Henry Prudy and the Ellen’s Creek Gallery.

Great article in The Buzz on Henry Purdy
March 2016

The Guestbook: Lee Ellen Pottie

How to walk

There is a badly-kept-secret club in Charlottetown. It meets two days a week, afternoons and evenings at Ellen’s Creek Gallery. At the appointed times, groups of 12–16 people shuffle into the back room, extend the club greeting, set up equipment, wave their #8 wands, and paint.
It’s been going on for years. You’ve probably met some of the club members in your daily walks or visits to Island galleries over the years.

Of course, this isn’t a secret. Henry Purdy, club president, has been offering painting sessions at the Gallery for over 20 years. If you’ve walked into the gallery, you’ve seen our motley selves in various stages of bliss or despair over our canvases.

I’m a member; have been since January 2013. The lessons and equipment were a present. Unfortunately, I couldn’t draw a straight line and had always had problems staying within the lines of my colouring book. But, I had enthusiasm.

I was not the only newbie that first day and, after Henry gave the seasoned painters their assignments, which looked terrifyingly difficult, he set out to teach four of us how to use a #8 brush, recognize shapes, look for the direction of the light, and mix our four colours so that they didn’t look like mud.
Henry, with his wife, Gertie, moved to PEI in 1958 to work for CFCY in graphics and signage. He was a founding staff member of Holland College and created the Commercial Design Program. He was the director of the Centre of Creative Arts program from 1977 to 1982. He was and still is a tireless volunteer for several organizations.

Richard Lemm, UPEI English professor, commented that when he sat on the PEI Council of the Arts, he immediately noticed that Henry was a force with which to be reckoned. When something needed to be done for the arts and arts culture, Henry was there provincially, regionally, and nationally. He had the best interests of Island arts and artists at heart.

Don Glendenning, former president of Holland College, stated, “Henry was creative and tireless in his efforts to provide short courses and night classes in halls, basements, and schools throughout the Island… [His] objective: to help others grow in and through the arts, and to recognize the arts as an integral part of both one’s education and the Island’s economic development.”

Doug Cranford, owner of Ellen’s Creek, said he’s sure that if an Islander is painting or doing visual art, Henry has had a hand in it. His former students include Brian Burke, Susan Christensen, and Maurice Bernard. Others, not professional artists, include Daphne Dumont, Dr. David Stewart, and Brent MacLaine. Students today include government employees, retirees, teachers, more professors, lawyers, medical staff, and bed-and-breakfast owners.

I still cannot draw a straight line but I can fake it. I think I speak for everyone in those classes: Henry give us a sense of purpose and accomplishment, no matter what our end products look like. We hate missing a class because it’s a joy to participate and to work with Henry.

When someone new stops by the studio and says they can’t paint, Henry responds with “Well, you weren’t born knowing how to walk, were you?” So he teaches people to walk, er, paint with patience, enthusiasm, and humour.

A show by Henry’s students will be at Ellen’s Creek on May 8, and the next session of classes starts in April.
—Lee Ellen Pottie is an editor, writer, dog walker, part-time instructor, and student painter.

In Memory of Barry Jeeves

As published by The Buzz June 2015

Artist and potter Barry Jeeves died on May 10, 2015. Born in Toronto, Barry moved to Prince Edward Island in 1971 and had a great influence on the PEI art scene as a teacher and mentor. He studied at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto and the Sir George Williams College of Art in Montreal and was an instructor at the Island’s School of Visual Arts.
Reflecting on her relationship with Barry Jeeves his student and friend, Arlene Rice, owner of Details Past and Present, says:

“I first met Barry Jeeves many years ago when I enrolled for an evening pottery class at the School of Visual Arts. Barry was the instructor. He was one of the most encouraging people I have ever met.

He was always in a positive mood and made you feel like your work had great potential.
“Years later I met Barry again when he approached me to carry his work in my gallery; I was thrilled. Whether it was a streetscape or a floral, his paintings always had a fresh, painterly look. He usually grew the flowers that he painted.

“I remember being at his home one time and admiring a large floral painting. I asked him if he had just finished it. He had a little smile on his face and said no, he had done that piece 40 years ago. That was a great testament of the timelessness of his work.

“When he started having difficulty getting around he would paint small streetscapes from his car, sizes that were small enough to handle within the confined space. They sold as quickly as he brought them in. He would call me when he was coming to town and I would meet him at his car to collect the paintings.

“Barry was one of the kindest and most talented people I have ever met and he leaves a great legacy to the art and craft world of PEI. There is a saying that those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach. Barry Jeeves was a man who did both with creativity, integrity and modesty. I will miss him.” Artist Richard Vickerson continues, “I met Barry about 1980. At that time Holland College School of Visual Arts was offering evening workshops and I decided to take Barry's painting class. I had always had an interest in painting, but I didn't really know how to get started. I had  some cheep oil paints, but found them impractical, so I began using a set of watercolours that I had purchased a few years before . Barry would have us paint still lives. I can still remember the subjects, his old lumberjack coat, work boots, flowers too old to sell from a local shop, a broken pot. I still have these paintings and come across them when I am in a mood to organize my chaotic studio. Barry's love for the process of painting was infectious. He would tell us stories of meeting a farmer who wondered what this man with flailing arms was doing in his field. He would find Barry vigorously painting a sunset before the colours faded. He instilled in all of us the idea that even the most modest subject was worth exploring, and in so doing, he opened up a new way of seeing the world around us. Over the years I have met many artists who have similar memories of Barry.  It would be difficult to measure the effect that Barry had on so many lives. I don't know when I would have come to watercolour, but my first efforts were with Barry. I will always remember his kind encouragement and guidance.”

Henry Purdy adds his comments: "I met Barry Jeeves in 1971 when he was hired as the Pottery Instructor for the Handcraft Training Centre. I was on the interview committee. I remember the committee being extremely impressed by Barry's personality and his desire to teach. Later, after he had left the teaching end of things to run his pottery business with Joan, he proved to be a great craftsperson." Purdy continues, "I hired Barry for Holland College to teach part time Pottery & Painting. He was an inspiration to all those students who came in contact with him. To this day I still have people mention the fact that Barry was so helpful, patient and encouraging to them as a teacher. The Island arts community has lost a very genuine, dedicated and gentle member....he will be missed."

Robert Doddridge - Wood Apple - PEI Art Auction

A unique piece of work by the late Bob Doddridge is up for auction at the annual PEI Art Auction organized by Gallery 18 in New London, PEI each summer. The piece is a wooden apple turned out of - you guessed it PEI apple wood.

Steven Stairs Walnut Desk Set - PEI Fine Wood Craft

A fine example of work by Canadian woodworker Steven Stairs when he was still a student at Holland College School of Visual Arts is now for sale. Part of their annual PEI Art Auction, Gallery 18 is offering a beautiful 4 piece desk set.

Elizabeth Wilson - Afton: A Place in Time

Great article on Elizabeth Wilson the co-author of Afton a Place in Time.

As published in The Guardian - Jan 10, 2013

In the years before the West River Bridge was built in 1958, winter travel was tricky for people living along the south shore of P.E.I.

The existing roads were often of little use, so ice travel became popular and petrifying.

As soon as the roads filled with snow, travel to the capital city was mainly on an ice road, marked with brush to show the safest route across the Charlottetown Harbour.

On a December afternoon in 1936, Vera (Alchorn) MacEachern and her sister, Aletha, were on their way home to Fairview, after visiting their brother Lloyd, a patient at the Charlottetown Hospital.

“There was nothing we could do but set out by foot across the treacherous ice,” says MacEachern, during a telephone interview. Suddenly, a squall came up. “The sky turned from pale gray to blinding white. Very soon we couldn't see the shore. Then the footpath we were following vanished in the swirling snow. We walked for what seemed like hours and luckily stumbled onto the shore of New Dominion, made our way home and lived to tell the tale,” says the 89-year-old.

It’s one of the stories in Afton: A Place in Time. Launched last month, the community history covers the south shore neighbourhoods of New Dominion, Fairview, Rocky Point, Rice Point, Nine Mile Creek and Cumberland. With chapter titles like Pre-Settlement, Afton Pioneers, Seafaring and River Travel, Industry, Community and an entire section on Afton's soldiers, the 207-page book contains narratives and historical information on the area and its settlers. Afton: A Place in Time is receiving positive reviews from community members.

“It’s a great historical document for the community,” says Errol Taylor, chairman of the board of Afton Community Centre.

“The fact that it has been pulled together by a committee is great. It honours our veterans and the residents of the community and records the history of various cultures like the Mi'kmaqs that have been a part of Prince Edward Island," Taylor says.

Gina Rankin, chair of the Community of Afton, is also happy with the book.

“I'm pleased for the whole community. I’m also pleased for the co-authors Natalie Carragher and Elizabeth Wilson and everyone who has worked on it,” Rankin says.

The project has been a “labour of love” for Wilson.

“For me, it’s a way to give back to a community that has welcomed me, because I'm not from here," says Wilson, who was born in Ontario, raised in Alberta, moved to P.E.I. in 1976 has been living in Rice Point since 1980.

The book was also a great way to engage young people.

“Whether they were involved in putting the book together or will be using the book in the future for a school project, it's important to engage youth... and help them develop a sense of community,” says Wilson, one of a dozen people who worked on it.

Her co-author agrees. “I felt privileged to be on the receiving end of the stories (during the) interview process,” says Carragher, who is from Cumberland.

As she edited and pieced the book together, she realized the contribution she was making to her community.

“A lot of the history dies with the community members, unless it's captured and written about. So without anyone to capture them, these stories were soon to be lost," says Carragher, currently enrolled in the masters of communications program at Ryerson University in Toronto.

But there were other reasons Wilson started researching the book in 2010. She had gathered information on the veterans from the community of Afton and had written part of the manuscript.

“It was important to honour the soldiers that fought in the First World War, Second World War and Korean War," says Wilson who in her personal life was fighting a war of her own.

“I was diagnosed with cancer in the fall of 2010. Somehow, working on this project motivated me, making my life more purposeful. So it become one more thing that needed to be done. Co-writing the book helped keep my mind off personal matters," she says.

What's next?

“History never ends. We're always finding more stuff. The committee received more information after the book was printed. We did our best, but I’m sure that as people read the book they'll have more things to say.”

AT A GLANCE

Fast facts

What: Afton: A Place in Time

Completed: By the Afton Computer Resource Club.

Researchers: Andrea Angus, Kristin Nicholson, Jennifer Fanning, Bobby McNally, Natalie Carragher and Alicia Carter.

Editors: Marie Nantes, Elizabeth Wilson, Sydonia Kerry, Patti Machell, Natalie Carragher.

Funded by: P.E.I.'s department of innovation and advanced learning and department of innovation and advanced learning and Skills P.E.I.

Copies: Available at P.E.I. bookstores.

Great article published in  in The Buzz in December 2012 on Ron Arvidson, who had been the pottery instructor at Holland College School of Visual Arts.

Ron Arvidson, The Art of the Organic

Profile by Jane Ledwell

The first time Ron Arvidson saw a potter transforming an unformed lump of clay, the young art student knew it was a “magical” art he wanted to master. After creating pottery professionally more than 40 years, the soft-spoken potter makes modest claims for his magic. “I try to grow from one piece to another,” he says. “One [piece] has to be better than the last… There’s no fun doing it the same again and again.” Ron says, “I like the whole thing to be brought together—colour and texture matched to the organic form of the clay.”

Ron says that to support this evolution, he tends to “work in series, evolved from a particular image.” An avid birder, he says, “Bird images come up again and again and again. Landscape is involved in a lot of them too.” Though the landscape used to be “really literal,” more recent pots subtly build from earth imagery at the foot, through lines of overlapping glaze, towards sky at the top.

His current work is a series of plates in black-and-white based on drawings of birds—crows, heron, osprey. “They are more realistic,” he says, and yet, “drawing with white is not just lines developing: it’s removing the black. It’s like a wood cut—a process of taking away.” His hope is each piece will be “a drawing you don’t have to frame.”

The plates capture Ron’s love of birds. “Birding is a great occupation,” Ron says. “People can bring birds into their life… Even a backyard birdfeeder can develop into something beyond that; it can lead to an understanding and appreciation beyond that. You can develop a sensitivity to nature.”

Such sensitivity takes effort to value in a mass-produced consumer world. Examining the serviceable mug and cutlery before him at the café where we meet, Ron comments practically, “It’s getting to a point you don’t really need the item that is handmade, that has a design component or decoration.” The mass-produced stuff, though, is “pretty sterile, pretty much the same.”

He muses, “Now that you can go to a computer and create a design on the computer and have a 3D image printed, it’s hard to justify making something that starts with a ball of clay. But,” he says hopefully, “I think there’s a growing movement to appreciate nature”—and along with it, the organic, handmade, and artisanal.

“Plan B” protests against highway development and habitat destruction underscore this for Ron. “Plan B shows it has gotten to a point things have gone a little too far. Making products has gone too far.

“People are not happy with things being imposed on them and want to take control of their environment and what they have in their homes. They want not just mass-produced [stuff], but more and more people appreciate the hand-crafted item, the homemade loaf of bread, the homemade meal. They appreciate [things that are] locally made from local products.” He feels sure “this is going to become more central.”

The work of a potter is often solitary, so connecting to others through teaching is “essential” to Ron. He says, “It comes back to the fact that working in the studio, I didn’t like working alone all the time. I like the idea of working with other people and talking to people on a regular basis. I like working with others solving problems, and getting others’ input.”

Beginning a career in the handmade, Ron says, “is like a young farmer—it is not an easy pathway… You’re going to have to grasp a path and take it on yourself to explore.” He speaks admiringly of the new generation of Island artisans doing exactly that.

Ron now reflects on one of his biggest early influences, Saskatchewan potter Jack Sures, and realizes his hallmark was “he approached it as an artistic endeavour.” Pressed to suggest how he wants his own work remembered, Ron Arvidson says, “I want people to appreciate it for the quality of workmanship, and for real growth and development and change over time.” Clay doesn’t change or grow without the potter’s hand, the artist endeavouring.

Katharine Dagg featured at Details Past and Present Gallery

Details Past and Present Gallery on Richmond St. in Charlottetown features the work of Katharine Dagg, who was a design instructor at Holland College School of Visual Arts in the 1970's. A biography of Katharine is located on the gallery site

Katharine is a resident of PEI, having moved here over 30 years ago. She holds a BFA from the University of Manitoba, majoring in drawing and painting and minoring in ceramics. She has worked as an Arts and Crafts officer for the government of the North West Territories instructing, developing and promoting arts and crafts with the native people. She also worked for Canadian Arctic Producers setting up and displaying Inuit art shows in Chicago, New York, Minneapolis, Montreal and Toronto. Her dream was to live and work as a potter and hopefully, find time to paint. The pottery dream was fulfilled as a partner with Sandi Mahon at Stoneware Pottery, a successful studio business that they ran for over 30 years. She now finds time to pursue her passion for painting. Says Dagg, "I am mad about colour. There is no room for beige in my life! I'm inspired by nature and the human figure and faces that tell a story. I can be tempted by heady blossoms gossiping over a fence,or luscious fruits and vegetable overflowing in great crockery - abundance, beauty and colour.