A Trip to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection - Oh Ya!

Now I do realize that fine art is not exactly main stream here in Canada but when I recently announced that I was heading to the McMichael I was a bit shocked when several people asked "what's that?".  The McMichael Canadian Art Collection is truly a hidden jewel located in the little town of Kleinburg, Ontario.  The museum features the largest collection of Group of Seven paintings but it is much more than that.  Would you believe this has been my second pilgrimage to the hallowed halls of the McMichael?  My first trip happened nearly twenty years ago when I had just barely picked up a paintbrush.  I saw it this time with completely new eyes but I still have memories of certain paintings as if I had just seen them yesterday - they are still so vivid in my mind even after all these years! "Every work of art which really moves us is in some degree a revelation - it changes us." (Lawren Harris)  Yes.  I am truly blessed to have had the opportunity to drink in the magic of the Group of Seven once again.  These are literally life changing moments that will stay with me forever!

"Montreal River" by Lawren Harris,
McMichael Canadian Art Collection

The museum began as a private property in 1952 when Robert and Signe McMichael purchased 10 acres in Kleinburg and built a beautiful log home there.  They began to passionately collect art, primarily of the Group of Seven and Tom Thomson, as well as Aboriginal artists.  Their first acquisition in 1955 was a painting called "Montreal River" by Lawren Harris.  They purchased it for $250 and since they could not afford that large sum they wound up paying for it in installments of $50 per month!  It's hard to wrap your head around the fact that six decades later the painting is now worth millions!  The home was frequently visited by artists, particularly the Group of Seven.  In fact, A.Y. Jackson lived there during the last months of his life.

View from the Museum

By 1965 the art collection had become quite extraordinary and the McMichaels decided to donate their collection, their home and land to the Province of Ontario and thus the McMichael Canadian Art Collection came into existence soon after.  The museum has dramatically expanded over the years and is now 85 000 square feet and the collection contains over 6000 pieces of art (only 10% of the collection is shown at any one time).  Although the house itself is no longer a home, several of the original beautiful log walls are still there.  The "feel" of the property still exists.  The museum has many floor to ceiling windows to allow visitors to look out on the forest that is reminiscent in many of the paintings found inside. The property itself now consists of 100 acres of forest with hiking trails throughout.  No!  This is not your typical art museum!

One thrilling sight for me was the Tom Thomson Shack that was re-located to the property from it's original location in Toronto.  Tom lived there for a few years and it was overwhelming for me to look upon the front door and I could imagine him as he walked in and out so many times.  I gazed in through the window to his studio and could picture him standing there creating some of the greatest masterpieces in Canadian art.  I truly hope some of his creative energy has rubbed off on me!

The Tom Thomson Shack

The Artists' Cemetary

Another moving experience was visiting the Artists' Cemetery.  Six members of the Group of Seven and their wives, as well as the original owners, Robert and Signe McMichael are buried on the property.  I sat in silence and had a quiet moment with Lawren Harris at his final resting place.  The gravestone for Lawren Harris and his wife Beth resemble a pyramid mountain reflective of so many of his great mountain landscapes.  You have to look hard to see his name engraved in the rough stone.

Lawren & Bess Harris' Gravestone

That, in a nutshell, is what the McMichael Canadian Art Collection is!  But I can hear you asking, "what about the paintings?"  Of course, they are the highlight of the entire museum!  There is a lot to tell you about so you will just have to be a bit patient and wait for my next blog post coming very soon, but here's a sneak peek...

Here I am hanging out with a Harris painting.  Do I look happy?

Further Adventures of the Accidental Artist

Karen Hersey was my first teacher who in turn introduced me to her mentor Keith C Smith.  I've been wanting to share some of the experiences I had with Keith and am finding it extremely difficult to put into words all that I learned from him.  Keith was a larger than life type of person - full of passion, a great sense of humour and just one of the neatest people I have ever met.  When I knew him he was in his seventies and he was in the prime of his life, extremely prolific with his painting and prosperous, his paintings were selling as fast as he could paint them and for big bucks!   One thing I know for sure is that Keith adored me and the feeling was mutual!  I am lucky to have had the opportunity to know him especially so early in my career.

Even though Keith lived on Vancouver Island and I lived in Calgary our connection was immediate.  Our relationship began with hand written letters.  Yes you did read that correctly, it was the time before everyone had access to email.  I spent the last week re-reading Keith's letters and what a gift they are to me.  Keith passed away in 2000 but reading his words in his hand writing is just like being able to talk to him. 

In his first letter he wrote: "You have certainly come a long way in your new found career.  How fortunate you are to have fallen into something as wonderful as this.  Especially to find it as easy as you obviously do."  Yes indeed how fortunate for me to have fallen into this career and to have Keith fall into my life!  He taught me so much about life, about art and about painting.  I would send him photos of my paintings and he would write back with a critique.  He would tell me all the things I did correctly in the paintings and he would give me a long list of things I could do to improve them.  Reading his words takes me back to 1996 when he wrote "I bet you are thinking what on earth does it take to please this guy?  Well I am going to see to it that you improve to the point that even you will not believe what you have done!".  Thanks to Keith he was right!

In June 1996 my Mom and I drove to the Island to finally meet Keith in person.  This was one of those trips where all the pieces fell into place and everything went perfectly, like living a dream!  We rented a small cottage on French Creek Marina but since the cottage was not wheelchair accessible the owners upgraded us to a suite.  Everyday Mom and I watched the fishing boats coming and going in the marina and watched the tide ebb and flow.  A perfect setting for what became a life changing week. 

Keith was teaching a week long workshop where we painted on location each day at a different place.  It was inspiring to have the opportunity to paint outdoors with a group of artists, especially when we were painting incredible scenery such as the old growth forest at Cathedral Grove (if you've never been there you must go).  One of the fellow painters named Walter decided that I always managed to find the very best places to paint, so he was going to paint wherever I painted.  Truth be told is that because of my wheelchair I simply could not go everywhere so I basically got out of the car and started painting the scene that was in front of me!  Keith commented on this in one of his letters saying "During my workshop you would be placed perhaps not exactly in the best place to paint a scene.  Yet you made no fuss and simply got at it.  Now I find that a genuine sign of someone who will realize a solid future in painting."  I was just happy to be in a beautiful place, with great people and with a paintbrush in my hand!

 

Photo of me painting at Rathtrevor Beach, Vancouver Island, June 1996.

For me the real magic happened when I was able to spend time with Keith in his studio.  He taught me how to paint rocks and trees.  When he picked up his brush paint would fly and within a half hour there would be a completed painting.  So that's how it's done!  Oy!  Keith's way of teaching was a bit controversial.  Karen taught me that one artist should not touch another artist's canvas.  However, Keith sometimes had a tough time explaining what he meant so he would take my paintbrush and show me what he wanted by painting on my canvas.  For me it was a thrill to watch the way he moved that brush.  I was there after all to learn from a Master!  I had taken some of my paintings for Keith to critique.  One painting was a mountain view with a lake and a pile of driftwood in the foreground.  Keith thought it was a good painting and that it needed just a 'few' minor changes.  Well, a little here and a little there and before I knew it Keith had repainted the ENTIRE painting....the only brush strokes of mine that were left on the canvas was my signature!  How ironic that I own an original Keith painting signed by Caprice!  No matter to me, I was on cloud 9 because of what I had learned from watching him! 

Photo of Keith in his studio. 

I think Keith was excited to have a student that was as focused and passionate about art as he was.  One day while we were painting on location, Keith told my Mom that "I love the way she paints.  She paints like a man!".  He had so much confidence in me and was proud of the work I was doing at the time.  Keith wrote to me and said "Just try and maintain that fresh bold technique that you have.  That is the honest magic in your work.  It is powerful, colorful, along with a spontaneous quality.  These are all desirable attributes in good art."

I was happy that Keith was able to see me on TV when I appeared on the Variety Club's "Show of Hearts" Telethon.  I had donated a painting to help children with special needs and they sold prints of the painting.  When Keith was really sick I sent him one of the prints.  I phoned him and he spent the entire conversation critiquing the print and how I could have made the painting just a bit better!  That was the last conversation I had with Keith and it was so typical of him to have talked about art the whole time.  I only wish he could see what I am doing now.  I think he would be proud of me.  I wonder what other great paintings he would have produced if he was still alive?  He was at his creative prime, still so full of life and he left us way too soon!

Two years after Keith passed away Mom and I went to visit Keith's wife Arlene on the Island.    Arlene was gracious enough to allow me to hang out in Keith's studio by myself.  I took a box of Kleenex with me, fully prepared to be sad and emotional but the tears never came.  Instead, as I sat there surrounded by all of Keith's last paintings, I had the strongest sense that Keith was right there with me.  The experience made me look at all paintings, particularly my own, in a completely different way.  It was profound to realize exactly how much of myself I put into the paintings that I produce.  I have to smile when I realize that as long as I still have paintings out there people will never truly be able to get rid of me!  Somehow there is also a little bit of Keith in every one of my paintings as well.  No wonder some paintings are able to stir people's souls.  Now I understand!  Thank you Keith for teaching me so much, even long after you died...

To see some of Keith's paintings, please check out my Pinterest board called "Paintings that Inspire".

The Accidental Artist

I've been wanting to blog for a very long time but like many people I kept wondering "who on earth would ever be interested in reading about me?".  As I sat pondering this question it occurred to me that my life is certainly not the norm.  Every morning I wake up and wonder what the day will bring? What will I create...or not create...and who will walk through my studio door today?  Since finding myself in this crazy business of being an artist, I have had many extraordinary experiences that I would like to share with you.  I am not the most regular, consistent person.  I am an artist!  So, a warning; I paint when I am inspired and I will write when I am not painting so if you are following this blog please enjoy but I am not on a calendar!  It is my hope that maybe you will get to know me just a bit better and maybe have a glimpse of what it is like to be an artist.

How did I become an artist in the first place?

In January of 1994, in the spur of the moment, I decided to take a semester off from University where I was majoring in psychology.  My sudden withdrawal may seem like an impulsive decision, as I had been told many times that since I was in a wheelchair I needed to get an education. I did have a full scholarship, so I planned to return to school in the fall.  You can imagine my surprise when I returned to register and found out I would have to start all over again as a first year student even though I was in third year!  Forget that!!  I had moved back home with my parents in January and spent the year just floating, travelling and wandering aimlessly trying to discover exactly what it was I was meant to be doing!  At this point, all I knew was that psychology was NOT IT!!!

In December everything changed.  Karen Hersey walked into my life.  She came to visit my Mom at our large log home in the country and as soon as she saw the place she said "I want to live here!".  We all had a good chuckle...little did we know that she soon would be doing just that!  On that day, Karen offered to teach me to paint and I politely replied "No thank you, I have absolutely no talent when it comes to painting and drawing."  When I was a little girl my mom put me in art lessons and bought all the supplies but I didn't like it.  I had no interest in taking art in school or university.  My Mom had always kept me very busy with creative projects, she taught me to be a custom seamstress...I made all my own clothes but painting was not my thing!  Karen was determined and in the end I took her up on her offer to teach me to paint simply because I had nothing better to do at the time!  It wasn't until years later that I would fully understand what a life changing moment that was.

Karen had just moved to Calgary.  She was a professional artist and teacher for 30 years but due to health issues she wasn't painting and had plenty of time to teach me.  She was a strict teacher let me tell you!  She insisted on abiding by the rules of fine art so I had to learn to paint the way the Masters painted. I could have searched high and low for an art teacher with Karen’s qualification as very few artists are capable of passing on the knowledge that she had and she just fell in my lap by accident!  Our weekly lessons began with a sketchbook and pencil as she trained me in endless art theory.  She handed me a three inch art history book and said "read this".  Ya...right!  Considering I wasn't interested in painting in the first place, she was starting to lose me and finally she handed me a paintbrush!  Hallelujah!  From that point on there was no turning back.  In 30 years of teaching, Karen said she had never had a student that could sign and sell her very first painting (I never did sell it…it’s still here in my studio) so we were on to something here….

At the time, Karen was living alone in downtown Calgary and one night while she was asleep in her bed, she was robbed.  She awoke in the morning to find her front door wide open and her jewellery stolen.  Obviously she was very shaken and since we had the room, we offered her a place to stay with us.  What a gift for both of us!  Our art lessons not only continued but it was non-stop art!  We had the great fortune to also have the support from my Mom, who cooked for us and gave us the opportunity of not having to think about anything BUT art.  We discussed art from the time we awoke in the morning, over coffee and then painted in the afternoon and the discussions never stopped until we went to bed.  It was a very bohemian lifestyle…great food, great conversation, great books, great music and of course great painting!  Karen and I set up our studio in the living room and we painted side by side every day.  We went out sketching and painting on location on the beautiful prairies. I remember the day Karen took me to the art supply store for the first time. I was so excited that I spent $850 on my first trip since I had now decided that I was going to be a professional artist(it took me years to use up all those supplies)!  Karen was a strict teacher but I became a student obsessed and I drove her crazy with my incessant questions!  Every morning she would wake up and wonder "what am I going to teach her today?".  Yup, this indeed is what I am meant to be doing with my life!  My poor family was in shock (except for my Mom and Dad who have always been my biggest supporters).  Can you imagine?  The plan was to get a university degree and now I’m going to be an artist??  Who knew?  I certainly had no idea what I was getting into but one thing is for sure, it has not been dull!  Karen’s health began to return and I was on my way to becoming an artist...and still am...it was a magical time!

Photo of Karen & I at her art show in Invermere, BC.  July, 2005.  I was her guest artist!

My first painting!  Tie Lake, 16"X20", oil on linen