biography. 2000.