Frank C. Johnston Was A Gravenhurst Heritage Treasure

FRANK C. JOHNSTON - WATER COLOUR ARTIST AND PRINTMAKER - A FRIEND TO GRAVENHURST

SLOANS WAS HIS SHOWCASE - AND IT WAS A GRAND ONE

     IN THE EARLY SUMMER, OF THIS YEAR, I DECIDED TO PURSUE A LONG OVERDUE BIOGRAPHY, THAT'S BEEN ON THE BACK BURNER FOR A HALF DOZEN YEARS. AFTER HAVING PREPARED THREE ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES RECENTLY, INCLUDING ADA FLORENCE KINTON, OF HUNTSVILLE, ROBERT EVERETT, OF BRACEBRIDGE, AND RICHARD KARON, OF LAKE OF BAYS, I WANTED TO START PRELIMINARY RESEARCH ON THE LIFE AND CAREER, OF WELL KNOWN CANADIAN PRINT-MAKER, AND WATERCOLOURIST, FRANK JOHNSTON. IF YOU EVER DINED OR HAD COFFEE AND BLUEBERRY PIE, AT SLOANS RESTAURANT, ON MUSKOKA ROAD, THEN YOU WERE IN THE COMPANY OF FRANK JOHNSTON ORIGINALS. BIG ONES. YOU COULDN'T MISS THEM. AS SOON AS YOU WALKED IN THE DOOR, YOU IMMEDIATELY BECAME ENGAGED IN HIS ARTISTRY. THERE WERE THREE MAIN SENSORY ATTRACTIONS AT SLOANS. THE SMELL OF THE BAKERY, THE VISUAL SPLENDOR OF THE BLUEBERRY PIES, AND THE MUSKOKA ALLURE OF FRANK JOHNSTON PAINTINGS, MOUNTED HIGH ON THE WALLS.

    HIS HUGE HISTORY-THEMED PAINTINGS, HUNG ON THE DIVIDING WALL, BETWEEN THE MAIN RESTAURANT AND THE INNER SANCTUM, WHERE MORE FORMAL DINNERS WERE SERVED. I DON'T KNOW HOW MANY OF HIS ORIGINALS HUNG THROUGHOUT THE RESTAURANT, BUT IT WAS A SIGNIFICANT COLLECTION. ANDREW, AS A YOUNGSTER, WAS FAR MORE INTERESTED IN STEAMSHIPS THAN VINTAGE GUITARS (AS HE IS TODAY BY PROFESSION), AND EVERY FEW WEEKS, WE'D TRY TO GET HIM AND BROTHER ROBERT OUT ON THE SEGWUN, FOR THE SHORT AFTERNOON TOUR. IT WAS ALL WE COULD AFFORD BACK THEN. BUT IT WAS ALWAYS A GREAT DEAL OF PLEASURE FOR ANDREW, WHO WOULD COME HOME FROM A LUNCH AT SLOANS, AND FOR HOURS AND HOURS, DRAW PICTURES OF THE CLUSTERING OF STEAMSHIPS; MUCH IN THE FASHION OF WHAT FRANK JOHNSTON HAD CREATED, FROM EARLY DAYS AT THE MUSKOKA WHARF……OBVIOUSLY INSPIRED FROM OLD PHOTOGRAPHS HE HAD STUDIED. WE USED TO HANG-OUT AT SLOANS ON SATURDAY AFTERNOONS, WHEN WE LIVED IN BRACEBRIDGE, AND THEN SUNDAY AFTERNOONS WHEN WE MOVED HERE. IT WAS MOST DEFINITELY OUR FAVORITE PLACE TO HAVE LUNCH AND DINNER……IN THE COMPANY OF A COURTEOUS STAFF, AND SOME OF THE FINEST ART WORK IN THIS COMMUNITY.

    AS WITH MANY BIOGRAPHIES I'VE WORKED ON, THERE ARE SOME THAT PRESENT RESEARCH DIFFICULTIES. I'VE WALKED AWAY FROM A HALF DOZEN, SIMPLY BECAUSE I COULDN'T GET THE CO-OPERATION I NEEDED, TO MAKE IT A THOROUGH REPRESENTATION. I'D RATHER NOT PROCEED ON A PROJECT AT ALL, THAN MUDDLE BLINDLY ALONG, HAVING TO BEG FOR ASSISTANCE. I'M REALLY BIG ON KARMA, AND WHEN CONDITIONS ARE RIGHT WITH THE UNIVERSE…..THEN DOORS OPEN AT THE PERFECT TIME……WITHOUT ANY OF THEM HAVING TO BE PRYED OPEN, TO AT LEAST A "SHOE-WIDTH". MY SHOE. THAT'S RIGHT. I'VE HAD TO PULL THAT FAMOUS SALESMAN ROUTINE, OF JAMMING MY FOOT IN SOME SOURCE'S DOOR, TO GET INFORMATION I REQUIRED, TO FINISH A RESEARCH MISSION. AFTER FAMILY HAD CONTACTED ME, BACK IN THE SUMMER, I DID FEEL THAT AT LEAST ONE DOOR HAD POPPED OPEN, BY COINCIDENCE (OR KARMA), AND THE REST WOULD BE EASIER TO APPROACH, IF I HAD AN ARMLOAD OF APPROVALS, AND VALIDATION, THAT I WAS THE WRITER OF CHOICE. I DON'T SELL MYSELF. I LET THEM DECIDE IF THEY LIKE THE CUT OF MY JIB. I'M AN ACQUIRED TASTE. I DON'T FORCE MYSELF ON A PROJECT. IT HAS TO COME NATURALLY, WITH ACCEPTANCE ALL ROUND. I NEVER GET OFFENDED, BEING DECLINED AN OPPORTUNITY, BECAUSE SOMETHING ELSE ALWAYS COMES ALONG, THAT I'D RATHER WORK ON. NOW THAT'S THE STRANGE RELATIONSHIP WITH KARMA.

     NOT DOING THESE BIOGRAPHIES FOR PROFIT, I HAVE TO BE CAREFUL ABOUT THE ALLOCATION OF TIME. I HAVE TRIED TO RE-BOOT STALLED DISCUSSIONS ABOUT THE BIOGRAPHY, AND FRANKLY, I'VE RUN OUT OF FREE TIME TO PEN THIS ONLINE ART BIOGRAPHY, AT LEAST IN A TIMELY FASHION. I'VE JUST RECENTLY BEEN EMPLOYED TO RESEARCH AND WRITE THE HISTORY OF A POPULAR RECREATIONAL FACILITY, DUE IN MAY, SO I'M AFRAID MR. JOHNSTON WILL SIMPLY HAVE TO WAIT. THIS KIND OF DELAY IS TYPICAL, AND WHEN A WRITER / HISTORIAN APPROACHES FAMILY AND SOURCES CLOSE TO THE ARTIST, ABOUT DOING A BIOGRAPHY, IT IS EXPECTED THERE WILL BE A HUGE AMOUNT OF SCRUTINY…..WHICH IS STANDARD AND RESPONSIBLE. SO BEFORE I PROCEED VERY FAR IN NEGOTIATIONS, I ALWAYS EXTEND AN INVITATION TO KIN, AND SIGNIFICANT OTHERS, TO ARCHIVE BACK THROUGH MY PREVIOUS BIOGRAPHIES…..TO GET AN IDEA WHETHER I'M WORTHY OR NOT. TO THIS POINT, I HAVE ONLY HAD ONE OFFER OF BIOGRAPHY DECLINED…..AND THAT WAS BY MY OLD FRIEND HUGH CLAIRMONT. I ASKED HIM ONE NIGHT, WHILE WE WERE BOTH GETTING TIPSY, AT THE FORMER MUSKOKA SANDS, IF HE'D LET ME WRITE HIS LIFE STORY. HE JUST STARTED TO LAUGH, WHICH IS USUALLY A DEAL BREAKER. OF COURSE HE WANTED MARK TO WRITE THAT ONE……AND SO HE SHOULD ONE DAY. BUT I HAVE FACED MANY DELAYS, WHICH ALWAYS FRUSTRATES THE HISTORIAN, WHO AS A RULE, HAS ABOUT THREE BOOK-STYLE PROJECTS ON THE BACK BURNER, AT ANY ONE TIME. THEN SOMETHING WILL POP UP, LIKE A PAYING GIG, AND WELL, I CAN'T TURN THESE JOBS DOWN. IT JUST SO HAPPENS, THAT THE ONE I JUST INKED, IS GOING TO MAKE IT AN ENJOYABLE WINTER SEASON.

FRANK WAS IMPORTANT TO GRAVENHURST - THERE IS NO DENYING THIS!

     It may be the case, family will email me again, to resume research on Frank's highly accomplished art career. I will be ready for it, when it does arrive. I happened to believe Frank was a definitive Muskoka artist, and he captured the essence of our heritage in only a few well appointed art panels. He put life into our history, like few could have, and for many years, there was the sound of a printing press grinding away in his Gravenhurst residence. Many residents of our town, may not have seen his exceptional art panels, hanging in Sloans, but I assure you, they were compelling and locals and visitors agreed……we were a lucky community to have someone of Frank's talent depicting our community…….as it was, and also from a contemporary perspective, as he did in his famous painting of the Northlander, stopped at our snow-laden train station……opposite Gull Lake.

     For quite a period of time, Canadian abstract artist, from the well known "Group of Eleven," Harold Town, worked side by side Frank Johnston, who he trusted with his art prints. Town was a perfectionist when it came to his finished prints, and he was known to have had many arguments, at press-side, with Frank, about minuscule marks that wound up on the finished art pieces…..freshly run off the press. Johnston was also a perfectionist, and he insisted on doing it right as well……so needless to say there were a lot of long hours spent running the press. Town knew that he was dealing with one of the finest and most accomplished print-makers in Canada, if not North America. Johnston and Town met-up in Picton, Ontario, before his Muskoka years.

     In his accompanying biography, attached to the back of his prints, the copy is headed "Frank C. Johnston, water colour artist and printmaker." "Each print is unique as it has been made entirely by the artist in his own studio. A qualified fine art lithographer, producing the print from colour separation, to plates, and finally the finished product on his large format lithographic press."

     Frank did historic-themed painting for many of Canada's national historic sites, and I have a nice one, in Christmas card format, of Muskoka Pioneer Village in Huntsville. It was sent to me one year by the Honorable Member of Provincial Parliament, Frank Miller, when I was editor of The Herald-Gazette. Over the years I've had dozens of Frank's beautifully designed greeting cards, of regional attractions……one I remember was of the former Greig Medical building, on Kimberley Avenue in Bracebridge. I know he had many Gravenhurst subject landmarks, like Bethune House on John Street. He even did the menu covers, beverage insert, and place mats, for Sloan's Restaurant. For the years Frank graced our town with his presence, he made us very proud of the history we grew from, as a hamlet, into a thriving town, in the embrace of the South Muskoka hinterland. He captured it all.

     It was Frank Johnston who drew my portrait for his friend Hugh Clairmont, for the first issue of Muskoka Today, and I still have it in a small frame in my office. Unfortunately, there was a side to the relationship with this artist that has never been resolved, and may, in some way, have influenced the progress of research……coming down to nothing more than a slight trickle of relevant information. Frank left the community with unresolved issues, regarding the paintings that had once hung in Sloans. It was his understanding, that the paintings, which were received by Sloan's management, were on loan only, and if and when the restaurant ceased to operate, some point down the proverbial road, these important Gravenhurst images, were to be then housed at the town hall…..under municipal stewardship. Instead, the paintings were acquired, when the restaurant closed, by a business in the Town of Huntsville…….but that name has not been disclosed…..at least to me. Frank was devastated by the news the paintings had been sold, without his permission. So upset was he, by the revelation, and the unwillingness of the town to pursue the matter, he decided to sell his home, and move back to Picton, Ontario. This happened, I believe, during my tenure with Muskoka Today, and if I'm not mistaken, it was mentioned in an article written by either Mark or Hugh……explaining why one of the most significant artists in the history of this town, was leaving, feeling dishonored by those he believed were his close friends. This is what I gathered from the time period, but there undoubtedly are many more facts to be infilled. It was likely the case, the agreement was by handshake, and may never have been inked into a formal loan agreement. Many have hoped the paintings would arrive back in our town, sometime in the future…..as an act of benevolence……the returning of history to its proper home. Where they were inspired in the first place. 

     Frank Johnston gave us wonderful paintings to look at, and reminisce about, and many folks in Gravenhurst, and Muskoka generally, particularly cottagers, have his prints and originals hanging on their walls. I would love to return to this biography sometime in the near future, because I think, that in terms of identity, Frank did a lot for us……..and our self esteem, but never got the credit he deserved…….for showing us what our past looked like…..and it was "grand" let me tell you.

     Frank was one of those characters in our town, that although a resident for a relatively short period, had a huge impact on all of us……..by painting beautiful pictures that reminded us, just how important heritage is…….and why it deserves our stewardship. Some who knew Frank, might suggest he was way ahead of the times……but did actually predict a return of the RMS Segwun, to active duty, and the joyous resurgence of life and times at the former Muskoka Wharf……in full steaming and navigational regalia. I think he inspired us more than he knew. We just never got a chance to honor Frank Johnston as the outstanding citizen he was…….and the exceptional Canadian artist / printmaker he became.

     Thank you for joining today's blog. It's always nice to have company on a cold, late autumn day, here at Birch Hollow. Would you mind throwing another log on the fire. Pull up closer if you're feeling chilly. We've got a lot more stories to share, before Christmas.