Sylvia Tait grew up in Montreal and studied for four years at the prestigious Montreal Museum of Fine Arts School under Arthur Lismer, Jacques de Tonnancoeur, and Eldon Grier. She received three scholarships, the Top Student Award and an Honours Diploma.
Since the 1950s she has exhibited across Canada, in Mexico, and Ecuador in solo and group shows. Sylvia Tait has been represented by the Bau-Xi Gallery since 1977.
Her paintings are in corporate and public collections in Europe, USA, Canada, South America and Hong Kong. Selected collections include Musée de l'Art Contemporaine,Québec; Vancouver Art Gallery, BC; Winnipeg Art Gallery, Manitoba; the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, and the Canada Council Art Bank.
In 2004 Sylvia Tait won the competition for the new Aquatic Center in West Vancouver, BC. "AquaScapes" is an art piece of enormous proportions.
She never seriously considered being anything but an artist and remains to this day firmly committed to the importance of the role of the artist in society and the integrity inherent in the art object.