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

Angus Trudeau’s style and choice of subjects was uniquely his own. His subjects were often portrayed from his memories as a deckhand or inspired from his picture collection of postcards, clippings and black and white photographs of old ships. The steamer in this large Angus Trudeau painting, SS City of Midland, was built in Owen Sound in 1890 by John Simpson for the North Shore Navigation Company to service various ports around Georgian Bay. The City of Midland was a common sight in harbours on Lake Huron between 1890 and 1916. For this reason, she is present in numerous harbour photographs. The most documented event in her twenty-six-year career was her fiery demise in Collingwood’s snow-covered harbour on March 17, 1916. Unlike its unfortunate ending, Angus has painted the steamer in happier times with guests on board enjoying the beautiful shores of Lake Huron.

Robert Robinson from Riverton, Nova Scotia carved familiar figures and also built folk art ships. His carving “Hard To Starboard”, of a sea captain at the wheel of his ship, complete with black rain slicker and sou’wester, is now available on our site.

The late Katherine Higgins was the mother of well known Nova Scotia folk artist Scott Higgins. Her artwork Heritage is a message to the world – “Children + Environment are our gifts from God. Take good care of them.”

We also have two new birds available, a red winged black bird by well known Cape Breton carver Sid Howard and a perky bird with thumb tack eyes by Harold Weaver.

We have lost two very special folk artists who we knew well. We have many fond memories of visiting Phyllis Cosman and Eddie Mandaggio, who both passed away recently. Phyllis always welcomed us into her kitchen in Avonport, and was excited to show us her latest creations. We have images of some of her carvings we have sold at the gallery if you click here. It was always a delight to visit Eddie Mandaggio to view his latest work and listen to the stories of some of his life adventures.. You can see short videos of Eddie on our web site. Our memories of him busy in his paint shed will always be with us.

In early November Canada Post unveiled new holiday stamps featuring the festive paintings of Nova Scotia folk artist Maud Lewis. Three of Lewis's stamps are featured: one with a covered bridge and horse-drawn sleighs; one with two oxen in a stand of evergreen trees; and one of a family on a horse-drawn sleigh. They are available for purchase for a limited time from the Canada Post site.

If you live in Nova Scotia and you are a fan of Scotia Festival of Music you can enter their annual fundraising draw to win a painting by Maud Lewis. By purchasing a ticket you will be supporting Scotia Festival of Music, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the best of live classical and chamber music to Nova Scotia audiences and giving educational opportunities to the next generation of classical musicians.

And a final note. During this pandemic we have discovered a fantastic program on the Discovery channel about Chad Hiltz, a very talented Nova Scotia self taught artist. He turns metal from junkyards into one-of-a kind award winning cars. Using only basic tools and his limitless ingenuity, Chad will incorporate literally anything into his car builds. Take a look here.

Stay safe everyone.