Mina Mabel Forsyth (nee McDonald) was born in Estevan, Saskatchewan, on 25 September 1920. She completed her high school by correspondence courses while working at the Bank of Montreal; and went on to take both the Associate's and the Fellows Course in banking from Queen's University. From 1942 to 1946 she worked for the British Air Commission in Washington and New York. She began taking various art workshops and courses in Gimli, Banff, Emma Lake and Saskatoon and in 1955, received her B.F.A from the University of Manitoba. In 1957 she received her M.A. in art from Michigan State University and continued her postgraduate education at the University of British Columbia, taking a course in Education. She taught at both the Regina Campus and UBC before joining the Saskatoon Campus, University of Saskatchewan, in 1966. She was appointed Full Professor in 1981 and was named Professor Emeritus upon her resignation in 1985. Mina Forsyth died in the autumn of 1987.