Port Carling Locks Painted by Gravenhurst Artist Frank Johnston

Frank Johnston's depiction of post Victorian Port Carling at the locks.

FRANK JOHNSTON'S PERPETUAL MOTION - INHERENT TO HIS HISTORIC WATERCOLORS

SENSORY PERCEPTION? THE ARTIST WAS COUNTING ON YOUR IMMERSION TO FEEL THE WIND, SMELL THE WOODSMOKE, SEE PASSENGERS COMING, GOING!


     THE DANGER OF REVIEWING THE WORK OF AN ARTIST YOU HAPPEN TO ADMIRE, IS OF COURSE, THE DREADED REALITY, ANY HONEST CRITIQUE WILL LIKELY BE SOFT, AND YOUR BIAS OBVIOUS, RIGHT FROM THE "WORDSMITHING" OF THE FIRST PARAGRAPH. THIS IS VERY MUCH THE CASE FOR ME, BECAUSE IT'S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO BE IMPARTIAL, ABOUT THE WORK OF FRANK JOHNSTON. BUT THEN AGAIN, THIS ISN'T A REVIEW. IT'S A RETROSPECTIVE. A HISTORIC REKINDLING WITH A FELLOW HISTORIAN. EXCEPT HIS EXPRESSION OF THE PAST, CAME THROUGH HIS BRUSH AND WATERCOLOR PAINTS. SO IF THIS OVERVIEW SEEMS AS IF THE ARTIST WAS MY BEST FRIEND, AND THAT MANY OF US HERE, IN GRAVENHURST, THOUGHT HE WAS ONE OF THE FINEST PAINTERS TO DEPICT OUR COMMUNITY, THEN I (WE) HAVE BEEN SPOT-ON. THIS IS THE INTENT. TO RECOGNIZE SOMEONE WHO WASN'T SHOWN OUR ADMIRATION DURING HIS LIFETIME. WHAT A PITY. WE'RE ALL A LITTLE BIT TO BLAME.
     FRANK JOHNSTON HAD A SENSE OF HUMOR. NOT A WICKED ONE, BUT IT WAS BOISTEROUS, WHEN FINALLY RELEASED FROM ITS FIRM TETHER. HE WAS COMPOSED. STOIC. STALWART. AS FOR LAUGHTER, YOU HAD TO BE PATIENT, TRYING TO LOCATE WHAT WOULD SPARK IT BACK TO LIFE. HE HAD A GRUFF EXTERIOR, AND WAS KNOWN TO GRUMBLE, EVEN ABOUT THE STUFF HE LIKED. IN THIS REGARD HE WAS PREDICTABLE. HE JUST NEEDED THE RIGHT OCCASION AND THE PERFECT COMPANY. HUGH CLAIRMONT, FOR EXAMPLE, ONE OF OUR TOWN'S MOST EFFERVESCENT CITIZENS, COULD ALWAYS MAKE HIM LAUGH. MORE SO AFTER SEVERAL LIBATIONS. BUT THEN, THERE WERE FEW HARD ASSES IN THIS TOWN, WHO COULDN'T BE ENTERTAINED BY MR. CLAIRMONT, WHO INCLUDED YOU IN THE GAME, WHETHER YOU WANTED TO PLAY OR NOT. THOSE WHO KNEW FRANK WELL, RESPECTED THE SLOW RELEASE OF WHAT, AT FIRST, SOUNDED A LOT LIKE AN EXTENDED SMOKER'S COUGH, BUT ENDING WITH THE UPTURN OF A DISTINCT, HARDY LAUGH. ARGUABLY, HIS HUMOR WAS A LITTLE DRY, AND DEEP. OTHERS, AFTER A FEW DRINKS, WOULD SAY, WHEN HE DID EVENTUALLY LAUGH OUT LOUD, THAT IT WAS AS IF HE'D BEEN KEEPING IT IN A DARK PLACE, FOR FAR TOO LONG.
    HE SAW, AND ENJOYED THE LIGHTER SIDE, BUT IT WAS LIKE A GROWN-OVER SLIVER, THAT EVENTUALLY HAD TO PENETRATE UP, AND OUT. AS FOR INTUITION AND INSIGHT, HE WAS WORLDLY AND A PROFOUND, INTENSE THINKER. SO IT IS WITH THIS UNDERSTOOD, THAT I OFFER A PREAMBLE APOLOGY TO THE LATE ARTIST, WHO ONCE SKETCHED MY PORTRAIT, ABOUT THE FACT, I AM BEING INSPIRED NOW BY A MERGING OF TWO ART FORMS THIS MORNING, AS I GET READY TO WRITE TODAY'S BLOG. NOT THAT I COULDN'T WRITE ABOUT EACH SEPARATELY, BUT BY THE HAPPENSTANCE, OF SON ROBERT, PLAYING A RECORD IN THE STUDIO, AS I WAS STUDYING FRANK'S DEPICTION OF "THE PORT CARLING LOCKS, 1907," THE TWO, OVER THE COURSE OF TIME IT TOOK TO DRINK A CUP OF COFFEE, FUSED TOGETHER AS IF THEY WERE MEANT TO PARTNER. FRANK WOULD EITHER HAVE BELCHED-OUT A DEEPLY ROOTED CHORTLE ABOUT THIS, BEFORE TOASTING THE BRITISH MUSICIAN, JAIME BROCKETT, A 1970'S FOLK SINGER, FROM HIS RECORD KNOWN SIMPLY AS "2". THESE ARE TRULY CALMING, ENTICING SONGS, LIKE "DOWN RIVER," AND "TAURIAN CANTICLE (WINTER OCEAN) FOR PEOPLE AND DULCIMER," AND THE SENTIMENTAL STIR, LIKE GENTLE, RADIATING RIPPLES AGAINST THE SHORE OF A MORNING LAKE, MERGE ARTIST AND MUSICIAN IN A MOST PLEASING WAY. MAYBE FRANK WOULD APPROVE. GROWL SOMETHING INAUDIBLE. JAMIE BROCKETT? I'M NOT SURE IF HE WOULD CONSIDER THIS A COMPLIMENT OR NOT. IT'S INTENDED TO BE, ON MY PART. POSSIBLY HE WOULD HAVE AGREED, THERE'S WAS SOMETHING SIGNIFICANTLY FOLKISH IN JOHNSTON'S PAINTINGS, MAKING HIS MUSIC A WELCOME COMPANION.
      WELL, THIS MORNING, HERE IN THE HEART OF GRAVENHURST, ONTARIO, WRITING ABOUT ONE OF THE TOWN'S BEST KNOWN ARTISTS, AND ONE OF CANADA'S MOST ACCOMPLISHED PRINT MAKERS, IT WORKS FOR ME; AND THAT TAKES PRECEDENT AT THIS MOMENT.
     THE WATERCOLOR PRINT I'VE SELECTED, FOR TODAY'S FRANK JOHNSTON RETROSPECTIVE, AS KINDLY PROVIDED BY THE JOHNSTON FAMILY, IS OF COURSE, BASED ON A TURN OF THE CENTURY PHOTOGRAPH, TAKEN IN 1907. WHEN I SUGGEST IT WAS BASED ON A PHOTOGRAPH, I DON'T MEAN THAT IT WAS COPIED FROM A PHOTOGRAPH, BECAUSE HE WOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT, AS A RULE. HE WOULD TAKE AN IMAGE AND ADD HIS IMPRESSIONS, THAT ALWAYS SEEM TO ME, A LITTLE MORE HAUNTING, THAN I WOULD DESCRIBE, AS BEING EITHER SENTIMENTAL OR NOSTALGIC. THE MOST INTERESTING ASPECT, IN MY UNTUTORED OPINION OF ART AND ARTISTS, IS THAT THERE IS USUALLY ALWAYS MOTION VISIBLE AND FELT, LOOKING AT THESE HISTORIC PANELS. THEY ARE NOT STATIC. THE ARTIST OBVIOUSLY WANTS TO CREATE THE FEELING OF A MOVING, DYNAMIC CROWD, WITH A BACKDROP OF ROCKING, SMOKING OLD STEAMSHIPS. AS YOU WILL SEE IN HIS MUSKOKA LANDSCAPES, THERE IS ALWAYS THE SENSATION OF, AT THE VERY LEAST, A GENTLE, COOL BREEZE. SOMETIMES EVEN TO THE EXTENT OF IMAGING A WIND, VISIBLE BY THE SHOW OF WHITECAPS ON THE BAY; THE TURBULENCE OF THE DAY MOVING THE EVERGREEN BOUGHS. AND AT TIMES, A STRONG ONE. A BREWING GALE. AND IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY AT SOME OF THE ENLARGEMENTS, OF THE PASSENGERS, AND PASSERSBY, ON THE DOCKS, YOU WILL SEE THAT HE MADE NO EFFORT TO ROMANTICIZE THE SCENE, BY ENHANCING FACIAL EXPRESSIONS, TO CHARACTERIZE THAT EVERYONE WAS HAVING A DANDY TIME. INSTEAD, THERE ARE FOLKS WITH FROWNS, LOOKS OF CONSTERNATION, AND OTHERS SIMPLY EXPRESSIONLESS. IT IS VERY MUCH AS A "FROZEN IN TIME," MOMENT, A BELATED TRIBUTE TO THE PERSON WHO CLICKED THE SHUTTER OF THAT CAMERA.
     FRANK JOHNSTON HAS IN NO WAY EXPLOITED THE HISTORIC SCENE, TO BE INSTEAD, THE REFLECTION OF SWEET, SYRUPY SENTIMENT; JUST SO THAT IT WOULD SELL BETTER, TO PEOPLE WHO ROMANTICIZE ABOUT THE STEAMBOAT ERA. THERE ALL KINDS OF EMOTIONS, IN EVIDENCE, PRESERVED BY THE WATERCOLORIST, WHO, AS I'VE NOTED BEFORE, WAS PRETTY MUCH A WORDLESS HISTORIAN. THERE ARE FOLKS IN THIS MUDDLE OF HUMANITY, WHO ARE SAD, ANXIOUS, FRUSTRATED, CONTENT, ANGRY, HAPPY, AND FULL OF ANTICIPATION, ABOUT THE REST OF THEIR TRAVELS ON LAKE, OR ROAD, ON TO HOMES AND COTTAGE PROPERTIES. IT'S ALL SO "ACTUAL" AND HUMAN, THAT YOU MIGHT IMAGINE YOURSELF IMBEDDED ON THAT DOCK, LOOKING OUT OVER THE WATER, AND UP AT THE SMOKING STACKS OF THE NAVIGATION COMPANY STEAMERS AND PRIVATE YACHTS.
     THE SMELL OF COAL? OF COURSE. THE AROMA OF PERFUME, LEATHER SUITCASES AND OLD WOODEN TRUNKS; EVERGREEN, AND THAT FAMILIAR SCENT OF A WATERCOURSE, OF FISH WASHED UP ON THE SHORE, AND THE AROMA OF WOOD PLANKING IN THE HOT SUN. THE GARBLED SOUNDS OF CONVERSATION, OF CHILDREN YELLING, ONE CRYING, SHIP HANDS CALLING TO SHORE, AND THE SOUND OF THAT DEEP THROB OF STEAM ENGINES IN MULTIPLES, AND PROPELLOR THRUSTS, FROM THE WATER; VIBRATING THE TIMBERS THAT KEEP THIS DOCK UPRIGHT, FOR ALL WHO REQUIRE IT FOR SAFE PASSAGE, FROM BOAT TO SHORE. IT'S CERTAINLY NOT HARD, TO HEAR AND FEEL THIS PAINTING BY FRANK JOHNSTON; HIS IMPRESSION OF WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE, IN THE POST VICTORIAN SUMMERLAND, OF CANADA. SPECIFICALLY, AT THE PORT CARLING LOCKS, CONNECTING LAKE MUSKOKA, TO LAKES ROSSEAU AND JOSEPH. PAINTINGS LIKE THIS, OF THE TRAFFIC AT THE MUSKOKA WHARF, IN GRAVENHURST, REPRESENT THE THEME OF HIS PAINTINGS, WHICH USED TO HANG IN SLOANS RESTAURANT, FOR ALL THE TOURISTS AND LOCAL RESIDENTS TO ENJOY; WHILE WE DINED ON THEIR FAMOUS BLUEBERRY PIE. SOME OF THOSE MUSKOKA VISITORS, STILL REMARK THAT IT WASN'T A CHARACTERISTIC SUMMER HOLIDAY, UNLESS IT INCLUDED A TRIP TO SLOANS; TO ENJOY THE PIE AND THE JOHNSTON GALLERY OF HERITAGE PAINTINGS. I CONCUR. SO DOES THE REST OF MY FAMILY. THE TWO WERE INSEPARABLE FOR MANY YEARS, AND THAT WAS A TRADITION TO THOUSANDS, WHO VISITED MUSKOKA EACH YEAR; AND REGARDLESS WHERE THEY WERE HEADED ON THE LAKES, MADE GRAVENHURST A PRIORITY STOP, TO COMMENCE THEIR VACATION IN STYLE. A POPULAR PLACE? IT WAS INDEED!
     WHAT I HAVE ALWAYS LIKED ABOUT FRANK JOHNSTON IMPRESSIONS, IS THAT THEY ARE ALL INHERENTLY POSSESSED, HAUNTINGLY SO, OF TIME AND ITS PASSING. THESE ARE THE IMAGES WE MIGHT HAVE IMAGINED, OF A TIME AND PLACE, IN OUR DAYDREAMS, OR THE THOUGHTS JUST BEFORE WE FALL ASLEEP, ANTICIPATING A COMING TRIP OR ADVENTURE; BASING THE SCENE ON MEMORIES OF PRIOR ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES; PEOPLE AND THE TRAINS, BOATS, AND AUTOMOBILES, THAT GOT US FROM HERE TO THERE AND BACK. THE SLIGHTLY OUT-OF-FOCUS APPEARANCE, OF HIS ART PANELS, SUGGEST, ACCORDING TO THE SPECIFIC DEPICTION, THAT WE ARE ALREADY OLDER AND WISER, AND MORE DISTANT THAN A MOMENT EARLIER, LOOKING UPON AN EVER CHANGING SCENE. IT'S THE GRAND ILLUSION OF IT ALL, JOHNSTON MAY, OR MAY NOT HAVE INTENDED FOR THE VOYEUR. THERE'S A SENSORY PERPETUAL MOTION, IN THE PHYSICAL SENSE, AND A PERCEIVED ADVANCE OF MINUTES AND HOURS, AS WE KEEP LOOKING AT HIS PAINTING, LOOKING AWAY, AND THEN TAKING YET ANOTHER GLANCE. THIS IS THE NOSTALGIC PART, OF BEING HAUNTED BY MEMORIES. HIS PAINTINGS STICK IN YOUR MIND, FOR LONG AND LONG, JUST AS THOSE MASSIVE WATERCOLORS DID, HANGING IN SLOANS RESTAURANT. I'VE HAD PEOPLE, WHO ADMIRED THEM, TELL ME ABOUT THE ACTUAL ORDER OF STEAMBOAT IMAGES, AS RECALLED IN DETAIL, OF HOW THEY WERE EXHIBITED ON THE SLOANS WALL, FROM FRONT TO BACK, DIRECTLY ABOVE THE DINING BOOTHS. THE PAINTINGS HAVEN'T HUNG ON THOSE WALLS FOR QUITE A FEW YEARS, BUT SOME MEMORIES ARE KEEN IN THIS REGARD. I DO FIND IT QUITE REMARKABLE, AND A SUBTLE TESTIMONIAL TO THE ARTIST.
     THERE IS VERY LITTLE EVIDENCE TODAY, IN GRAVENHURST, THAT FRANK JOHNSTON ONCE LIVED AND WORKED HERE. WHILE WE ARE EAGER TO DESIGNATE HERITAGE BUILDINGS, FOR FUTURE POSTERITY, WE ARE LESS ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT CONSERVING, AND PROMOTING THE HERITAGE OF OUR CITIZENRY. FOR QUITE A NUMBER OF YEARS, ONE OF CANADA'S BEST KNOWN, AND ACCOMPLISHED PRINT MAKERS, WAS WORKING DAILY AT HIS HUGHSON STREET HOME, DOING CONTRACT ART WORK, FOR NATIONAL HERITAGE SITES, AS WELL AS REGIONAL IMAGES FOR CLIENTS, AND VERY FEW APPRECIATED JUST HOW SIGNIFICANT HIS CONTRIBUTION WAS, TO THE ART COMMUNITY OF THIS COUNTRY. HAROLD TOWN, KNOWN FOR HIS ABSTRACTS, AND AS A MEMBER OF THE GROUP OF ELEVEN CANADIAN ARTISTS, FOUND FRANK JOHNSTON OF THE HIGHEST QUALIFICATION, AND MANY OF HIS WELL KNOWN PRINTS, CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO THIS FORMER HOMETOWNER, WHO GETS VERY LITTLE, IF ANY ATTENTION, IN MODERN DAY GRAVENHURST. HE WAS THE TREASURE WE NEVER TRULY CELEBRATED, AND AS A RESULT, JOHNSTON IS NO LONGER FAMILIAR TO THE LOCAL POPULATION, AND NEW AGE COTTAGERS AND TOURISTS. THE FAULT, IF INDEED THERE IS ONE, IS THAT OUR LOCAL POLITICIANS, ARE FAR MORE CONCERNED ABOUT CONTEMPORARY ISSUES, TO RESCUE ANYTHING FROM OBSCURITY; BELIEVING THAT THIS IS A JOB FOR SELF APPOINTED HISTORIANS TO LOOK AFTER.
     IT HAS ALWAYS PERPLEXED ME, THAT FOR A COMMUNITY LOOKING CONTINUALLY, FOR WAYS TO BOLSTER TOURISM, NO ONE HAS EVER FIGURED OUT, THAT IT IS POSSIBLE, WITH CONVICTION, TO RE-INTRODUCE WHAT WORKED IN THE PAST, FOR THE GOOD OF THE FUTURE. THERE ARE THOSE OF RANK IN THIS COMMUNITY, WHO MUDDLE ALONG RECKLESSLY, TRYING TO RE-INVENT THE WHEEL, AND WHEN THEY FAIL, IT IS BLAMED ON THE PUBLIC FOR BEING NON-RESPONSIVE. THEY TRANSFER BLAME BECAUSE IT IS CONVENIENT AND WELL, SELF SERVING. HERE THEN, IS AN ARTIST, WHO SERVED THIS COMMUNITY WELL, FOR SO MANY DECADES, AND DID ATTRACT PEOPLE TO OUR COMMUNITY'S MAIN STREET. YET THESE MOVERS AND SHAKERS, WOULD RATHER QUAGMIRE THEMSELVES, THAN LOOK TO THE PAST FOR SOLUTIONS TO PRESENT PROBLEMS. OF COURSE IT FRUSTRATES AN HISTORIAN LIKE ME, JUST AS THE TOWN'S RELUCTANT ACCEPTANCE, OF BEING NAMED AFTER THE WORK OF A BRILLIANT BRITISH POET / PHILOSOPHER, WILLIAM HENRY SMITH, AND THE BOOK, "GRAVENHURST." THE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF OUR TOWN FALLS WELL BELOW THE SEEMINGLY URGENT NEED TO DESIGNATE HERITAGE BUILDINGS. FRANK JOHNSTON IS PART OF OUR CULTURAL HERITAGE. HE PAINTED IT, AND HUNG IT IN A PROMINENT LOCATION, FOR THE BENEFIT OF THIS TOWN. A SIMPLE, GENEROUS GESTURE, THAT GAVE US EXPOSURE IN ALL THE RIGHT PLACES. AND WE DID BENEFIT. UNFORTUNATELY, WE THOUGHT IT WAS THE BLUEBERRY PIE, MORE THAN THE JOHNSTON PAINTINGS, WHICH MADE IT EASIER TO BYPASS THE ISSUE, WHEN THEY WERE SOLD-OFF AND LEFT US FOREVER. THE OUTRAGE, LET ME TELL YOU, FROM FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE, WAS MUTED TO SAY THE LEAST. BUT FOR A FEW OF US, THERE WAS THE REALIZATION THAT THE LOSS WAS MUCH MORE SUBSTANTIAL. THE ARTICLE IN "MUSKOKA TODAY," AT THE TIME, NOTED THE ARTIST'S PERSONAL CHAGRIN, ABOUT THE RE-LOCATION OF THE PAINTINGS, AS THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE RE-HUNG AT TOWN HALL, IF AND WHEN THE RESTAURANT CLOSED. THERE WAS NOTHING THAT COULD BE DONE TO REVERSE THE SITUATION. JOHNSTON MOVED BACK TO PORT HOPE, WHERE HE SPENT THE REST OF HIS LIFE.
     NOW, IN THIS NEW CENTURY, WE CAN MAKE IT RIGHT IN THIS TOWN, BY BEING RESPECTFUL OF HIS ART WORK, AND EVENTUALLY HOLDING A RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBIT FOR CONTEMPORARY TIMES. WE SHOULD CELEBRATE THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF OUR CITIZENS SPANNING THE DECADES. A COMMUNITY HALL OF FAME? IT WOULDN'T HURT! WE MAY SHOCK OURSELVES, TO LEARN ABOUT HOW MANY EXCEPTIONAL FOLKS CAME FROM THIS SMALL ONTARIO COMMUNITY, AND WENT ON TO POSITIVELY IMPACT THE REGION, PROVINCE, AND COUNTRY, IN MANY DISCIPLINES, FROM ART, WRITING, MUSIC, PERFORMING ARTS, SPORTS, BUSINESS AND POLITICS, JUST TO MENTION A FEW. HOW MANY OF YOU REMEMBER THE SCULPTURES FROM THE HAND OF GRAVENHURST ARTIST, RICHARD GREEN, THE CHAP RESPONSIBLE FOR "THE DIVER," ANCHORED TO THE ROCKS BELOW BRACEBRIDGE FALLS? POINT IS, WE SHOULD KNOW THIS, AND BE PROUD OF OUR PAST ASSOCIATION. THAT'S CALLED HISTORICAL DUE DILIGENCE. IN MY WORLD, HISTORY IS A PRECIOUS RESOURCE, AND ONE TO BE CELEBRATED AND SHARED.
     I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR JOINING PART THREE OF THIS ONLINE RETROSPECTIVE, MADE POSSIBLE BY THE KINDNESS AND RESPECT OF THE JOHNSTON FAMILY. MORE TO COME THIS WEEK.