Born in Edmonton, Alta., Wollf grew up in Saskatoon, Sask., on Treaty 6 Territory and the Homeland of the Métis, where she enrolled in the College of Arts and Science at USask in the 1990s after graduating from Mount Royal Collegiate. By studying at USask, Wollf became the first person in her family to attend university.
“I knew that I wanted to go to university, but I didn't really know what that meant,†she said. “So, during my first degree, it was really just getting the experience.â€
A young mother at the time, Wollf took her son to daycare on campus as she worked toward earning her first degree. After completing a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology in 1996, she worked in administration in the biotechnology field for about 15 years before returning to USask to work in the College of Kinesiology.
Wollf had always been interested in art, and while employed at the College of Kinesiology she reignited that passion by enrolling in one class at USask each semester. Wollf's USask colleagues were “amazingly supportive†of her artistic pursuits, and, over the course of seven years, she went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in studio art in 2014 while working on campus full-time.
“It was a wonderful place to work and also allowed me to study,†she said.
After completing her BFA degree, Wollf was inspired to continue her studies and to pursue a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree at USask. She was awarded the prestigious Joseph Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship-Master's through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to help fund her graduate studies, through which she focused on Métis aesthetics in contemporary art. Wollf was determined to achieve her dreams and earn her MFA.
“Even though I got a little bit of a late start—I was in my 40s when I started my master’s degree—I still thought, ‘I can do it. I'm going to do it.' â€
Wollf earned her MFA in 2016, with her thesis exhibition at USask's Gordon Snelgrove Gallery, Water Over the Bridge, featuring large format drawing, printmaking, installation, and beading. One of those MFA thesis exhibition artworks, a drawing/painting called The Woman and the Wolf, measuring six feet by eight feet, has since been showcased around the world on the cover of the international best-selling novel, The Break. Written by Métis author Katherena Vermette, the winner of the Governor General's Literary Award, The Break is about a multigenerational Métis–Anishnaabe family and is set in Winnipeg's North End neighbourhood.
