HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1984-02-15, Page 13leisure features entertainment
Serving over 25,000 homes in Listowel, Wingham, Mount Forest, Milverton, Elmira, Palmerston, Harriston, Brussels, AtWOOCk, MOnktOn, Millbank, Newton, Clifford, Wallenstein, Drayton, Moorefield and Arthur. Wednesday, February 1 5, 1 984. •
" I I tarted out
basically as a
watercolor
painter
William Roberts
takes a break from
"Dream Flowers"
Floe-Rif-her-
Tke artist throws another log inter the.
wood stove and gazes out for a moment at a
cold, white day through one of the many
windows.in his bright studio.
Inside his workplace, an entirely different
vision now pre -occupies the artist as the
,brush strokes form larger -than -life flowers
on a huge canvas,
William Roberts, of RR 3, Ayton, in
Normanby Township, works on the third oil
painting in hiS series, "Dream Flowers".
Two others, also on canvases which
measure about five feet by six feet, are
completed and on the shelf nearby. He hopes
to do one more before a show of his work in
Halifax, Nova Scotia, in April:
A similar painting he did a few yers ago
can now be found in Ontario's bicentennial
calendar. His was one of 12 paintings, each
by a different artist from Ontario and
representative of a different month,
selected by Calendart Inc., of Toronto, for
the calendar commemorating the prov-
'ince's 200 birthday.
Each painting is an artist's view of a
certain region or characteristic of Ontario.
Cecil Youngfox's "Winter Travellers", for
the month of February, is an abstract look
at his native Skin Point. Paul Saucier catch-
es Ottawa's Rideau Canal on a busy sum-
mer day, another reproduced painting
in this calendar sold in major bookstores,
originally for $12. Some 20,000 calendars
were produced, nearly all have been sold.
Mr. Roberts' work for the calendar,
"March Winds and April Showers", is for
April in Southern Ontario, a painting about
the first growth of spring tulips, yellow and
red, -against a white sky and fragments of
farming landscape.
The painting, which he, did about two
years ago, was on display in the London
Regional Art Gallery in London, Ontario, as
none of Mr. Roberts' works are sold to in-.
dividuals, but only to galleries and cor-
porations.
He mentions that the calendar will
Probably help give some exposure to the
artists involved, but adds, "I 'don't know if I
benefitted by it."
He sits back in his chairheside the stove
and sips a coffee, glad for a break in what
will probably be a 14 -hour day. Mr. Roberts
has had many such days as a "serious"
artist.
One painting, "Foot Soldier", which he
says depicted a modern soldier "who is sort
of marching right out of the picture", took
him an entire year to complete.
It was a commission for the Royal
Canadian Regiment's 100th anniversary and
his recollection of the ceremony, during
which the Duke of Edinburgh officially
presented the painting to Rideau Hall in
Ottawa, is brief :
"The Governor-General smiled, I smiled,
my wife smiled and the Duke nodded," he
says nonchalantly of the event.
Mr. Roberts is originally from Vancouver
where he attended art school as a Youth and
where he will return in May. for a show. In
1940, he hitchhiked to Montreal and joined
the air force. Beginning in 1955, he taught in
the drawing and painting department at the
Ontario College of Art in Toronto. In the
early 1960's, he quit.
"It Was alright to begin with," he ex-
9
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SPRING PROJECT—"You try to do beautiful things . . . use beautiful color", say e the
attist7s116wn wurkirrg-orrhis "Dream -Flowers series.
Plains, "bi.it- niter foundthat 'had no"morse
to teach, so I went in one day and gave my
notice.
"You have to make up your mind you're
going to be a teacher."
Today, he remarks, art teachers receive
"big money", prompting him to add rather
ruefully, "I sometimes look out and consider
vvhat Pm doing."
After leaving the art college, he spent a
year in North Wales, carrying out research
there in, watercolors .and learning more
about his family roots. He spent a year as
artist -in -residence at the University of
Western Ontario, London, in 1964-65 and at
the Dundas Valley School of Art in 1976-77.
For the past 16 years he andlis family
have lived in their log house sitt*ed about
10 miles north of Mount Forest. He admits,
he liked the area but that really wasn't his
main reason for moving there. Now he
describes the area as "a nice base to work
from".
He was the first full-time artist to move to
the area, and since first arriving, other
artists in yarious fields have settled nearby.
His wife, Mary Anne, a freelance writer,
helped to found the Durham Art Gallery
where, he states, first-rate shows are held.
is own work is on display at the gallery this
1Month as part of an exhibition with Mrs.
Roberts as guest curator.
Mr. Roberts' paintings, both in watercolor
and oils, adorn galleries and corporations
all over Canada and the U.S., although he
feels he is better recognized in Canada as a
watercolor artist. ,However, it is the oils for
"Dream Flowers" to which his talents are
now applied.
, Near the door to his studio, built at the
rear of his home in the country, there lies on
the floor an old painting that just wasn't
right. 'Trampled and smudged, the image
almost unrecognizable, it is now part of the'
floor on which are also drops and specks of
color everywhere.
As for those images and ideas he seeks to
express, "They just come," he says. "It's
just what you do.".
"It's a truth -seeking thing within
oneself," he says of self-expression.
"Picasso said, 'Painting is a lie to tell the
truth.' But I don't know what it tells the
truth of," concedes Mr. Roberts.
He points to one of the large paintings he
has completed for the "Dream Flowers"
presentation and affirms that it was one of
the few he has ever done that "worked out
just right", according to what he wanted to
convey.
He mentions that out of the millions of
paintings done by artists each year, only a
few will ever "make it big". "Ws a very
' strange business to be in," says Mr.'
Roberts.
There are currently only three or four real
"big money" artists in Canada, he believes.
And., based on his own experience, he can
name only one, Alex Colville, who is really
known in Britain and Europe.
The art of the Group of Seven doesn't
impress Mr. Roberts. He find S their work
largely unoriginal, pointing out that
Scandinavian artists really . showed the
Group what to do with the Canadian land-
scape.
He laments that artists such as Beetnd
rla
13ider and Tier tensebordon and Prtiecienee'"
Howard, "who did beautiful work before the'.'
Group of Seven," received no recognition.
And, he adds, "If I had to have someone on
my wall, I think I would have Emily Carr."
"I think she is far superior to any of the •
Group, although Tom Thomson did good
work. Her work is quite beautiful."
• Art, -says. Mr: Roberts, -is "a -private
thing". He mentions that he now associates
with very few dther artists.
He, used to be a member of the Royal
Canadian Academy, and stillconfesses
surprise at his election to that distinguished
association, But he resigned as a member a
few years ago. "I exhibited with them for
years and I thought I'd 'bad enough," he
says, explaining that the travel time to
Toronto and back was a major reason for his
resignation. "When painting full-time, you
don't have time to get involved."
"I've been at it for a long time," he says of
his profession, confirming that he began
when very young. However, he states, "I
couldn't make a living at it until I was 45.
"I started out basically as a watercolor
painter, as it just comes naturally to me, but
I couldn't get ahead.
"Oils are much more difficult. They're
bigger and the structure is so much dif-
ferent."
People's knowledge of art has grown, he
observes, while public support for artists, as
well as support from private industry and
the Canada Council, has grown also since
the early 1960's to the point that it is now
"exceptional".
And that support is necessary, he main-
tains, for a country such as Canada to
establish a heritage as can be found in the
U.S., Holland, England, France and other
nations.
Many shows of Mr. Roberts' work have
been held in Toronto, London, Ont., and
Vancouver. He also had a show in London,
England, in 1973, and two in New York City,
in 1975 and in1980.
His last three or four shows in Toronto
were sold out.
There are now more full-time artists in
Canada, and consequently, "In the last 10
years art has improved immensely here."
However, he believes there is as yet no
recognizable "national" style or purpose.
How does an artist try to attain a certain
style? "Everything that comes along, you
try and add to it," he replies.
"You try to do beautiful things," Mr.
Roberts says of his craft. "My philosophy is
to make things beautiful and uplifting . to
try to use beautiful color. -
"I don't really have any complaints about
the art business," he ltates, although he
describes commissionsas "tough things"
and notes the occasional dissatisfaction of
painting something that turns out somehow
less than what was intended. "If you make
any mistakes, the only person you can
blame is yourself."
It is a job that can have its frustrations
and. at times, he says, "It can be a
harrowing experience.
"Some people have no idea what it's like ..
you're working alone.
"it's certainly a frustrating thing. You
should be here when I throw them (paint-
ings) but because something went Arrong."
A PAUSE FOR REFLECTION—A native of Vancouver, William Roberts has been
living mirth of Mount Forest for the past 16 years. He renovated his log home and
later added the cturlin
a