I Almost Purchased An Arthur Shilling Original

MISSED OPPORTUNITY - A REPORTER'S WAGE - AND BEING TOO CHEAP TO TAKE A WEE GAMBLE ON IMPORTANT ART

ARTHUR SHILLING PAINTINGS I DIDN'T BUY -

I CAN REMEMBER WALKING INTO A HUGE ROOM IN THE MCMICHEAL GALLERY, IN KLEINBURG, ONTARIO, AND SEEING A MOST INCREDIBLE ARTHUR SHILLING PAINTING MOUNTED HIGH ON AN END WALL. IT WAS, TO ME, A BREATH-TAKING IMAGE, MORESO I SUPPOSE, BECAUSE I HAPPEN TO BE AN ADMIRER OF HIS WORK. SHILLING, OF COURSE, WAS ONE OF OUR HIGHLY ACCOMPLISHED FIRST NATIONS ARTISTS, AND HIS WORK IS EAGERLY SOUGHT AFTER BY ASTUTE ART COLLECTORS. THE ONLY OTHER ORIGINAL ARTHUR SHILLING PAINTING I'VE SEEN, IN RECENT TIMES, WAS IN A SMALL, HOLE-IN-THE-WALL COLLECTIBLE SHOP, IN ORILLIA, AND IT WAS MULTI-THOUSANDS WHEN I TOOK A GANDER AT THE PRICE TAG. DON'T RACE DOWN THERE BECAUSE THE SHOP IS GONE NOW. I HOPE THE SHILLING FOUND A GOOD HOME. I FANCIED FOR A MOMENT, I COULD HAVE UNFURLED ENOUGH BILLS FROM MY IMAGINARY WAD, TO HAVE MADE THAT PANEL MINE. MY WAD WAS MORE LIKE A THIN SANDWICH. I'D HAVE PAID FOR IT WITH OUR VAN, AND GLADLY WALKED HOME TO GRAVENHURST WITH IT TUCKED UNDER MY ARM. I WAS DAYDREAMING, YOU SEE. MY WIFE KNOW WHEN I'M WEIRDING-OUT THIS WAY, IMAGINING THE BIG PURCHASE THAT'S JUST NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. BUT I COULD HAVE OWNED AN ORIGINAL ARTHUR SHILLING ONCE, FOR A FRACTION OF THE COST. MY EXCUSE THEN WAS THE CRAPPY WAGE A REPORTER WAS EXPECTED TO LIVE ON…..WHO MIGHT HAVE ALSO NEEDED A NICE BIT OF CANADIAN ART ON THE WALL OF AN OTHERWISE SPARTAN APARTMENT.

Back in the early 1980's, I was an art lover. I had a very basic understanding of what made an art piece exceptional. I knew all about the Group of Seven, and about sculptor, Henry Moore, and about Canadian painters like Tom Thomson, and A.Y. Jackson, and the work of renegades like Harold Town. I have always wanted a Harold Town original because he used to spend time here in Gravenhurst, with his old artist buddy, Frank Johnston. But even when I didn't have a clue what our aboriginal art constituted, I wanted to own the very first Arthur Shilling panel I saw in a gallery. As an art collector on a strict budget, I'm not likely to buy original paintings from a fancy gallery, or at a sale held by an internationally acclaimed auction house. No, when I pool up my mad money, I have enough to hustle the antique and second hand shops for potentially big finds. I read about one yesterday, in the Toronto Star, about a gent who picked up a piece of nostalgic art by Gertrude Stein, for five bucks, and then found an original Andy Warhol drawing on a folded up piece of paper, tucked in behind. From five bucks to a piece of iconic art now worth several million dollars. What about the lady who found a supposed Jackson Pollock for about the same money, at another yard sale. Makes you want to hustle your behind-off, out on the yard sale hustings. I've made a few decent finds over the years, including some nice George Thomson panels (Tom Thomson's brother), a Thomas Mower-Martin, who was an incredible watercolorist (and painted in Muskoka), amongst others, such as etchings by Canadian artist, Owen Staples, but never an original Warhol.

When I was doing feature and business stories, for Muskoka Publications, back in the halcyon days of the early eighties…..as a writer who was pretty sure there was a Pulitzer with my name on it, I had to visit many artist studios, and galleries to write-up promotional material. That's what the ad folks would do to reporters, if they caught us at loose-ends, lounging about the office. It's why I found some interesting places to hide at the old Herald-Gazette building, on Dominion Street, in Bracebridge. The ad girls wouldn't go into the basement, where we kept all the old newspapers dating back to the turn of the century, because it was a haven for spiders and assorted bandy-legged wee beasties. They'd just stand at the top of the stairs and yell, and all they got back was an echo. "He's not here….." Then they'd find some other poor sod, without a job at hand. One assignment I didn't mind, was when it involved art. In one instance, a local gallery owner, had some art work by Arthur Shilling, and I readily agreed to cover the latest exhibition of his work.

The Rama-area artist had found this small, residential-area gallery appealing, and I suppose they sold some of his art work. It didn't have very good exposure, however, and the work of such a prominent Canadian artist, should have been far more accessible and visible. This was my opinion only. I was just glad to be asked to write an overview.

The gallery didn't last all that long, and I can remember one of two owners, approaching us lads, in the newsroom one day, when she was dropping off a press release about their closing exhibition, that if we had available funds……we should acquire some of Arthur's work that hadn't been bought-up by collectors yet. I can't recall the prices we were quoted, but I do remember thinking they seemed pretty reasonable for original panels. It was just a case, in our reporter's muddled existence, that we had just enough spare change for one dinner, at the uptown cafe, a couple of jugs of beer at the local watering hole, and a few coins left over to top-up the rent we owed, on our modest flats. We didn't have anything more than lint to spare. I couldn't have found a hundred bucks let alone several thousand, but by golly, what a good reason to have gone into hock. I should have done anything, even offering myself for sale (to do odd jobs, and maybe write poetry for your significant other), to scrape up enough for an original Arthur Shilling. I've been kicking my arse repeatedly ever since, as this was probably the greatest "miss" of my collecting and antique career. Have you had opportunities like this……and missed by a smidgeon?

Seeing as I still don't have a massive amount of cash to buy a major Canadian piece of art, unless I find one out on the Saturday morning sale circuit, I have to rely on my eagle eye and picker's wisdom to fill my art ambitions. I'm glad to see a few more yard sale listings every week now, and I'm hopeful we'll have a good season here in Gravenhurst and vicinity, where we do a bulk of our antique hunting these days. I wish someone, other than myself, would organize a weekly "Boot Sale," as are popular in England these days. There is a central park location, where you arrive with the trunk (boot) of the car loaded with salable items, and after getting a nice spot, for maximum exposure, you pop the boot, and set up a table beside with the items you wish to profit from….or just unload generally for a few bucks. These sales are quite effective and require a minimum of management. Moreso, co-operation of the municipality, to allow space for this kind of weekly sale to occur. This can be an easy-to-execute event, that as a minor fete, will attract a good crowd, as open air markets of this type usually do. The municipality doesn't need to provide tables, chairs, electricity or any real servicing at all……just a place to park, and a safe place for shoppers to mingle. There are a lot of folks who would like to have yard sales but they don't have a huge quantity of items to sell. They wouldn't have much to offer alone, but in company of a hundred other vendors, well, it would make sense, and help raise money. A small location fee could be used to help fund the local food bank. A parking fee could help offset advertising costs for such an event.

A Gravennhurst "Boot Sale," could become a significant tourist attraction. An open-air antique show would be good too, and all it takes is some knowledge of what antique pickers need, in servicing, and a park site to use. Major open antique markets throughout North America are huge tourist draws, and there are a lot of dealers like our family, who would take advantage of such an opportunity. But like the newly re-vamped Gravenhurst Winter Carnival, it takes patience and a willingness to learn from mistakes made. Sometimes here, we tend to look everywhere else, for anything else, than what is usually a simple and profitable plan. When there is a street fair here, there should be an ambitious program to attract antique-related folks, because they draw a crowd. Even if there was a portion of street set aside for antique vendors, it would soon become clear to organizers, how many people love old stuff. The Baysville Walk-About is a prime example. While there aren't a lot of antique related booths, there's enough to attract dealers from all over Muskoka, when the gates are opened the morning of the sale. Last year, our collectible finds were awesome, from paintings to vintage guitars and amplifiers. Suzanne and I had a ball looking through the large selection of vintage and nostalgia items, brought to Baysville by out-of-town vendors; some who expect that we'll drop by, and always bring pieces we're interested in. Gravenhurst could easily replicate what Baysville has accomplished with their Walk-About, which started small, but has morphed into a huge tourist attraction, with thousands of people visiting each year. But there was a lot of trial and error involved, and bouts of bad weather. We've been vendors twice now, and have always made a sizable profit for our efforts. Even if I didn't spend any money on antiques and collectibles, I'd still go for the great food from some quality vendors.

It takes a lot of courage to enter into this kind of project, and Gravenhurst has already gone through the trial and error of running street sale events. The problem I see, each year, is that the vendors who would fit in, and make the sale more diversified, aren't participants. It takes a huge effort to seek out these antique pickers, and collectible dealers, but making it open to them, by advertising in trade magazines, will pay for itself quickly, as more and more people look forward to these new opportunities to antique hunt. As a main street improvement issue, this is a dandy place to start, especially this year with celebration of the Segwun's anniversary, and I believe, an anniversary of the town's incorporation. Opportunities abound. Learning from the successes of the Walk-About is a good place to start. Maybe the BIA, the Chamber, and The Segwun could chip in and rent booth space, to promote our summer festivities at the Walk-About. The crowds certainly warrant a more serious look, at what we have been missing all these years. Just an idea.

Happy Easter Folks. Have a safe holiday.