Village Squire, 1978-09, Page 21ART
From business in the city,
to art in the country,
Arie Van der Ende likes the switch
Arie Van der Ende stands in the livingroom of the house he designed himself: Putting his
feelings of the "better things in life" to practice.
PG. 20. VILLAGE SQUIRE/SEPTEMBER 1978.
A soft haze lies over the valley in the late
summer afternoon. The wind rustles the
ripened grass. It's quiet and peaceful in
the Huron county countryside. Let the
peacefulness of the landscape seep into
you and it's almost impossible to imagine
the hectic world of modern commerce that
is engrossing the majority of the Canadian
population at this time.
It's a long way from business to this farm
near Holmesville and Arie Van der Ende
likes it that way. A few short years ago he
was involved heavily in the business world,
first as a secretary-treasufer and later as a
director of a large London packaging firm
doing millions of dollars a year in business.
Five years ago he decided to give it all up,
to go back to the first interest of his life:
art. During those long years in business
he'd painted a little on the side but most of
his time was taken up by business. He
doesn't think he could ever have gotten
completely away from art. But being in
business, he says, he felt very badly about
not being able to give vent to the artistic
part of himself.
So he quit, to the amazement of those
who knew him who thought he was crazy.
He quit and moved with his family to
property, they'd bought between Clinton
and Goderich and decided to have a go at
making a living from art. And now he says
it's the best thing he ever did. His wife
Glennis agrees. He's much easier to live
with now, she says.
The business side of his life today
extends only to selling his paintings from
his gallery behind the house on the farm.
His life revolves not around big finance,
but around his family, his art, his studio
and his 130 -year-old house.
Art has been a part of Arie's life since
his childhood. He grew up just a few miles
from The Hague, near the ocean and right
across from a large park. The locale's
beauty drew artists from all over the world
at a rate of tvto or three a day. He was 15
when the Second World War ended and the
freedom of the post war period came. That
freedom brought a travel boom that
brought people from all over the world.
Arie would talk with the artists and
watch them work and between the ages of
15 and 20 spent a lot of time in this
atmosphere. He took private art lessons
and painted himself.
But he also got involved in the air cadet
movement and was chosen to come to
Canada for special training under the
NATO agreements. Ten cadets from each
country were chosen to come to Canada to
train as pilots then were sent back to their
own countries to train others.
Despite the harsh winter weather in
Canada, Arie liked Canada, particularly
the vastness after the crowded conditions
of Europe. He liked it for another reason:
he met his future wife on that stay.