Townsman, 1991-11, Page 7NJ
aU
Gallery
wants
to uncover
painter's
early
work
Curators at the Blyth Festival's
Bainton Gallery are looking for assis-
tance in giving one of Huron county's
best secrets more exposure next sum-
mer. Gallery volunteers are playing
detective these days, trying to feret
out the works of Wingham-area artist
George Reid for an exhibit they want
to mount next summer called Bring
Home George Reid. Reid's father,
Adam Reid, a Scottich immigrant, set-
tled on a farm in East Wawanosh in
1840 and the young artist was born in
Wingham in 1860. His father was
determined not to let him become an
artist and kept him busy on the farm
for three years after he graduated from
high school in 1875. The young man
continued to win prizes for his art at
local fairs however, and when he
announced his plans to go to art
school in Toronto, his father appren-
ticed him to a local architect, J. B.
Proctor but when Proctor's planning
mill failed some time later, Reid was
finally released to pursue his work.
But he had to raise money to pay
for his education and so spent 22
months from 1880-82 painting por-
traits. His cousin Frank Buchanan, a
harness maker in Wingham, offered
him board in exchange for doing oil
paintings of himself and his wife.
People in Wingham were so
impressed with the Buchanan portraits
that they started coming to Reid's stu-
dio to get their own portraits.
Reid's interest in landscape paint-
ing was piqued by a visit to Seaforth
in 1876 to see Ontario landscape
painter William Nichol Cresswell.
But though he later went on to
study in Toronto, Philadelphia and
Paris, Reid's best work goes back to
his roots: depicting memories of
growing up in Huron county. He
became one of Canada's best-known
artists and art educators, pursuing a
career in Toronto as a paintcr of pic-
tures, portraits and murals. He was
first principal of Ontatio College of
Art and a founder of the Art Gallery
of Ontario. His paintings are featured
in the National Gallery, Art Gallery of
Ontario, Royal Ontario Museum and
galleries across Canada.
But there's also a good possibility
they're featured in the attics of Huron
and Bruce counties and Bainton
Gallery officials are trying to find out
if any of those portraits painted to
help finance his artistic career are still
in hiding in area homes. Anyone who
might have one of those paintings, or
anyone who has any information on
Reid, his family, or the architect J. B.
Procter is asked to call 523-4345.
Of course
you know -
this game
means
war!
There are teachers today who will tell you that teaching high school is not a
game— it's a war. For a group of Huron County secondary school teachers war
games have been taking up their spare time too.
The group, who call themselves The Bellicose Group Inc. have spent part of
the last four years designing a new board game based on trivia questions about the
history of warfare. Warbuff was unveiled in Clinton in November at the Clinton
Legion where the idea was first kicked around four years ago. At the time, all
members of the group were teaching at Central Huron Secondary School in Clin-
ton. Since then Joe Wooden, who was principal of CHSS at the time, has been
transferred to South Huron Secondary School in Exeter, his hometown. Other
members of the team are Keith and Halina Crawford, Del Ameida, Cathy Renshaw,
Stephen Oliver and Ron Walker. Oliver, the computer expert in the group, turned
his desk -top publishing knowledge to designing the graphics for the game. Walker,
a Blyth -area artist and head of the school's art department, provided the art design.
The biggest challenge, and one suspects the biggest pleasure since most of the
group are history buffs, was coming up with the 4000 questions about wars the suc-
cessful answering of which determine how far the players can advance. The ques-
tions deal with several categories including wars before 1900, the U.S. Civil War,
the two World Wars, later wars such as Vietnam, Korea and the Persian Gulf and a
miscellaneous category covering other wars since 1900.
Much of the printing for the game is done by Blyth Printing, the same company
that prints Townsman covers.
The group expects to have 1000 prototypes of the game on store shelves in
time for Christmas.
TOWNSMAN/NOVEMBER-DECEMBER1991 5