Frank Johnston, Gravenhurst

CHRISTMAS IN GRAVENHURST -

A GREAT BUT UNDER-RESPECTED ARTIST IN GRAVENHURST - AND THE CONNECTION TO CANADIAN ART

IT HASN'T BEEN EASY RETURNING TO MY OFFICE THIS AFTERNOON. I WENT FOR A WALK IN THE WOODS, AND THE LIGHT DUSTING OF SNOW, AND THE SPIRALS DANCING DOWN OVER THE BOG, MAKE THIS A LIVING PIECE OF ART. THERE IS THE SMELL OF WOODSMOKE WAFTING IN THE AIR, THE SCENT OF PINE AND RETIRED CAT-TAILS, AND A FRESH, CHILLED WIND COMING OFF THE BAY. I COULD STAND OUT HERE ALL AFTERNOON AND NEVER BE BORED…..NEVER TIRE OF SEEING THE SNOW DUSTING OVER THE FROZEN BOG GRASSES, AND DECORATING THESE TALL PINES. AND THEN THERE'S THE PROBLEM OF MY WIFE, SUZANNE. GADS, SHE'S ON A CHRISTMAS BAKING JAG, AND THE SMELL OF SHORTBREADS IN THE OVEN IS TERRIBLY DISTRACTING. I KNOW IN A WHILE, IF I KEEP LOOKING THROUGH THE DOOR, WITH A PATHETIC FACE OF WONT, SHE'LL EVENTUALLY SEND DOWN A SMALL PLATE OF STILL-WARM COOKIES. AFTER ALL, THOREAU'S SISTER USED TO BRING HIM COOKIES, WHILE AT HIS CABIN ON WALDEN POND. A HOT CHOCOLATE WOULD BE NICE. I'M NOT DEMANDING. I'M JUST AN ORDINARY HUSBAND WHO WORSHIPS HIS WIFE. AND IT'S CHRISTMAS, SO LET'S MOVE ON.

NOTE: BEFORE READING THIS BLOG, PLEASE CHECK THE PREVIOUS BLOG, POSTED EARLIER TODAY, SHOWING A SMALL PRINT OF THE GRAVENHURST TRAIN STATION.

I GOT AN EARLY CHRISTMAS PRESENT, OTHER THAN THE COOKIES I EXPECT LATER ON. I COLLECT ART. I GOT THE ONE I'VE BEEN SEARCHING HIGH AND LOW FOR, OVER MOST OF THE PAST FIVE YEARS. IT'S A GRAVENHURST STORY. JUST DOESN'T HAVE SUCH A HAPPY ENDING. FOR ME YES, FOR THE ARTIST, NO!

IT WAS JUST OVER TWO WEEKS AGO TODAY, THAT I ASKED SUZANNE (MY RESEARCH PARTNER) IF SHE COULD DO AN ONLINE SEARCH FOR A FORMER GRAVENHURST ARTIST, WHO HAD ONCE DONE MY PORTRAIT. FOR THE PURPOSES OF SOME INTERESTING HISTORICAL BLOGS, FOR THIS WINTER, I WANTED TO DO SOME BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL WORK ON CANADIAN PRINT-MAKING LEGEND, AND AMAZING WATERCOLORIST, FRANK JOHNSTON. IF YOU'VE BEEN IN MUSKOKA FOR THIRTY OR SO YEARS, YOU'VE PROBABLY COME UPON HIS NAME OR ART IN ONE FORM OR ANOTHER….FROM LARGE PRINT DEPICTIONS OF OUR HISTORIC BUILDINGS OR TRADITIONAL COMMUNITY SCENES ON GREETING CARDS. I FIRST GOT TO KNOW FRANK'S WORK, WHEN WE'D GO, AS A YOUNG FAMILY, TO GRAVENHURST'S SLOAN'S RESTAURANT, ON MUSKOKA ROAD, WHERE NUMEROUS LARGE FORMAT WATERCOLORS HUNG, PROFILING MANY OF THE FAMED MUSKOKA LAKES STEAMSHIPS. THEY WERE MAGNIFICENT AND COMPELLING, AND ONE OF THE REASONS ANDREW, IN HIS EARLY YEARS, BECAME A STEAMSHIP FANATIC. HE COPIED FRANK'S WORK BUT IN LEGO INSTEAD OF PAINTS. BUT THE PRESENCE OF THOSE PAINTINGS, GAVE SLOANS AN AMAZING AMBIENCE TO LOCALS AND VISITORS. IT WAS A PLEASANT PLACE TO SIP A COFFEE AND HAVE SOME OF THEIR FAMOUS BLUEBERRY PIE…..AND GLANCE LONGINGLY AT THOSE COLORFUL PAINTINGS BY AN ARTIST FEW KNEW MUCH ABOUT.

MY FIRST INTRODUCTION TO FRANK JOHNSTON, WAS WHEN HE SKETCHED MY PORTRAIT, FOR A NEW COLUMN I WAS WRITING FOR THE FLEDGLING LOCAL PUBLICATION, "MUSKOKA TODAY," RUN BY THE CLAIRMONT BOYS, HUGH AND MARK. THE COLUMN WAS HEADED "HOMETOWN ADVANTAGE," AND HOW PLEASED I WAS THAT FRANK REPRESENTED ME SO HANDSOMELY. A TOUGH TASK. I LOVED THAT SKETCH. FRANK HAD DONE IT FOR ALL THE WRITERS THEN, AS A FAVOR TO HIS OLD FRIEND HUGH, ONE OF GRAVENHURST'S MOST POPULAR TRUMPET PLAYING COLUMNISTS.

I STILL DIDN'T KNOW TOO MUCH ABOUT FRANK AT THIS POINT, OTHER THAN I WANTED TO OWN EVERY ORIGINAL WORK HE EVER PAINTED.

In fact, it wasn't until long after his demise that I quite accidentally picked up a biography of Canadian artist Harold Town, one of the Group of Eleven painters of the 1950's, that had been written by a close friend, author Iris Nowell. The book is titled "Hot Breakfast for Sparrows," referring to what Town's father used to say, when the horsedrawn delivery cart passed their family home……suggesting the birds would soon be benefitting from what had been left behind. I've long been a follower of Harold Town's work, and as a kid, I used to watch him as a frequent guest of Lunchtime with Elwood Glover, and it was always interesting when columnist Paul Rimstead was booked as a guest at the same time. (Rimstead had gone to Bracebridge High School.) Both were practical jokers and Elwood had his hands full……if I remember correctly, pies in the face were a regular occurrence. Back to point, while reading the book, I kept coming across the name of print maker, Frank Johnston, without really putting our artist, and Harold Town together, until I saw a black and white image showing the both of them, and I knew it was the same chap who had so capably made my face look human. It was referenced in the book, that Town considered Frank Johnston one of the finest print makers in Canada. When you read about Town, you'll appreciate just what kind of man Johnston had to be…..on two levels, not to strangle him. One as a persnickety, attention to detail print maker, and the other as a patient, level-headed, compassionate partner in the process. Town was, by all accounts, almost inhumane about those who dealt with his art work……whether on the printing press, or hanging it for an exhibit. For Johnston, it nearly drove him nuts, because Town seemed to be able to find the most minute flaw…..and force another round of adjustments before a full run of copies could be made. There were plenty of arguments, and although some observers might have felt a fisticuff was about to occur, the professionals worked it out, to make exceptional products.

And it was common to find both Johnston and Town, and other celebrity guests, like art historian David Silcox, out on the printmakers sailboat, the "Cara Mia," that he stored at the side of his Hughson Street house for years. There are a few references to these party-outings on the Cara Mia, in Iris Nowell's book. By the way, Silcox and Town were co-authors of the landmark biography, "Tom Thomson; Silence and The Storm," published in the early 1970's.

As for the online search for information on Frank Johnston, it is dominated by information on Group of Seven, founding artist, Franz (Frank) Johnston, who also had a family connection in Muskoka. I began looking through boxes of archives material, trying to find one of about twenty print images I own, made but not signed by the artist. In two weeks I tore into about thirty boxes, with no result. I won't say I'd given up, but certainly decided to give myself a little wiggle-room to do the blog on his work. What was possibly the strangest aspect of the past several weeks, was that something told me my luck was about to turn. Seeing as I'm always working on paranormal stories, and research, it's not uncommon to get this feeling of impending discovery. It does happen, that if I seek something hard enough, eventually the log-jam breaks, and there's a flood of connected materials to satisfy my needs. But it's how these finds are made that's quite unusual. I'll have books fall off a shelf by themselves, that are the ones I'm looking for. I don't argue with the ghost librarian. I get what I need. End of story.

Yesterday afternoon, Suzanne and I were antique hunting in Muskoka, as we have done every weekend since we got married in the mid 1980's. In a Bracebridge antique shop, (second hand items as well), I had exhausted my search, and was just about to ask Suzanne if she'd found anything we couldn't live without…..and that if not, I was ready to move on to the next shop down the line. I made one last turn of an aisle, looked down, and sitting on a little dresser was my holy grail for the year. My Christmas present. It was a small, handsomely framed Frank Johnston print, featuring a train pulled into the Gravenhurst Train Station, circa 1987, in the midst of a winter snowfall. Best of all, it was titled and signed by Johnston himself…..with a bonus biography adhered to the back. I would have paid quadruple the asking price for that important piece of Frank Johnston art. Now here's the coincidence…..whether any Christmas spirits were involved….well, that depends on whether you believe in stuff like this. Not only was I actively searching for some biographical material, as well as a print to use in this blog, in one purchase I got both. Even before I got into that shop, I was still trying to think where I might have stashed some of this greeting cards in the house. And add to this, the fact that on at least three occasions this week, I wrote about trains in my respective hometowns (in the winter)……Bracebridge, while growing up, Gravenhurst ever since. Now considering the deep immersion in the quest for Johnston, and the huge whacks of copy written about my life with trains here in South Muskoka (blog entries this week), it's more than a little unusual that I would find it all in one shop, on one dresser-top, and all inclusive on one piece of art. In a second blog, tomorrow, I would like to re-print Frank's own biography, on the back of the small art piece, for future reference.

The story of the steamship art from Sloans is a long story, and I only know a small portion of it…….disallowing me any kind of expertise to provide appropriate, factual enlightenment. I do know that the artist was not a happy camper, when he learned the paintings had been sold to a Huntsville institution…..as it was understood by him, that if the paintings were ever removed from the restaurant, for any number of reasons, the Town of Gravenhurst would become stewards of the small collection. This didn't happen, and to the best of my knowledge, feelings between the town and artist never healed…..and may have never even been addressed, as a matter of protocol, to a well known artist who had served the cause of history and culture so well, for so many years. He moved away, and spent the final years of his life in Picton, Ontario to be closer to family. I stand to be corrected, and would appreciate hearing from anyone who knows more about the life and times of Frank Johnston…..that I could use to provide a clearer biography of a truly fascinating man.

More to come in tomorrow's blog.