Loi was born in 1926 to a family of piano manufacturers in the small town of Clinton, Ontario. From an early age she showed an affinity for music and art, and after the 2nd World War, as a young woman, left Clinton for Toronto to pursue a career in art and design.

In 1948 Loi graduated with Top Honours from The Ontario College of Art in Fine Art and Design.

Her career as a highly respected artist, illustrator and designer spanned well over 3 decades. She held the positions of Art Director and Senior Designer for several top design firms in Toronto culminating as Associate Art Director and Partner at Hathaway and Associates in the 1980’s. Her packaging and advertising designs won international recognition and acclaim.

As a teacher and artist, her long career is studded with many achievements including one-woman shows and awards for her watercolours. Her paintings are in many private and corporate collections and have been exhibited in galleries across Canada, the United States and as far away as China.

She was on faculty at The International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Toronto, as well as The Ontario College of Art where she taught Illustrative Drawing and Watercolour. As well, she was an instructor of life drawing and watercolour technique at the Royal Ontario Museum, The Women’s Art Association and the George R.Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art. Perhaps the position she was most proud of was Resident Artist by Invitation at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in Chongqing China, where she lectured on contemporary Canadian Art and demonstrated watercolour technique. She was later awarded a professorship from the same institute.

Loi is particularly well known for her floral watercolours. In the late 1970’s, Loi created a long collaboration as “artist in residence” with the well-known Toronto restaurant Fentons. Some of her finest work comes from this time where, every morning, she was seen painting their famous food and floral arrangements.

Always searching for new artistic challenges and opportunities, Loi painted a unique and marvelous series of items displayed at three Toronto museums. Ceramics from The George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, shoes from The Bata Shoe Museum and Chinese children’s festival hats from The Museum of Textiles.

Loi was a Charter Women member of the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto, where she was very active until her passing in 2005.