At the Framing Place, I also ran into local Muskoka artist Hilary Clark Cole. Since several of her works have been showcased at the Tilley Endurables store in Toronto, it's not surprising that she and Alex Tilley were in The Framing Place discussing art and artists. Her current piece, Musk-Ox, is on display at the Tilley store now, and what a magnificent thing it is.
Hilary produces stunning works of welded steel. Her 'moose' became famous, after being displayed in Toronto, when it became the inspiration for a generation of less artistic fibreglass moose (is the plural more correctly meese? no, but we can hope) that Mel Lastman sprinkled about the city.
Hilary's moose was vastly superior, capturing the essence and strength of the real thing, the moose we see here so frequently. You wouldn't really think you could capture movement in something as solid as welded metal, but Hilary does it all the time. Her signature piece, "Windswept" is an inspiration.
Years ago, we took two horses (Bacon and Blizzard) to a workshop being run by another sculpton, Richard Loffler, at Dorset. The workshop was for wildlife sculptors, but since moose are hard to convince to stand about, he opted to use our horses instead. Something the artists could touch, handle... something Richard could draw on with chalk and white paint to outline the bone structure. Moose take a dim view of that sort of thing. The horses just twitched an ear and stood for it. We spent the whole day there, never bored, watching the various artists (some of whom were working in clay for the first time, being more comfortable in different artistic media), watching my horses emerge from the lumps of clay, coaxed into being under Richard's suggestions and corrections. Richard, really just to keep his hands busy, did a rough sculpture of Bacon's head during the day, which he gave to me at the end of the day. Even in that rough draft, that quick, almost careless creation, he caught the unmistakeable spirit of that particular horse.
It remains a mystery to me how these talented artists like Hilary, or Richard, or the slew of others (many of them on display at the Framing Place and Algonquin Gallery) do what they do.
I just know that I'm really glad they do, and I stand in awe. Muskoka is a fabulous place to visit if you, too, are interested in artists and their varied works. We have a rich community of painters, sculptors, carvers, potters, glass blowers... the list is as varied and endless as their creativity. Various artists' tours are offered throughout the year, and it really is worth the visit. Art is good for us, mind, body and soul...
If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft,
and from thy slender store
Two loaves alone to thee are left,
Sell one, and with the dole
Buy Hyacinths to feed thy Soul.
(Moslih Eddin Saadi, Gulistan (Garden of Roses)
No comments:
Post a Comment