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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1975-07-17, Page 15• • 0 *01‘0010 •4s***or. INImp*** Advil Ilse* *0 no**1 Feist 11/1110 by 33,200 Peepk tbe '°111010,4141140 of MIOWNterit • 0104100"0 (Baited 3.S re640110 W14,411 Of 90500 130*110)' obkoy for It is the si mediately g away. Large end of the room showing off Indian squaws knick-knacks places and antiqu room seems to gi of adventure. A published every Week ill The Listowel I:tanner, The Wingham Advance4iimes and The Mount fovea Confederate by Wenger Bros. Limited. 9". 11 Wingham man :proposOs:Olon for m4feum-. ting room which im- Ives his character glass doors at the light up the walls, the paintings of and chiefs, odd rom far away e furniture. The ve off a feeling a glance a visitor is looking at memories brought back from foreign. coun- tries, bits aqd pieces of Canadian history, craftsmanship and rep- licas of mother nature's most valued creations — the bird. This aura of adventure and curiosity which invades the entire 85 -year-old house also en- circles the man who lives in it. STONE LANTERN — This ston livery from China and is lust on decorations in George, Allen's Chi ein John Street, Wingham. lantern came special de - e of the many interesting nese Garden at his home George Redvers Alien, a re- tired advertising display artist, is a man of many interests and the decor of his home on John Street in Wingham is proof. Mr. Allen has recently been en- joying a rash of publicity. It seems that one of his interests has left him with a collectiop which has made him famoi2s in the Wingharn area. While awaiting induction into the U.S, Army during the Second World War, Mr. Allen found that he had a great deal of time on his hands. He was a Canadian citizen and because of this his enrolment in the army was delayed. To put in time he took a jack knife out of his hip , pocket and began to whittle away on a piece of white pine. Not really sure of what the end result would be, he worked until he had carved a bird: It was not enough to just carve the shape of the body, therefore Mr. Allen found himself •inscribing every feature and painting the bird's plumage. He shellacked his new creation and 'behold! He had before him a very exact replica of a song bird. This was merely the beginning. Today, Mr.. Allen has 100 or more song birds perched throughout his home. Some are mounted on branches and look as if they are ready to burst into song, others look Solemnly out from their perches while a few --1" -"- -,44,06,!.'f, -1146- 4,..l.aN, e6 •a'.'4''':9 '''1°— ,,,..,. COSY CORNER George Allen settles down in interesting odds and ends line the wall as well as an his "cosy corner", to read a book. owl which he carved and painted. �LJ • INTERESTING SCENES — George Allen shows the baking board his moth had it made into a table and has painted scenes and building found in Wing surface. This will be one of his many donations to the Wingham Archives. er used. He am on the hold twigs in their beaks for nolit.'; painting was given to Mr. Allen building or are collecting, 11;1010,4 by his friend, James Young, who - from a tree stump. A visitor worked for the Indians in Wash It' half expecting them to take flight 1 ington, from their perches when they are Another valued collection Mr. approached. , ,1 Allen would like to see put in the t. archives is a set of old china with • Mr. Allen has found that 8 p received lettersictures of both the lower and "everyone loves birfrom ds." "I have ," ,,,, , upper dams in Wingham. Two oil lonely' paintings featuring scenes from their people ixTho watch birds, shu..tins;., i who watch birds outside Wingham, Kei w 1 would also be put nt, n England on display. . windows and nurses who watCh , t3 them at a park near the liospittik i Mr. Allen chose Wingham as where they work," said Withe centre for his proposed pro - Allen. , ., ject because of its convenient The artist began to receive il location for the surrounding area. numerous letters . and requests 1 If the post office site should fall from friends, acquaintances and : through, he has generously strangers, asking him to make- -,, offered the suggestion that his them a bird. , .. ,,. grandfather's 85 -year-old house "I found myself ducking where he is presently living could around corners' to avoid meeting be made into an archives people to whom' I'd promised a. • building. . bird," he said. • In 1948, the American Homeated in a suitable setting for his Mr. Allen's room will be -decor- Magazine wrote an article on Mr::, birds. They will be displayed in Allen and his birds. The article. was entitled,: "He Hunts glass cases with the appropriate with': background showing the natural Knife and Glue Pot". This article '• habitat of the birds within. was partly the .reason for a' '• dormant period in Mr. Allen'S Robins, blackbirds, sparrows, hobby. . • . gold finches, thrashers and king - "The publicity I received t fishers are just a few of the birds jus went to my head,,". he said. "I was, that will be on display. overwhelmed by it all. For along Mr. .Allen hopes that once his time I didn't make any more.". . room is completed the original The resurrection of the bird plan for the project will not be hobby came about when Mr. forgotten and peoPle will not lose Allen retired 12 years ago. He had interest in it., He wants • it to been working in Chicago as an art , develop more and more each director for the J. Walter Thomp- i year „and hopes that tbeyounger son Advertiaing-Aigency - - . -- – •,,-"tviernbers of the ,comintalitYr**iil - . • take an interest. In the past the artist had given away his creations to friend, "I am concerned about the relatives and anyone he felt was - young people learning to recreate appieciative of the work that with their hands," he Said. "They went into making them. Suddenly are exposed to so many pre -fab - he realized that he didn't really ricated and plastic products have all that many left in his today that they aren't given collection and it would be best to much chance ttp recreate on their hang on . to them. ' own." "I realize that I am getting up in years and when I am gone, I do not want the collection broken. and scattered." This fear for th-e future of his collection and the desire to coax young people to use their hands to recreate, resulted in a plan for a museum of Wingham. Mr. Allen proposed to the town that if a suitable location was found, he would renovate to the total cost of $5,000 and exhibit his collection of 30 song birds. He would also donate $1,000 towards the maintenance and upkeep. He felt that if he took the initial step, other people in Wingham would also exhibit their work in adja- cent rooms and eventually a museum would evolve. Mr. Allen was pleasantly sur- prised. The town was all for it and some other local craftsmen, artists, and residents have offered to donate some of their work and valued belongings. The second floor of the old post office building in Wingham has been suggested as a location. The bottom floor is presently being used as a day care centre. The project is only - in the planning stages- and will be called, The Wingham and Dis- trict Historical Society Building if it gets off the ground. A group of interested residents have formed a council under the same name, to back up the project. They include, Iris Morrey, presi- dent, Barry Wenger, vice-presi- dent, Ed Fielding, secretary and Stewart Beattie, treasurer. Mr. Allen also feels that although young people don't quite appreciate antique 'furniture, tools or paintings from years gone by, eventually they will and if they have been exposed to it before hand, all the better. "It's just like gardening," said Mr. Allen. "The young married couple is content to buy 4heir vegetables at the supermarket and suddenly when they hit their late 30's or early 40's they take an interest in the soil." to the larger cities and very seldom return. "Not me!" he said. "I reversed the flow and moved from a large city back to the small town." As well as living in the States, Mr. Allen has travelled exten- sively. He has taken cruises around the world, been to Eng- land many times as well as Egypt, France, Spain and Turkey. "I am never satisfied unless I end my trip in England," he said. "They have everything there." What country did he find the most interesting? "Why think I'd have to say Morocco. There is. One of the few countries in which people still wear traditional dress," he said. • Mr. Allen has collected souven- irs from almost everywhere he has been. These odds and ends are just one reason that home is so interesting. He explained that perhaps another reason visitors find his home interesting, is due to the fact that he picks up ideas from people he has met or worked with and he puts these ideas to use. "I'm very observing. For example, therewere some friends of mine in Chicago and in their home they had a collection of old brass and it looked lovely. It just shone. Well,, naturally, I had to have some too and there it is," h said pointing oAt some , .hrass �bjeetsscattered about the room. _ "If you let things rub off on you, you'll benefit a great deal. So many people just don't see things, or else they are made of wood,' he said. Mr. Allen was referring to visitors in his home who never noticed his birds, picked them up to see how they were made or queried him on some of his strange souvenirs. They seemed to him to be shutting their eyes to everything around them. "If only two pepple who visit my home out of maybe 100, were to take an interest in art or are inspired in any way, then I would be pleased," he said. Mr. Allen has always loved his grandfather's home and the town where it is situated. Although he worked in Chicago most of his working days, he kept in touch with his friends in Wingham through his father. He knew that eventually he would return to live in the house and he began planning for it. Today the house is shrouded in trees and beside walkways wind- ing through a Chinese garden are numerous varieties of flowers.. On weekends, when he came home to visit his father, he would plant some trees or perennial flowers hoping that when he re- turned to make it his home the plantS and landscaping would have matured to the fullest. Mr. Allen's plan paid off and today as one looks out of the glass door at the end of the sitting room, a visitor is looking into a beautiful garden and terrace, which when sitting in it, becomes a world of its own. Mr. Allen takes his guests through the Chinese Garden, Mr. Allen is extremely pleased down lilac lane and ends up on the with the results his request has lovely bricked terrace where he brought and has since thought of serves them cold drinks and they other articles which are valuable can observe the numerous birds to him and which could be coming and going from the bird displayed in the archives. houses scattered through the trees. "I could hardly work some- times in Chicago for thinking about this place. All the work was done mostly by remote control," said Mr. Allen. "When I came up to visit my father on weekends I would work so hard that I was exhausted when I returned to Chicago, but it was well worth it," he said. Mr. Allen pointed out that most people in small towns move away A baking board used by Mr. Allen's mother has since been made into a coffee table and Mr. Allen has painted different scenes and buildings found in wingham on the surface. The most valued of all Mr. Allen's possessions is an original painting by a famous female Indian artist, Tonita Rena. The picture features an Indian dancer painted in black grease and wearing a buffalo headpiece. The Mr. Allen has an interest in many different areas and de- scribes himself as a "putterer in everything and anything." He hopes that his plan for an archives in Wingham will carry through. Like the visitors to his home, he feels that if one to two people are inspired by what they see there or learn to appreciate something they are exposed to in the exhibits; then it is well worth the money and time spent on it. Mt. Allen has a deep interest in the creative ability of the young people and when complimented on these feelings of concern, he humbly laughs if off and replies, "The world is full of interesting places and things and it's open to everybody. I'm only trying to point out a few." ---ayssroads—july 17, 175K. FAVORITE CREATION George Alien feel i thatiOls 1s. his favorite creation.,-.1t*ntottl)gi !Tinny display* 011400k foOnd in his home,,on-johiiVriiitiln • VERY CONVINCING — This bird looks as though it Is ready to enter its house and start a nest. Actually, it is a wooden carving done by George Allen of Wingham. vvuttit. BbNCH — Mr. Allen tries to think of a creative way this limb would be used as a perch for one of his birds. His work table has many models and reference materials which guide him in his hobby.