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

It has been a busy month since our last newsletter. We decided to take several road trips and enjoy the fall weather. The leaves have started to change colour and Nova Scotia is one beautiful province. We ended up in Digby, found some great Digby scallops near the wharf, and a very nice Maud Lewis painting of a scene that should be in everyone's collection - the covered bridge in winter. This painting was done by Maud in the 50s, before she was featured in the Star Weekly which carried her story to all Canadians and several people in the United States. Unfortunately, her discovery resulted in a heavy increase in the demand for her work, at a time when her physical condition was deteriorating. As a result, little of her work reached the standards of the work she did prior to 1964. This artwork is an excellent example of her work, and the provenance is impeccable.

We also discovered (and they are becoming increasingly hard to find) a Cyril Hirtle painting. Cyril started painting in his late 80s and did fewer than one hundred paintings according to his manager and nephew Kevin. Cyril's depiction of two beautiful bucks following the deer feed directly to his door is a fanciful thought. The colours are vivid, the plants are surreal, and the perspective is all Cyril.

One of our more scenic trips was to the Aspotogan Peninsula to visit Cecil Moser's daughter Veronica. She said "living by the ocean and being around boats and fish inspired his work. Thus, Mosher carved seagulls, loons, whales, fish, small boats, dories, etc. He also made each grandson a Tancook schooner with working sails and leaded keels that would sail." Because his carvings were given to his family and friends, his work did not come to the attention of the wider art world until after his death. It is not surprising that the last piece he would make would be the Matthew, which was the ship in which John Cabot sailed from Bristol to Newfoundland in 1497. Cecil has written a note with a description of the Matthew and tucked it into a red tube at the base of the ship.

This month we also received an Eddie Mandaggio flying hummingbird from a very nicely curated collection which we have been slowly selling for a wonderful couple from Nova Scotia. Eddie was a woodsman. His studio was nestled in the woods, but he spent most of his time deep in the woods in his painting shed. It looked like a Jackson Pollock painting with large old wooden windows that let the sun stream in and quickly dry his work. This little hummingbird probably hung in those windows to dry. We had many enjoyable visits with Eddie and miss him very much.

The Patricia Promaine painting featured this month travelled all the way from a collection in Alberta. Patricia was raised on a farm near the Amish community in south western Ontario, and eventually settled in Kitchener, Ontario. Her paintings reflect her memories of her life growing up, and in this particular work she has captured the happy daily life of her neighbours, with children playing, men milking cows, chickens scratching for food and pigeons sitting on the barn roof. Because she started painting late in life, and often took a couple of months to complete a painting, her work only comes available on a limited basis.

And from another road trip to Halifax we have several pieces from an eclectic collection of an artistic couple that you will find engaging. The first piece is a very unique and utilitarian piece by Barry Colpitts - a coat rack with four bird head hooks. Its sturdy, handy and delightful to look at. We are really hoping to see the release in October of the children's book Folk Art Animal Sounds which features artwork exclusively by Barry. You can preorder this beautifully illustrated book by clicking here.

The little turtle by one of the great early folk artists Garnet McPhail is as cute as a button. It isn't signed but he has used a stamp like the one he used for the armadillo we have in the gallery. Garnet would often use texture to define his animals and reptiles. His alligators had protruding wooden spikes and baubles. Deep gashes with his axe or jack knife defined scales and feathers and the stamp work on this turtle was just for fun.

The red bird by Leo Naugler is from the same collection. Who gets away with mixing those colours? Only Leo. He has boldly painted his name and the date on the wings. Leo's birds from the nineties were his best and it was his most popular period. Leo's carvings were included with a group of selected works which toured the United Kingdom in 1989. He appeared in the 1994 National Film Board production, "Folk Art Found Me", and he was the subject of a number of newspaper and magazine articles, and several television shows. In 1996, several of his carvings were part of an exhibition of Canadian folk art at the McMichael Canadian Art Museum in Kleinburg, Ontario.

The work of the father and son team of Tom and Stanley Rector also had a prominent place in this collection. We are showing you one of three seagulls by Tom Rector. Tom had a way of grabbing our hearts with his birds. This seagull has his head slightly cocked to one side as if he is watching you before he grabs that crab. Our collector displayed the three seagulls together on a windowsill looking down at the Halifax traffic.

And from Tom's son Stanley Rector we have a self portrait. Stanley was included in Ray Cronin's recent book Nova Scotia Folk Art, An Illustrated Guide. Tom was not and with all due resect to Ray, we think both should have been included. Stanley's people are always very expressive and take command of any room. We hope to offer you more of this collection in upcoming newsletters.

We received some additional information from folk artist David Stephens about the fancy lady by Sid Howard mentioned in our last newsletter. According to David "this carving is in honour of late Ann Terry. She was a local radio/television/media celebrity - long before the days of national, international broadcasting and social media. She was always front and centre at local events, openings, unveilings, etc. Sid's wonderful carving was created from the heart - and in her likeness - and it truly captures the essence of who she was and what she meant to so many locally."

We would also like to tell you about an exciting new Facebook site created by Scott Higgins. Scott Higgins is a folk and outsider artist who began creating carved art in 1987 at age 18. His work was featured at galleries in Halifax and Lunenburg and the Mira Goddard Gallery in Toronto. Scott decided to stop carving in the late 90s after completing his 7 ft. "Lord of the Flies" which is now in the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. Scott earned a degree in History from St. Mary's University and a journalism degree from King's College. He has been a freelance writer since 1995 and has been doing some painting in recent years. His site features memories and stories about some of the well known folk artists and some of the brilliant unrecognized artists from Nova Scotia. You can access it by clicking here.

Be safe everyone.

Please visit us on our facebook page