A RESPITE AT GULL LAKE PARK -
LIFE OF THE BIOGRAPHER A BEAUTIFUL THING…….BUT I DON'T HAVE TIME TO RAKE THE YARD……..BUT THAT'S OKAY
As I explained in a recent blog, the response we've been getting here, at Birch Hollow, to the request for information that was published on Friday, in The Weekender, on the life and art of Richard Karon, has been outstanding. Only days after it made the district-wide paper, readers have answered ten out ten questions I had going into the weekend. I've been working side by side the artist's son, also named Richard, and we've had some nagging questions, that after three months of sleuthing, seemed almost impossible to answer. Well, thanks to the kind people of Muskoka and area, we've been able to infill these areas in the biography, and find some very significant Karon originals in homes and cottages around the district. It's exciting stuff, because when we began the research, I have to tell you, it was pretty thin. Why? Richard Jr. was only seven years old when his father died of cancer, and because of an earlier separation in the family, a lot of intimate time was lost with his dad, when he needed it the most. So due to his father's death and the fact their home and studio / gallery had been sold off in the mid 1980's, he didn't have much, in the way of personal recollections, of time spent with his day…..which is the usual place to start a project of this magnitude. So we just worked with the sparse amount of biographical material we had, and asked for help from those who knew him, or had purchased paintings from his Baysville, Ontario studio. So we've been answering emails for three days now, and the amount of critical information received, has enlightened us immensely from even a few days earlier. We're getting tired here, sitting at the computer, but each time we get another important tidbit of information, it's so darn exciting, well sir, we forget all about being tired, and soldier on. If you're going to be swamped…..let it be the case its something you don't mind being buried in…….and this works for us. Suzanne is a teacher / librarian, after all, so she helps organize in-coming and out-going, and a lot of things in between. I haven't made handwritten notes likes this since university…..when I had the fortune of getting every fast-talking professor that worked there.
A lot of folks who do email, have asked for us to set aside a book or two for them, when the biography finally makes it to print. At this point, we don't have any firm plan to put this into book form, as we really do want to share this story with as many as possible, free of charge….we think that's what the artist would have liked……no trees felled to make his life-story more appealing. We will be publishing the biography online, via this blogsite, beginning on April 16th, at 8:30 p.m., and it will run parallel to a music video displaying his art work, much of it contributed by our generous friends, and the series will continue on a daily basis until it reaches its conclusion……we're not sure, with the responses that we have now, and will soon receive, if there will be an end…..so, it's likely, we are going to have at least three weeks of daily entries. When we do have some time, at the end of the biography, we will be setting up a separate blogsite for Richard Karon, to make it easier to access, and add-to when new information becomes available. We'll keep adding to it for as long as it takes……to get the best profile of the artist possible. We'll run all the photographs of his paintings we can accumulate. And we will be able to answer questions from painting owners and researchers in the future.
We just returned from a short hiatus down at Gravenhurst's Gull Lake Park, where we enjoyed the first picnic of the season. What a dandy place to enjoy an early spring day, and "people watch." There were lots of folks like us out and around today, and some travelers who had stopped in our fair town to enjoy the sights. We've got lots of them. The Barge looks lonely out there in the lake……but it appears from a distance, that the repair work has progressed, but then most of the important reinforcements were to be added beneath the platform…..so we're not sure whether this has been completed yet our not. It felt almost sinful sitting out there, with the open lake, a warm breeze, a nice sun, and knowing March hasn't gone out yet…….and we're already basking. Normally, we would have been forced to look out over this scene, from the comfort of our vehicle…..where we would nibble on treats safely covered from the sharp snap of cold March wind. It was like May today, and I know somewhere down the line, we're going to pay for this……with an April snow event, and potentially late frosts. We are freaked-out every day around our homestead, to see what else has emerged prematurely from the soft, warm earth. What is normally still frozen, at least on our forested lot, shows no frost the depth of a shovel at least. Global warming? Makes you wonder.
We had a very modest antique outing this week, due to the biography of Mr. Karon. I was able to get some hand-forged blacksmith tongs, in great condition, a nicely executed, signed and numbered print, entitled "Misty Gloucester," (see graphic) (Ontario? we assume), and a perfect condition, six foot long piece of "Harris Tweed, Woven in Lewis, (Scotland)", with its original tag from Nisbet & Auld, of Toronto. The mill was located in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, and was sold in Toronto for $19.99. There is no accompanying date. Suzanne hasn't decided what to do with it, but from the texture, it better not be boxers for me. We also found an amazing original bridge-cloth that we have taken a snap-shot of, showing card players sitting in wicker chairs…..looks like it should be in a Muskoka cottage. It's in good condition, and cost us $30, from a Bracebridge shop. It's worth quite a bit more but Suzanne will use this as a backdrop in our boys' Gravenhurst shop, to highlight other nostalgia pieces we wish to sell. I didn't come home with Quebec pine, a flat-to-the-wall, or a Tom Thomson original, but we didn't come back empty handed either. It was a beautiful day for a drive and a picnic in scenic Muskoka, courtesy a tidy road-side park. I love the drive just as much as the finds out there. We don't race from shop to shop, or sale to sale. There's too much to enjoy in between.
As for our ongoing quest to purchase items with the national symbols……a Maple Leaf, a Beaver, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, our mission has been thwarted recently, with nary an item on the shelves of local antiques and second hand shops. We started this as a little competition in the new year, pitting husband and wife against each other, to see who could find the best examples of these three national symbols on a variety of found antiques and collectibles. We started off with a bang, and came home week after week, with lots of neat nostalgia stuff. Not too old. Mostly souvenirs, but it was a start. To this point we're even with our finds. On July Ist, Canada Day, we're going to show you what we found through a half year of scrounging through flea markets, second hand shops, church fundraisers and yard sales. I think we'll finish the challenge better than we started. Pickings have been lean for the past few weeks, which is okay……we've bee pre-occupied, sort of, with our dual roles of collectors one day, historians the next. It's always an adventure.
I've got a few more emails to write before I topple into bedlam, so I must bid you farewell for now. Thanks for joining me today. Please visit again.
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