CHAPTER #14

Volunteer days and creative times

It was only after Don and I got married that I felt free to indulge my creative urges. First there were the few painting classes in Long Island and then inspiration at the Art Guild of Scarborough. It was great fun to experiment with colour and form and in the beginning I was quite prolific. Fortunately there was a small gift store in Apsley that sold more than a few of the landscapes I painted at the lake, otherwise they might have been used to build an extension on the cottage. My real interest, however, has always been in painting people.

There was a year in which six or seven members of the Guild attended a high school in Scarborough to take adult art classes. It was a wonderful opportunity to try different media: clay, printmaking, pastels, acrylics, and oils: we learned a lot by trying everything. Actually I have always felt drawn to working three-dimensionally so playing with clay was very satisfying to me. With the help of Rod's advice and keen eye I made clay representations of all fifteen species of Canadian owls for Kay and she has them displayed on a bureau in the dining room at Fossil Hall.

In early 1978 I was asked to represent the Art Guild at an arts conference (held jointly by the City of Scarborough, Ontario Arts Council and Ministry of Culture) to activate the arts in Scarborough. It was an interesting experience and at the end of it, a Steering Committee was formed to establish an arts council in this city. Six months later I attended a meeting to hear the Steering Committee's report and ended up being nominated to the board of the proposed new arts council. I agreed to serve, rather reluctantly. Had I known it was to provide me with six years of full time work, I might have thought twice about accepting the position at all.

First I was the Secretary and cobbled together a newsletter, among other things. With no permanent address for the arts council, our personal home telephone number was used as a contact, so I was literally run off my feet answering the phone until an office was established in the Ellesmere Statton School one year later.

In a continuing effort to publicize the existence of Arts Scarborough, one day I approached Scarborough Cable TV with a proposal to interview local artists and allow them to demonstrate their particular art form on camera, with examples of finished works on display. They decided to give it a whirl, I was invited to be the producer/interviewer and instructed to get a minimum of four additional volunteers to act as camera operators and work in the control booth. My friends Tina Noble, Yvonne Komlenovich, Julia Kemp, Isabell Currie, Helen James and others volunteered for the job and we were off and running.

Ultimately our team produced over sixty programs featuring painters, musicians, potters, decoupeurs, choral groups, woodcarvers, poets, quilters, actors and craftspeople - it was never difficult to find talented artists to feature and it was great fun to do. In fact I still occasionally meet people at art shows who regularly watched the program but, like everything, it ran its course and lives on now only in a few tapes that I remembered to save and in the archives of one or two libraries.

In late '79 I became president of the arts council and also served on the founding board of Human Services of Scarborough. One of my chores for HSS was to co-ordinate the first multicultural week up at the Town Centre and arrange performances for the central space. We had dancers from China, Greece, Armenia, Korea, and Scotland, along with barbershop groups, choirs and individual performers.

That experience also enabled me to produce quite a few Arts Scarborough concerts at the Civic Centre and to co-ordinate displays during Arts week in various Scarborough locations for, and with the help of, the Recreation and Parks Department. For a while there it was touch and go as to whether I would relocate to Hollywood to start a whole new career as impresario!!

The arts council took part in Canada Day parades for a number of years. The first year Colin DeLuca (first president) managed to borrow a tiny antique car which ran on a lawnmower engine. We bought hundreds of colourful balloons, had fifty yellow T-shirts stamped with the AS logo and invited thirty or forty school children, each carrying bunches of helium-filled balloons, to march behind the car, which was also festooned with balloons. All went well until the engine couldn't make it up a hill near the end of the parade. Colin and I bravely pushed it all the way to the top of the hill, accompanied by encouraging hoots and whistles from crowds along the way. Fortunately weariness was completely forgotten when our pushed-walking float won third prize in the parade.

Over the years we made other more ambitious floats: Artypus went through two or three incarnations, Artysaurus was another, but eventually we found that it just took up too much energy to keep doing it so we channelled it elsewhere.

I was greatly honoured in 1982 to be designated Citizen of the Year by the provincial Recreation & Parks Department during Scarborough's Annual Volunteer Recognition night. I had to make a (mercifully) short speech in front of more than 600 people but, even though I was extremely nervous, I managed to get through it with only minor trembling.

Next came the Arts in Action Conference to establish a 5 year arts plan for the city. Paul Schafer and I co-chaired a Task Force to draft this plan. Fortunately Paul, with his extensive knowledge of cultural policy, did all of the work while I simply kept the meetings under control and prepared minutes. We were really pleased when many of the recommendations made by the Task Force were eventually implemented by the city.

When I retired in 1983 as president of the arts council my friends, Paul Schafer and June James, went to a great deal of trouble to organize a huge farewell party for me at the Guild Inn. Everyone was there: the mayor, politicians, friends, family and many potentates from the arts. There were speeches and gifts (two fine easels), entertainment and a wonderful dinner. I handed over the gavel to David Masters, who had been Treasurer on the board, and breathed a sight of relief thinking that I'd now be able to relax a little more - but then came Fanfare '84.

By now the Arts Council had engaged a young, ambitious executive director who was able to persuade board members to hold a city-wide festival in Scarborough. Two professionals were hired to do the production work, and funding was obtained from three levels of government. A fabulous 6-weeks-long festival was organized with events showcasing professional artists of the highest calibre performing with local amateurs. Unfortunately, we soon discovered that there was not enough audience support for a festival of that size in Scarborough; ticket sales did not meet expenses incurred and, after only one-third of the events had taken place, the festival had to be abandoned, leaving the arts council with a debt of $250,000.00! Panic Stations were manned in full force.

Current president, David Masters, convened meetings which went on for many hours, the executive director resigned, and lawyers were invited on board to help solve the problem. When the lawyers discovered the enormity of the debt, they recommended declaring bankruptcy and quickly vanished.

However, with the staunch support of remaining board members, and the help of a new executive director, Sheila Hillen, debts were either renegotiated or forgiven, additional funds were raised and some events rescheduled without the aid of professional producers. Ultimately the debt was paid in full and the Arts Council gained a well-deserved reputation for accountability and dedication.....and I lost, forever, my own ability to cope with stress.

When Sheila left Arts Scarborough and went to work for the city, Lynne Atkinson took over as executive director and I stepped in to fill the job of administrative assistant for a year. Lynne turned the AS newsletter into a high class newspaper and made many other creative changes but when I left after a year, so did she. Happily she has remained a very good friend of mine ever since that time.

Somewhere along the way I received two more medals for volunteerism: a Bicentennial Award from the province and another one from the Federal Government celebrating 125 years of Confederation. I'm sure you will agree that that's quite enough recognition for one lifetime, so 'nuff said.

Here's a postscript to the Fanfare debacle: Arts Scarborough was holding a rescheduled concert by Chinese pianist, Fou T'song. I was rushing around trying to look important on the evening of the concert when my friend Gert showed up for the performance on the arm of my ex-husband! Fortunately it wasn't a total surprise to me because he had telephoned a month or so earlier, completely out of the blue, from Ottawa. I was surprised then, of course, since I hadn't seen or heard from him in 21 years. "Just wanted to know how things are going with you".... uh, huh.... and to say he was lonely. Oh, yes?

After we got caught up on who had died and when, I mentioned that one of my friends travelled to Ottawa quite frequently and that she was lonely, too. Would he like an introduction to my friend Gert? Yes, please. I called Gert and she said "Sure, why not?"; so when Bill phoned back the next day I gave him her number and before the week was out he and Gert were bonking each other in Don Mills! (Gert told me.) Well! I thought, he sure has changed - and what about Gert? At the concert Bill and I reacted to meeting each other in much the same way: total amazement that we both now had white hair. I lost touch with Gert some years ago but, before that happened, the Gert-Bill liaison had ended.

One other comment about the Fou T'song concert. We knew it was customary for the guest artist to receive a bouquet of flowers after the concert. Because the arts council was so strapped for cash, I got a number of baskets of flowers from the local funeral parlour, extracted all the red and white carnations and a little greenery, made them into a very nice arrangement wrapped in cellophane and tied them with a bow. I hope he never found out about it.

In '83 our first male cat, Mingo, died of leukaemia. This sad event depressed Misty so much that we soon acquired Topaz. It took a while for Misty and Topaz to accept each other but they eventually did and lived amicably together until poor little Topaz died two years later of cardiomyopathy.

When we had recovered from that loss we brought Blinky and Bluebell into the equation. That really set Misty back on her little black paws. Two small kittens who wanted her to mother them so much that they wouldn't leave her alone until she finally gave in and let them cuddle up to her as much as they wanted. Misty lived to be 23 years old and when she died Blinky was as inconsolable as we were.

Around 1987 Don retired from paid employment and decided to do consulting work from home. When Northway was dismantled and sold to Questor much of the office material was simply abandoned. At the time Don was asked to take custody of whatever he thought was worthwhile saving. Guess where it all ended up? On specially built shelves in our double garage, in boxes under tables or piled up against the walls in our spare bedroom. Things had to change: Don was unable to work in that small space and when Genevieve came home she had to climb over boxes to get to bed. So we decided to build a two room extension onto the back of the house for Don to use as an office.

The new extension turned out to be a boon from my standpoint because, when Don found even that space inadequate, he rented an office up the road and moved most of the stored material to those premises. And I inherited a room with great lighting for a studio. My very own studio! Perfect.

One of the really special cultural spaces in Scarborough is called the Cedar Ridge Creative Centre. It's a centre for teaching both art and crafts as well as a very fine gallery, so I was thrilled when my portrait of the late Nikita Marner was included in the Cedar Ridge permanent collection and especially pleased that my little mother was in Canada to see its inaugural exhibition.

Learning to skate.

One of the things I've always wanted to do was learn to skate. So I thought, since everyone in Canada seems to know how to do it, what better place to learn? My friend June James offered to teach me and so off I went to buy a pair of snappy new skates. Not only that: I persuaded Don and Rod to buy skates too so that we could all enjoy the sport together. Don used to be a hotshot skater when he was younger and played the clown in a number of Carnivals at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club.

Things went really well, June was a good teacher although I was slow to learn how to stop properly so kept slamming into the boards and hurting my shoulder joints. Kathy Pitt joined us a couple of times and I got along famously between the two of them. It was so exciting.

Then June had to go away for the weekend. Oh, no! I was so keen that I decided to go solo. Did pretty well, too, without even holding on, until my friend Doris McCarthy (who, at 92 could still do twirls and figure eights) came along and took me out onto centre ice - then set me free - to fall within seconds.

Broke my ankle in two places and couldn't walk on it for six weeks. Lynne, crying crocodile tears, gleefully took possession of my new skates, while Rod's and Don's went into a garage sale, having been used only once. Damn, I thought, another dream bites the dust..... guess I'll just have to try something a little less hazardous next time.

Just before I had that unfortunate skating accident something exciting fell into my lap: a commission from Lipton's Soups to do eighteen portraits for their cross-Canada Family Pride Contest. It was a contest in which one family was chosen, from the five regions of Canada, to have a portrait painted with up to four subjects in it.

Most of those portraits were painted from a wheelchair in our living room because of my skating accident. At the same time, our old cat Misty was dying. So, as you can imagine, it was a challenging and stressful time for me.

I think I've recounted enough of my painting experiences for now except to mention that, over the years, I have garnered 27 ribbons for best this or that in Art Guild shows - events which always made me feel pleased and re-energized but, unfortunately, didn't always mean I was to become a great deal more productive.

Every year, in August, the arts council stages a large art and craft show in the beautiful grounds of the Guild Inn. I invariably sit at the Art Guild's table and demonstrate portrait painting just to keep busy. Whenever Mum has been in Canada she has taken pleasure in keeping me company and she once even sold some of her own beautiful hand-crocheted doilies.

I have experimented with soft sculpture, making boxes out of vinyl, papier mache, made 200 leather name bags for a conference (each one different), created silk flowers, worked with soapstone, clay and paint......in fact somebody had better hit me over the head soon or I'll just keep on going forever. We ran out of wall space long ago, every closet is filled to bursting and even the beds have more than shoes under them these days.