Hi folks.
We really enjoyed watching King Charles delivering the throne speech at the recent opening of the Canadian Parliament. Our Royal Canadian Mounted Police played an important part in the ceremony. In April 2023, His Majesty King Charles III accepted the title and rank of RCMP Commissioner-in-Chief, and he was presented with a Musical Ride horse named Noble. That horse became His Majesty's new charger, ridden for Trooping the Colour parades. The RCMP is the primary police force for Nova Scotia. The striking scarlet uniform has become a symbol of Canadiana. It is worn today for special occasions, parades, and the legendary Musical Ride which was part of the ceremony for His Majesty King Charles III. The red coated Mountie has always been part of Nova Scotia folk art and we have considered Ransford Naugler's (b. 1953) Mounties up there with the best. Our pint-sized Mountie is an early example of Ransford's work. The hat is almost bigger than the man wearing the hat. He is trimmed out with service stripes, side arm and whistle. In our picture he is standing beside a life size Mountie, also by Ransford and dating back to the late 1980s. We have another Canadian icon represented in Bradford Naugler's carving of Anne of Green Gables, the spirited orphan girl from Prince Edward Island in Lucy Maud Montgomery's books. He has beautifully captured her lovely red locks, and we can see a toe wiggling out of a hole in her shoe. Cecil Mason's (b. 1919) carving of a lawyer or businessman is an interesting choice of subject matter. Cecil worked all his adult years at the local fish plant in Lunenburg, cleaning and trimming fish. He used old tools from the fish plant that he brought home when they were no longer useful for trimming fish and later filed them down for his own use. Each carving was made from a single block of white pine and took over 20 hours to complete. We recently found an early painting of the Entrance to Digby by Fred Trask (b.1946). Fred grew up in Digby and he lived on the main street above his father's barber shop. He was a prolific painter known for his kitchen scenes and depictions of Maud Lewis's house. He loved to paint and told Chris Huntington he wanted to be the best painter in the world. Sid Howard (1913-1992) moved with his 9 year old daughter from St Catharines, Ontario to an out of the way property in Cape Breton when his wife passed away. Concerned that his friends and family would not find him he made several larger than life size figures to mark the turn off to his home. He loved making art and filled his front yard with Mounties, a rhinoceros, goats, large fish and flying birds like our eagle with wings spread holding a worm in it's mouth. When Chris Huntington dropped by for a visit and probably a stiff shot of rum, Sid could not understand why Chris would be interested in buying his work, as he did not see any value in it as art. They did manage to work out a fair price and within a few years Sid's carvings were part of a 1977/1978 travelling exhibition of 20th Century Folk Art of Nova Scotia, and another exhibition entitled "Nova Scotia Folk Art: Canada's Cultural Heritage", also sponsored by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, which toured the United Kingdom in 1989/1990. Well known Quebec artist Edmond Chatigny (1895 - 1985) also loved to decorate his yard with his carvings like the horse we have available at the gallery. Edmond described his process best when he said "When I was on the farm I used to work hard, then when I retired, I had nothing to do and I became bored. That's what decided me to start making little things - wooden flowers, birds, then all kinds of things. I do it with a little saw and a little knife. Sell them? They are not sellable. They are not made in a minute. It s all green, white and red with a little brown. This year I think I am going to put a lot of green and white." Following a period of incarceration, Gilbert Desrochers (1926-1990)) moved to his brother's farm in southern Ontario, where he created a visionary environment. He worked in a manic state, explaining that his inspiration came from God and that God would show him what to carve. His surroundings were constantly changing as he moved on to new projects and ideas and sometimes old pieces were incorporated in new projects. His discovery by contemporary artist John Hartman led to a solo exhibition at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection from November 1991 to March 1992. In this wonderful rendition of a cow looking sideways, Gilbert has used sawdust in the paint to replicate the cow's hair. We have three additions to our Other Artists section. The art in this section is often done by unidentified artists. Sometimes the art work is signed but very little information is known about the artist. The small grey fox was purchased many years ago from the Houston North gallery in Lunenburg. It is dated 95 and signed Tibby. The two gangsters were found in a quirky little folk art shop on Mount Pleasant in Toronto owned by John Ingram, who also owned a fine art gallery on Avenue Road. They are by Rob Oppenauer an Ontario Folk artist/outsider artist. He states in his bio "Some of my work is meaningful and some just whimsical. I work mostly with found wood, metal and an assortment of objects. My work has been in many Galleries mostly fine craft across Canada and some in the US." And the last piece, which does not really qualify as folk art, came to us through a collection of folk art. It is a mischievous looking blue cat by Christina Luck. Be safe everyone. | ||
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Please visit us on our facebook page  , Instagram  , and  . You can also watch videos of some of the artists whose work we carry on YouTube  . Enjoy!
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| GALLERIES | ||
| List of Artists |
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| U.K. Folk And Outsider Artists
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| U.S. Folk And Outsider Artists |
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| Canadian Folk and Outsider Artists |
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| First Nations/Native Artists |
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