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

We hope everyone is enjoying their summer.

The warm weather activities in our area are back in full swing this year with ox pulls, country exhibitions and sandcastle festivals and we have been lucky enough to find some great new works for the gallery.

Barry Colpitts has created another one of his treasure boxes. This one is called Ocean Box and it is covered with seagulls, stars and relief carvings of a lobster and sailboat. The handle to open the box is a pretty little seagull. We hope to have one of his whirligigs soon; hopefully for our next newsletter.

We have also found a charming life size small boy with his dog by Cape Breton artist Murray Gallant. It is one of Murray’s early carvings, done in 1990, a year after the first Nova Scotia Folk Art Festival. Murray has used nails to create the dogs’ teeth and plastic pipe for the ears and tail.

We have several new birds. Leo Naugler’s small spotted duck is also an early carving, evidenced by the fact that it is one piece. As Leo became more popular, he started making carvings that came apart so they were easy for customers “from away” to pack in a suitcase.

Leo’s older brother Ransford made the very unusual little yellow bird we are offering this month. It is like no other bird we have seen but it made our eyes light up when we saw it because of its originality. If you haven’t seen Folk Art Found Me, a video done by the National Film Board of Canada, you should take the time to watch it at this link. The Naugler brothers are featured in the video, and you will enjoy meeting these lively, funny guys, and samples of some of their work.

We have also added a rooster by Jean Marc to the gallery. Jean Marc lived near Cheticamp on Cape Breton Island. He was an Acadian born in the Magdalen Islands and worked the night shift at the fish plant while filling his daytime hours making colourful carvings. To our knowledge he is no longer active.

The eagle with fish by Peter Rafuse is a hanging assemblage and is one of his more original and complex works. It was purchased from Peter directly by the consignor, and we would say it was our favorite carving by Peter, but the little pink spotted pig, also by Peter, is a keeper and leaves us beaming with delight every time we look at it. Peter’s wife Lisa painted his carvings, and the original purchaser of the pig asked her to sign it on the bottom.

And finally, a fish by Larry Fancy done in 1990. More than 30 years old, it has developed a nice patina which enhances the beauty of the work.

Enjoy the remnants of summer and stay safe everyone.