Black Sheep Gallery - Folk, Outsider and Self-taught Art

Spring is fast approaching in Nova Scotia and we have had mainly sunny days lately.

Our first offering this month is by Sybil Gibson (1908 – 1995), who didn’t start to paint seriously until 1963, at age 55. Her paintings have been described as ‘fragile”, the colours delicate and her realism tempered with a certain dream like quality. In 1971, shortly before her first exhibition, which was to be held at the Miami Museum of Modern Art, Sybil disappeared, leaving drawings strewn about her yard. An eccentric woman, she disappeared several times after, often leaving her paintings behind. She preferred to paint on brown paper bags or brown paper that she had stripped from the surface of boxes. Around 300 of her paintings are believed to exist in museums and private collections. Sybil Gibson’s work has been exhibited in more than fifty one-woman exhibitions, and can be found in the permanent collections of several public galleries, including the American Folk Art Gallery in New York.

Also featured this month is a painting of three deer in a snowy meadow which was painted by Everett Lewis, husband of Maud. It appears that for a short time after her death in 1970, Everett signed paintings that he had painted, with Maud’s name. This is one of only two of those paintings that we have seen in the past 30 years. When we saw this one we thought it would make an interesting addition to someone’s collection and add another fascinating tale to the Maud Lewis story.

I was reviewing the videos of artists we have on the gallery web site and fell in love again with the work of Bubby Mooers’ (1925 – 2002). It is delightful to hear him talk about the genesis of one of his most well known pieces, Penelope, which is in the permanent collection of the Canadian Museum of History. You can watch the video by clicking here. We enjoyed visiting artists over the years and were pleased that many agreed to be recorded. You can view other videos by clicking here. We have added a Sea Captain with spy glass and pipe by Bubby.

I have also added an outstanding rendition of a seagull created by Donald Boudreau (1917 – 2000). Donald’s work can be found in the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the Canadian Museum of History.

And in celebration of the day we have all been waiting for - the first day of spring – we bring you two robins. One is by Walter Myette (1900 – 1999), who lived his entire life in the beautiful Acadian village of Chezzetcook. Walter only carved birds. His work is easily identified by the use of kitchen string wrapped around wire for the legs. We purchased this robin and one other from him shortly before his death.

The other robin, catching a rubber worm used for fishing tackle, is by Robert Lavender. Robert was born in Lunenburg County. He lived in the small community of Aylesford in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley. It is said that during the time he was active he carved just about every bird native to the Maritime provinces. He passed away in 1996.

Stay safe, everyone.