Thanks for the Response on Biography of Artist

A PROJECT THAT BEGINS AND WHAT YOU SUSPECT IS THE END, IS JUST ANOTHER BEGINNING

RESPONSE TO RICHARD KARON AMAZING-

I REMEMBER THE LETTER I WROTE TO ROGER CROZIER, ASKING IF IT WOULD BE OKAY TO COMMENCE A PRELIMINARY RESEARCH PROJECT, FOR AN EVENTUAL BIOGRAPHY I WANTED TO PUBLISH ON HIS CAREER IN THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE. WHEN HE WROTE BACK, GIVING ME PERMISSION, WELL SIR, I WAS LEVITATING WITH HAPPINESS. I HAD ACTUALLY BEGUN PRELIMINARY RESEARCH BEFORE THIS, WHICH WAS PROBABLY ABOUT 1994. I WAS WORKING ON GETTING ROGER SOME SHOWCASE SPACE AT THE BRACEBRIDGE ARENA, BECAUSE IT WAS PATHETIC, AT THIS POINT……… THERE WASN'T A SINGLE PICTURE OF ROGER, HANGING ANYWHERE IN THE BUILDING. ACTUALLY, THERE WAS A FRAMED PICTURE. BUT IT WAS IN A BOX OF OLD PHOTOGRAPHS, THAT WAS COVERED IN A HALF INCH OF DUST, SITTING IN A STORAGE ROOM. THIS WAS MY BEGINNING ON THE PROJECT, AND EVENTUALLY I WAS ABLE TO WANGLE ONE SMALL SHOWCASE FOR ROGER'S PHOTOS WITH THE DETROIT RED WINGS, THE BUFFALO SABRES AND THE WASHINGTON CAPITALS. OF COURSE, A FEW YEARS DOWN THE ROAD, ROGER WOULD GRANT MY WISH……A BRAND NEW HALL OF FAME SHOWCASE, AT THE ARENA, TO EXHIBIT GENERAL SPORTS HEIRLOOMS BELONGING TO THE TOWN. ROGER HAD PASSED ON, BUT IN HIS MEMORY THE HUGE BANK OF SHOWCASES WERE INSTALLED, AND I WORKED AS CURATOR FOR TWELVE YEARS. AS FOR THE BIOGRAPHY, I DIDN'T WAIT FOR THE BOOK. I ARRANGED TO OFFER THE BIOGRAPHY THAT I HAD COMPLETED, TO MUSKOKA PUBLICATIONS, AS A FEATURE INSERT OF ABOUT 12 PAGES. I EVEN ARRANGED FOR MUSKOKA ARTIST, MARY THRANE, TO DO A PAINTING OF ROGER IN HIS DETROIT RED WING JERSEY. THE LITTLE PUBLICATION WAS A BIG SUCCESS, GOT SOME GOOD SIZED ADS, AND BEST OF ALL, IT MADE ITS WAY TO ROGER'S OFFICE IN WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, AND THE MAJOR AMERICAN BANK HE WORKED FOR…., MBNA. THE NEXT THING I KNEW, ROGER'S MOTHER MILDRED, HIS LAWYER FRIEND JACK HUCKLE, AND I, WERE BEING FLOWN TO A BIG PARTY FOR ROGER, BEING HELD AT LONGWOOD GARDENS, IN PENNSYLVANIA. AT THAT TIME ROGER WAS GETTING A SPECIAL AWARD FROM THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA, FOR HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO THEIR ORGANIZATION……I BELIEVE. I ATE AND DRANK LIKE A KING. WHAT A PLACE TO HAVE A PARTY. IT WAS AN ADVENTURE FOR A BIOGRAPHER, WHO HAD A HUNCH, A MODEST TRIBUTE WOULD BE APPRECIATED. WAS IT EVER.

I have always taken on research and writing projects, that I've found enjoyable (from the initial poking around), and to tell you the truth, a lot of times it has been initiated by the antique and collectible business I happen to be obsessively consumed. My first Roger Crozier collectible was a Coca-Cola bottle cap, from the late 1960's, when he was one of the "Original Six" NHL players, who had their faces printed on the bottle caps. I had all of his hockey cards as a kid, and he invited me to his summer hockey camp here, free of charge. Roger was a generous man, as far as I was concerned, and he had heard that I was a pretty good goaltender…..but needed a little brush up before the start of the next season. I always remember that year, because there were quite a few kids from the Detroit area at the camp, and they were kept in Muskoka longer, because of the race riots, and massive fires happening in the city that particular summer. So when it came to writing his biography, I had all kinds of things that had turned me onto the story, dating back to childhood. As I've mentioned before, it's this odd combination of writer and collector battling for supremacy, the result being some interesting historical / biographical writing jags. I was paid handsomely, after joining with Roger's Crozier Foundation, to assist a team of researchers, including my old American colleague, Charlie Wilson then of MBNA, who was my mentor, to put together the template of a more thorough internationally released biography. For some reason, following his death, it was abandoned. All I know is that my modestly produced biography made it to print, and Roger gave it the thumb's up……and he was about as fussy a boss as there ever was……and that's what I needed back then. Someone who would push me a little harder, knowing that's what made my writing more palatable to a larger audience. Every writer needs help like that, in the early going of a career.

When I look back at some of the other biographies and meaty historic projects I've pulled-off over the decades, they've all been rooted in something I acquired, had access to, or felt connected to by the company I kept. Shortly after I opened up our antique shop, in the late 1970's, in Bracebridge, I became consumed by local history. Not only did I help launch the local historical society, and the initial bid to establish a town museum, but took a part time summer job with the Muskoka Board of Education, to create a tape recorded history resource for the local school network. I had a staff of five, and we fanned out over the countryside, getting dozens and dozens of interviews with many of Muskoka's oldest citizens. I actually held a Free Land Grant document in my hand, at the home of Mrs. Kirbyson, in Ufford (near Three Mile Lake), and listened to so many fascinating tales by well known characters like Henry Longhurst Sr., of Windermere, Bill Andison of Bracebridge, Minnie Percey of Bracebridge, Bus Brazier, also of Bracebridge, and many more, who took us young folk back to the good old days…..with memories of what it was like here in the hinterland, dealing with the Great Depression, and World War. I got the opportunity to immerse deeply in the history of Muskoka, being allowed into their homes, to see their fascinating family albums and heirloom pieces.

Whether it has been researching and publishing the history of the Icelandic community of Hekkla, (near the Village of Rosseau), the logging history which I entitled "The Life and Times of the Shanty Boys," "Muskoka's Cookery Heritage," a further examination of the "Tom Thomson Mystery," or the biographies of Muskoka artists, Ada Florence Kinton, of Huntsville, or Robert Everett, of Bracebridge, they have always provided so much discovery and curious spin-off, much like my research on Roger Crozier had afforded me back in the mid 1990's. Possibly I select my projects wisely. Point is, I just don't have a clue how they're going to end, once I immerse myself. This is the precise case now, as we get prepared to publish the biography of former Muskoka artist, Richard Karon. What begins low key, and with modest proportion, by tradition, ends so much differently than I could have imagined, and this is exactly how the project is progressing at this time. I told the artist's son, also named Richard, that it was customary, with my research and writing projects, that they never proceed without wild gyrations, and many, many strange, direction-changing developments. The beginning is the easy part. Adjusting to what we uncover, does take some strategic navigation. We historians tend to stumble upon things previously unknown, and it can change the tempo and mood of the story almost daily. I kind of enjoy the diversity these projects spawn.

On Friday, a weekly publication, known as The Weekender, kindly published my "letter to the editor," which asked readers for help on our continuing research, regarding the good Mr. Karon. I asked if anyone, who owned a Richard Karon original painting, or who had a story about the artist, would be willing to offer an image, (or information), to assist our biographical sleuthing. We wanted to gather images of as many Karon paintings as possible, to be published in the online text, and also to be included in a special YouTube Video being prepared now, to run at the same time as the blog-ography of Mr. Karon. This begins on April 16th by the way, at 8:30 p.m. on this blog-site, and will continue on consecutive days until it is complete. I digress. The point is, we've had six email responses already, and at least nine new images to include in the story / and video. This is so wonderful, I can't find the words to summarize. Richard Karon Jr., has been working with me through most of this winter, helping to piece together the story of his artist father's life. Richard was four years old when his mother and father separated, and seven years of age when his father passed away, as a result of lung cancer. It would be an honest appraisal, to say he knew very little about his father or the large number of art pieces he created over his lifetime. Each time we hear, or get an email (letter) from someone who knew Richard, and who may have visited his studio situated near Baysville, Ontario, in the Township of Lake of Bays, it is another bit of clarity to the story, and a young man's understanding of his father. I can't tell you how good this feels, to be able to participate in this coming together of information, visuals, paintings and goodwill from old family friends. It began for me, with my own Karon originals. I liked his work dating back to the early 1980's, and as a an antique dealer, I have bought and sold several dozen over three decades.

I sometimes think the word "passionate" is so over-used these days, especially in reference to business and making the "big buck," as I hear over and over on reality shows like the CBC's "Dragon's Den," that I hesitate to use it…….cause it just seems so watered down. But you know, for the last 24 hours, getting this small but significant flood of emails, with pictures attached of Karon originals, has resurrected my good opinion of "passionate." I wrote an email to my research partner, Richard, yesterday afternoon, and I couldn't believe my own giddiness, at how much co-operation we were getting, to move this project to fruition. I told him that it was a most wonderful sign, that so many people, after all these years, possess such lasting respect and enthusiasm for his landscape paintings. As I wrote earlier, when you start out on these research missions, you don't often connect as quickly, or successfully as we have done already. Now keep in mind, that painting owners have been contacting the relevant provincial and national galleries, to find out even a smidgeon of information on Karon's life. I have been fielding two or three requests a month, for biographical information on the painter, unofficially, for the past ten years. Just as a dealer who has sold his work previously, not as an expert. So it's pretty much virgin territory, and it's just a neat feeling being at this ground zero of discovery, because there is a lot we, and family, don't know about Mr. Karon's early life, in Nazi occupied Poland. But the way information is being offered to us, we're pretty optimistic a lot of grey area is going to get colored in, before this project runs its course.

Due to the heavy response, we have pushed the starting date of the online biography to April 16th, with the first posting to be up by 8:30 p.m., which we hope will be simultaneous with the YouTube video, created as a retrospective tribute to his work. It will profile a large collection of the graphic images our friends have sent us most recently. My son Robert and singer Dani O'Connor, both of Gravenhurst, will be providing the back-up music to the gallery presentation. When my mother once said to me, after I'd bobbled, but not dropped, one of her favorite flower vases, "Teddy, you've had a charmed life," I suppose the same thing applies…..and hopefully holds for a while longer. This is one of my biggest projects in over 35 years in the writing industry, and I feel its weight. But working with the Karon family has made this so much more enjoyable, and rewarding, and that has certainly helped ease the stress an historian hoists, just long enough to get to that final chapter. The best part of publishing this material online, is that we can offer it free to those who are interested, and continually upgrade it, as new information arrives over the next couple of years……without having to revise the print edition, reprint or kill a tree to do so. The artist would have liked that, about our approach. A special "Richard Karon" blogsite will be set up later this year, to include this archived material, for the use of researchers in the future.

Thanks for visiting my blogsite. Hope you will join us for the April 16th first edition unveiling, of the Richard Karon story.