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GRASS IS SHOWING - SNOW SQUALL WARNINGS - I'M AS SNUG AS A BUG
I HAVE JUST SNUCK, QUITE UNDETECTED, INTO THE BACK ROOM OF OUR SHOP, AMONGST MY FAVORITE RELICS OF NOSTALGIA, SITTING BESIDE THE STAGE AREA, FULL OF VINTAGE INSTRUMENTS. IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE A DRY WELL OF INSPIRATION, IN THIS EMBRACE OF ALL AGES. I SOMETIMES VENTURE OUTDOORS TO CATCH SOME AFTERNOON ACTUALITY ALONG THE MAIN STREET, BUT THE COLD WIND TODAY HAS CHILLED MY BONES; AND FORCED ME TO RETREAT TO THIS INNER SANCTUM. IT'S CERTAINLY NOT A HARDSHIP, THAT'S FOR SURE. IT'S COMFORTABLE AND WARM. I JUST TEND TO GET IN THE WAY OF CUSTOMERS, WHO AT FIRST, ARE STARTLED TO SEE THE TWO OF US SITTING ON THE LOVELY, AND PROFOUNDLY COMFORTABLE, CIRCA 1960'S VINTAGE WOOD AND CUSHION COUCH. MY COMPANION IS A RECLINING STORE MANIKIN WEARING A BERET. RIGHT NOW, ANDREW HAS POSITIONED HER ARMS, TO CRADLE SOME VINTAGE VINYL, ONE BEING THE SOUND TRACK FROM THE MOVIE "THE HUSTLER," THAT STARRED JACKIE GLEASON, AS MINNESOTA FATS, AND PAUL NEWMAN. I CALL HER IRMA AND SHE'S THE STRONG SILENT TYPE. SHE DOESN'T EVEN LOOK MY WAY, SO WINKING IN HER DIRECTION IS A WASTE OF TIME.
TODAY, ACTUALLY BEGINNING IN THE THROES OF A SLUMBER-TIME DREAM, I BEGAN THINKING ABOUT THE INDY MUSICIANS WE HAVE MET THROUGH OUR STUDIO, AND THE CHURCH CONCERTS WE'VE BEEN HOSTING THIS YEAR. I WAS ALSO RUMINATING ABOUT THE BIOGRAPHY OF A.Y. JACKSON, CANADIAN PAINTER, WRITTEN BY O.J. FIRESTONE, WHICH HAS INTERESTING REFERENCES TO HIS YEARS, TRYING TO ESTABLISH HIMSELF AS A PROFESSIONAL ARTIST; BUT SUFFERING MANY SET-BACKS, AND SHORTFALLS OF APPRECIATION, ESPECIALLY FOR HIS EARLY WORK. HE WAS A STARVING ARTIST TOO, AND ON TOP OF GENERAL HARDSHIP, ALSO KNEW WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO LIVE AND WORK THROUGH THE GREAT DEPRESSION; NEVER GIVING UP HIS PASSION TO PAINT. SO I SAT DOWN FIRST THING THIS MORNING, AND TRIED TO PUT A COMPARISON TOGETHER, THAT WOULD MAKE SENSE; TIEING PAINTERS, FOR EXAMPLE, IN WITH INDY MUSICIANS, TRYING TO MAKE THEIR WAY IN THE MUSIC PROFESSION, WITH GREAT FINANCIAL DIFFICULTY.
HERE GOES!
CHRISTMAS IN MUSKOKA - A FEW NOTES ABOUT STARVING ARTISTS, FOLK AND COUNTRY SINGERS, STORY TELLERS, WRITERS, AND POETS
SUFFERING FOR ONE'S CRAFT, PART OF THE FOLK CULTURE OF BEING AN ARTIST
CAN YOU IMAGINE THIS? A STANDING-ROOM-ONLY CROWD, IN A LARGE AUDITORIUM, TO HEAR CANADIAN POET, WILSON MACDONALD, RECITE POETRY FROM HIS LATEST BOOK. IT HAPPENED. AND YES, RIGHT IN GRAVENHURST. IN MANY COMMUNITIES IN ONTARIO. IN THE EARLY DECADES OF THE 1900'S, POETS LIKE MACDONALD, BLISS CARMEN, AND CHARLES G.D. ROBERTS, COULD PACK THEM IN, THAT'S FOR SURE. BUT GO EVEN FURTHER BACK, IN THE HISTORY OF LITERATURE, AND DISCOVER THAT POETS, OR BARDS AS THEY WERE BETTER KNOWN, WERE THE MORE PUBLIC, AND VISIBLE, OF THE PHILOSOPHER ILK. THE TOWN OF GRAVENHURST, FOR EXAMPLE, WAS NAMED AFTER THE LITERARY ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF A BRITISH POET / PHILOSOPHER, BY THE NAME OF WILLIAM HENRY SMITH. THE TOWN OF BRACEBRIDGE, WAS NAMED AFTER A GREAT AMERICAN WRITER, WASHINGTON IRVING, AUTHOR OF BOOKS LIKE "BRACEBRIDGE HALL," AND "THE SKETCH BOOK," AND KNOWN INTERNATIONALLY, FOR HIS SHORT STORIES LIKE "THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW," AND "RIP VAN WINKLE." FROM MY OWN RESEARCH INTO THE LIVES AND WORK OF ALL THOSE MENTIONED ABOVE, INCLUDING WILLIAM HENRY SMITH, AND WASHINGTON IRVING, THERE WAS AN ABUNDANCE OF "SUFFERING" TO GO AROUND. GREAT HARDSHIPS WERE ENCOUNTERED, TRYING TO PROGRESS THEIR CREATIVE ENTERPRISES. I AM NOT SURE IF A CANADIAN POET, LIKE WILSON MACDONALD, WHO HAD A LONG RELATIONSHIP WITH MUSKOKA, AND THE VILLAGE OF WINDERMERE, ON LAKE ROSSEAU, WOULD BE ABLE TO FILL EVEN HALF AN AUDITORIUM TODAY; BECAUSE WE, AS A SOCIETY, DON'T REGARD POETS THE SAME, AS WAS THE CASE IN THE 1920'S AND 1930'S, THE YEARS THE MUSKOKA ASSEMBLY OF AUTHORS MET ON TOBIN'S ISLAND.
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SAT DOWN, WITH A BOOK OF POEMS BY WHITTIER, WORDSWORTH, OR LONGFELLOW? MILTON? TENNYSON? THEIR WORK IS STILL REVERED, BUT BY A MUCH DIFFERENT, AND I DARE SAY, SMALLER AUDIENCE, MADE UP MOSTLY OF SCHOLARS, AND THOSE WRITERS WHO KNOW JUST HOW EXCEPTIONAL THEIR WORK WAS IN LITERARY HISTORY. WE DON'T APPRECIATE HOW MUCH ENLIGHTENMENT, AND ILLUMINATION, THESE AUTHORS, POETS AND STORY SPINNERS, FED THE CULTURAL APPETITE OF A LITERARY SOCIETY, IN ALL THE BYGONE ERAS WE CARE TO REVISIT. POETS WERE WORTH LISTENING TO, AND READING AND RE-READING FOR INSPIRATION. THEY HAD IMPORTANT LITERARY ILLUMINATION TO SHARE, AND A CULTURE TO ADVANCE A POEM AT A TIME. IN ORDER TO CREATE THEIR MEMORABLE PIECES, WHICH ARE STILL IN THE MINDS AND HEARTS OF THOSE WHO KEEP AN ANTIQUE OR REPRINT COPY OF WORDSWORTH, OR SHELLEY AT BEDSIDE, THERE WAS SUFFERING IN A VARIETY OF WAYS, AND FOR SOME, ABJECT POVERTY, ENDURED, TO ADVANCE THE CAUSE OF CREATIVE FREEDOM. THIS IS UNDERSTOOD. BUT WHERE ARE ALL THE POETS NOW? I THINK MANY OF THEM HAVE BECOME INDY MUSICIANS, IN THIS COUNTRY, TRAVELING FROM SMALL VENUE TO VENUE, SINGING THEIR UNIQUE FOLK / COUNTRY STORIES, JUST AS WILSON MACDONALD, AND CHARLES G.D. ROBERTS PERFORMED THEIR RECITATIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY, TO BIG AUDIENCES AND SMALL. IN TINY COMMUNITY THEATRES, MUSTY OLD TOWN HALLS, DRAFTY WOOD PANELED CHAMBERS, LIBRARIES, AND CAVERNOUS, DAMP CHURCH BASEMENTS, OCCASIONALLY SELLING SOME OF THE BOOKS, WHICH MACDONALD, BY THE WAY, ALWAYS PERSONALIZED WITH INSCRIPTIONS, AND COLORFUL ILLUMINATIONS FOR HIS PATRONS. TODAY THE WARES THE ARTISTS BRING TO THE SHOW, ARE CALLED "MERCH" MEANING "MERCHANDISE," WHICH HELPS MUSICIANS PAY FOR THE GAS, TO GET UP OR DOWN THE ROAD, TO THE VERY NEXT GIG. MAYBE SALES THE NIGHT BEFORE, WILL PROVIDE ENOUGH FUNDS TO BUY A PINT OF ALE, AND A SANDWICH, TO FUEL THE EXTENSION OF THE CREATIVE JUNKET, EVEN ONE MORE DAY, ANOTHER WEEK OR TWO, BEFORE FUNDS RUN DRY.
MY SONS, ANDREW AND ROBERT, KNOW ALL ABOUT THE CHALLENGES OF TRYING TRY TO FUND MUSIC PROJECTS IN THIS COUNTRY, AS INDEPENDENT ARTISTS THEMSELVES. IT'S ONE OF THE REASONS, THEY CAME UP WITH THE IDEA OF PLAYING HOST TO TRAVELING INDIE MUSICIANS, TO CREATE WHAT HAS NOW BECOME KNOWN AS "CURRIE BROTHERS' CHURCH SHOWS." A SORT OF RESPITE EVENT, WHERE MUSICIANS CAN ZONE-OUT FOR A TIME IN THE STUDIO, BEFORE TAKING TO THE MAIN STAGE, AT THE LOCAL ANGLICAN CHURCH. THEY BEGAN AS "SESSIONS CONCERTS," BUT OUR MUSICIAN FRIENDS HAVE BEGUN REFERRING TO THEM AS "CHURCH SHOWS", BECAUSE OF THE FACT, WE HOLD THEM IN ST. JAMES ANGLICAN CHURCH, IN GRAVENHURST. ACTUALLY WHAT HAPPENED, WAS THAT ONE OF OUR PERFORMERS, ZACHARY LUCKY, LISTED HIS UPCOMING GRAVENHURST GIG, VIA "EXCLAIM MAGAZINE", AS THE "CURRIE BROTHERS' CHURCH SHOW," AND IT IS NOW THE TITLE WE'RE HAPPY TO LIVE WITH. FUNNY HOW THINGS LIKE THIS HAPPEN. WELL, IT'S A CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT, AND IT WAS MADE SOMEWHAT BY HAPPENSTANCE, OF MR. LUCKY NOT KNOWING EXACTLY WHAT THE SHOWS WERE KNOWN AS; AND THE REST IS ENTERTAINMENT HISTORY IN THIS BALLYWICK.
THE IDEA OF THE MONTLY SHOWS, WAS TO IMMERSE INTO THE INDIE SCENE, BY PROVIDING A COMFORTABLE, UNPRETENTIOUS, AND APPRECIATIVE VENUE, FOR HEAVILY TRAVELLED MUSICIANS NEEDING A CHANGE OF PACE, A BRIEF HIATUS, FROM THE RIGORS OF PLAYING IN TAVERNS AND CROWDED BAR-ROOMS, WHERE THEIR CREATIVE TALENTS AREN'T ALWAYS FULLY APPRECIATED.
AS THE POETS ONCE REGALED AUDIENCES, INSPIRING PATRONS TO ENLIGHTEN THEMSELVES, TO THE GREAT ENCHANTMENTS OF THEIR COUNTRY, THE WORLD, AND THE UNIVERSE, TODAY, IT SEEMS TO ME, OUR INDY MUSICIANS HAVE THEMSELVES, NOW BECOME THE TRAVELING BARDS; PUTTING THEIR POETIC THOUGHTS TO MUSIC. THEY HAVE SPUN THEIR STORIES, INTO A MUSIC WRAP, WITH A MOST PLEASANT SOUND, HIGHLIGHTING PLACES THEY'VE VISITED ACROSS CANADA, AND THE UNITED STATES, AND FONDLY COMMEMORATED STAYS IN HOMETOWNS JUST LIKE OURS. THEY'VE SPUN TALES ABOUT LOVED ONES, GRANDPARENTS, BEST FRIENDS, OLD FLAMES AND NEW, FAVORITE CARS AND TRUCKS, FISHING STORIES AND URBAN LEGENDS. AND, WRITTEN ABOUT HAVING WATCHED SUNSETS, DOCUMENTING THE MINDFUL OCCASIONS, WHEN THEY'VE BEEN A LITTLE ANXIOUS ABOUT LIFE, SITTING BY THE SIDE OF THUNDERING CATARACTS; HIKED HISTORIC TRAILS ON THE EAST COAST AND WEST, CELEBRATING FOLK HISTORY AND RE-VISITING THE LEGENDS THAT DESERVE RE-TELLING. THEY ARE THE NEW-AGE POETS, PUTTING DISCOVERY AND EXPERIENCE TO MUSIC; AND IF WE LISTEN CAREFULLY, TO THE WORDS WITHIN, WE HAVE THE ENHANCED OPPORTUNITY, TO TRAVEL BESIDE THEM ON THEIR CROSS CONTINENTAL JOURNEYS. THERE'S SOMETHING OF CRITICAL IMPORTANCE, TO OUR CULTURAL HERITAGE, ROLLED UP IN THEIR RESPECTIVE CREATIVE ENTERPRISES, THAT CARRIES MUCH THE SAME ILLUMINATION AND PHILOSOPHY, MADE FAMOUS BY OUR GREAT BARDS.
PART OF THIS, COMES FROM HAVING PERFORMED IN THOSE ALE-SCENTED ROADHOUSES, BOTTLE CLINKING OLD TAVERNS AND CLUBS ACROSS THE COUNTRY. AN ETCHING OF EXPERIENCE, GARNERED FROM STRUMMING THEIR GUITARS, ON THE PLATFORMS OF ANTIQUATED TRAIN STATIONS, AND ON THE PORCHES OF COUNTRY STORES, AND UPON THE WELL WORN LIBRARY STEPS, JUST FOR A RESPITE OF CULTURAL RECREATION. HOW MANY STORIES THEY CAN REGALE US WITH, OF WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO PLAY ON ASKEW STAGES, SET UP IN OLD BARNS, FRATERNAL AND BANQUET HALLS, COMMUNITY CENTRES, AND IN THE BACKYARDS OF KINDRED SPIRITS FROM COAST TO COAST, SOUTH TO NORTH. ALL THE INTERESTING CHARACTERS MET ALONG THE TRAVERSE OF CANADA; MEETING UP WITH VETERAN PERFORMERS, MUSICIANS WHO HAVE WEATHERED THE STORMS, ECONOMICALLY, AND IN ACTUALITY; HAVING ALSO BEEN STRANDED AT THE SIDE OF THE ROAD, WHEN THE VEHICLE'S MECHANICS GAVE UP THE GHOST. HELD UP IN SMALL TOWNS DURING SNOWSTORMS, AND FORCED TO COUCH-SURF BECAUSE THERE WASN'T ENOUGH MONEY TO RENT A MOTEL ROOM. TAKING UP THE OFFER TO HAVE A COUNTRY BREAKFAST, WITH CONCERT-PATRONS, FROM THE SHOW THE NIGHT BEFORE. KINDNESSES ETCHED INTO THEIR SOULS, OF WHAT CANADA REALLY MEANS, PERSON TO PERSON, HAMLET, VILLAGE, TOWN AND CITY, IN THE WIDE PANORAMA OF GATHERED EXPERIENCES AND UNTOLD ADVENTURE. OF COURSE THEY ARE THE NEW-AGE POETS, AND WE SHOULD TO LISTEN TO THEM. THEY HAVE SAGE ADVICE FOR THOSE OF US, WHO HAVE NEVER HAD TO HUSTLE-UP GIGS, IN BAR-ROOMS, OLD HOTELS WITH BURNED-OUT ADVERTISING SIGNS, AND THEN BUSKER OUTSIDE A GROCERY STORE, TO BUY A BALONEY SANDWICH FOR DINNER. AND PAY FOR THE NEXT LEG OF THE SIMPLE-PLAN, OR BETTER STATED, AUSTERITY TOUR, ACROSS THIS GREAT COUNTRY. WHEN WE HOST THESE TALENTED INDY ARTISTS, AT OUR CHURCH SHOWS, WE ARE OFFERING AN OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE STORIES ABOUT OUR COUNTRY, FROM THOSE WHO HAVE WITNESSED IT FROM AMAZING VANTAGE POINTS, AND INTIMATE CIRCUMSTANCES, GOOD AND ADVERSE, TRAVELING THOUSANDS OF MILES BY BUS, TRAIN, PLANE, RECREATIONAL VEHICLE, TRUCK AND AUTOMOBILE. MANY MILES POUNDED DOWN ON THEIR FAILING SHOE LEATHERS, BECAUSE A RIDE WASN'T AVAILABLE. TRAVELING CANADA BY THUMB. TAKES ME BACK TO MY HIPPY DAYS.
WE ARE ALWAYS AMAZED, IN A GOOD WAY, BY HOW APPRECIATIVE THESE TRAVEL-WEARY ARTISTS ARE, WHEN THEY FINALLY ARRIVE AT OUR GRAVENHURST SHOP, PRIOR TO THAT EVENING'S CHURCH CONCERT. THEY SEEM TO BE OVERWHELMED BY WHAT THEY SEE AS SPECIAL ATTENTION AND GENEROSITY, ESPECIALLY FROM THE AUDIENCE, THAT ALWAYS WANT TO MEET THE MUSICIANS AT THE END OF THE SHOW. IT MAKES US WONDER, JUST HOW MUCH SUFFERING THESE TRAVELING MUSICIANS, OF THE INDIE ILK, HAVE ENDURED FOR THE LOVE OF THEIR CRAFT? HOW MUCH MORE SUFFERING, AND MILES TRAVELLED, WILL THEY NEED, TO NOTCH THEIR PLACE IN CANADIAN MUSIC PROMINENCE? WHAT MORE CAN WE EXPECT OF THEM? SHOULD WE BE TREATING THEM BETTER, AS A NATION, SEEING AS THEY ARE OUR CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHERS; THE BARDS, JUST LIKE WILSON MACDONALD, CARMEN AND ROBERTS FROM THE PAGES OF ANTIQUITY? TO NOT PAY ATTENTION TO THEIR WORK, WOULD DENY US A STAKE IN OUR OWN CULTURAL HERITAGE, THAT THEY OFFER TO ALL OF US, FOR THE PRICE OF DINNER, LODGINGS AND GAS. THEY ARE NEVER GOING TO GET WEALTHY ROAMING THE COUNTRY AS THEY DO, A SHARED REALITY WITH THE POETS WHO STRUGGLED THE SAME, JUST TO SPREAD THE WORD.
IF YOU WERE TO ASK THESE WANDERING MINSTRELS, WHY THEY STILL SUFFER FOR THEIR MUSIC, I THINK, POSSIBLY, THEY WOULD FEEL INSULTED, AS IF IT WAS A LESSER DYNAMIC OF EXPERIENCE, TO SACRIFICE FOR WHAT ONE LOVES. A LITTLE BIT MORE MONEY MIGHT BE NICE, AND GUARANTEED RELIABILITY OF TRANSPORT, LESS BURDEN ON THE MIND. BUT TO SUGGEST THAT THEY SHOULD CONSIDER ABANDONING, WHAT MAKES THEM SAGE AND STORIED, WOULD BE, AS MUCH, TO SUGGEST OUR CULTURAL LEGACY SHOULD BE WHITTLED DOWN, TO A THIRD THE ARTISTS, JUST BECAUSE IT'S HARD OUT THERE. ON THIS NOTE, I WANT TO SHARE THE STORY OF ANOTHER GROUP OF ARTISTS, WHO ALSO SUFFERED FOR THEIR CRAFT, AND THEIR BELIEF CANADA NEEDED A NEW ARTISTIC IDENTITY. THE COST OF BEING RIGHT WAS A HEAVY BURDEN. BUT THANKFULLY THEY PERSISTED, AND DEFIED THEIR HARSHEST CRITICS. WE ARE ALL BETTER FOR THE EFFORT.
CANADIAN PAINTERS SUFFERED FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF THEIR PROFESSIONAL LIVES
In order to make ends meet, Tom Thomson, Canadian landscape artist, and source of inspiration for the eventual creation of the Group of Seven Artists, (following his death in July 1917), worked as a guide in Algonquin Park. He worked alongside many of Canada's now-celebrated artists, in the field of commercial art, designing everything from candy boxes, to canned vegetable labels. There is actually a book, that documents the tin-can label-graphics, created by later Group of Seven painter, A.J. Casson. He tells the story that, although it was forbidden practice, many of the contributing artists, made individual marks within the advertising art work, to identify their work; as would be clearly noticed by other graphic artists.
There's a popular story told about Tom Thomson, trying to cash a cheque at a Huntsville bank, given to him by Dr. James M. MacCallum, a patron of Canadian art, for a painting he had purchased; the teller that day, refusing to give the artist the money. Thomson, a rising star, even at this point in his young career, was seen tearing up the cheque into little pieces outside, and then throwing them into the air. The bank manager, aware of the spectacle outside, asked the teller what name had appeared on the cheque. When he found out it was Dr. MacCallum, he quickly attempted to remedy the situation, and make it up to the disgruntled artist. The irony here, is that a man who would become iconic in Canada for his art, and have panels in the National Gallery, today selling for many millions, at auction, was seen as an individual of lesser concern, than the doctor; who, while a generous man in Canadian art, was but a generous art patron. Not one destined to become a legend, as would Thomson.
If you had come upon Tom Thomson, pulling up his canoe to the dock, at Mowat Lodge, on Algonquin Park's Canoe Lake, you would have noticed a cluster of paint boards he had been working on, during his traverse of the local lakes and rivers. If you had also happened to make special mention of one, that you thought better than the others, first he would ask why you felt that way. Secondly, he would have handed it to you, as a gift for your honest appraisal of his work. Thomson up to the time of this death, lived a meager lifestyle, and he ate the fish he caught fishing in places like the rapids of the Tea Lake Dam. It is said his campfire blueberry pies were to die for. It can also be stated, with some integrity, that Thomson lived for his art, but at the time of his mysterious death, he was still very much a starving artist of the time period.
In the biography of A.Y. Jackson, written by his friend O.J. Firestone, published by McClelland and Stewart, in 1979, the author profiles some of the painters early days, when it was next to impossible to survive as an artist in Canada. "Starving artist," is a relatively modern term, identifying the deficiencies of being an independent artist. It pertains to indy musicians as well. Here are a few observations, O.J. Firestone made, of A.Y. Jackson's own starving artist days, that while discouraging and depressing, didn't thwart him from carrying-on what he loved to do as an art form.
"The man I met working in his own studio in Manotick, was clearly untroubled by want. In fact, during the rest of his productive life he lived in a seller's market and built-up a considerable estate. But for sixty years before I knew him, Alec Jackson had had a rough time, with few smooth places to lighten the burden of making an adequate living."
Firestone records of his friend Jackson that, "He first knew poverty as a child in Montreal, in a family deserted by his father, as his mother tried to raise six children on her own. Then followed the poverty of exploitation, after he started work at the age of twelve in 1894. At the beginning, Alec probably earned less than two dollars a week as an office boy at the British Engraving Company, a lithographic company. After six years with this firm, at the age of eighteen, Alec was earning six dollars a week. Only in 1905, at the age of twenty-three, when he got another job at a photo-engraving company, was he earning twenty-five dollars a week.
"Yet Alec managed to put aside some money. After helping out at home, he had saved over five years, the princely sum of one hundred dollars - enough to take him, with his brother Harry and another commercial artist, to Europe. They crossed the Atlantic as deck hands on a cattle boat, looking after several hundred head of cattle. They were promised five shillings each for the two weeks' work; they never were paid. Alec and Harry visited London, Paris, Brussels, Antwerp and Rotterdam, until the money ran out and Alec returned to Montreal, broke. Back in the engraving business, he saw his job evaporate with a printers' strike in 1906."
Mr. Firestone notes, that "By the spring of 1907, Alec had saved fifteen hundred dollars, enough to go to Paris to study at the Academie Julian. I was possible in those days, to live comfortably in France on six hundred dollars a year, including money for touring. He stayed in France for two and a half years and did quite a bit of traveling in Europe. After he returned to Canada, just before Christmas, in 1909, he tried to sell some of his works but had no luck; so he gave some of these paintings to his family and kept a few himself. In 1910 Alec took another job in Montreal, doing commercial art work with a photo-engraving company. He worked there for a year but he also took on part-time work in the evenings designing cigar labels, to save enough money to return to Europe. By the early fall of 1911 he had been able to save another thousand dollars, making it possible for him to go to France and then on to Italy. He returned to Montreal early in 1911, bring back a lot of canvases, that he was unable to sell. 'They were around my studio for years,' he wrote later. Apparently, few people liked the work Alec did in Europe - his paintings showed the influence of the French impressionists, and were regarded as too modern by conservative Canadian collectors."
"Beginning in 1913, Jackson's life entered a new phase," wrote Firestone, of his artist friend. "That year, at the age of twenty-nine, he sold his first major canvas. 'The Edge of the Maple Wood,' painted in Sweetsburg, Quebec, in 1910. The buyer was Lawren Harris, who had independent means, and the price was two hundred dollars. (Harris sold this painting to the National Gallery of Canada for about the same amount in 1937). The only other income Alec received was from the sale of six Venetian sketches, sold at a 'little picture show,' in Toronto. This money helped finance his visit to Toronto to meet, a number of artists who were to become his friends and who later-on would join together to form the Group of Seven.
O.J. Firestone offers this overview, of a situation with both Lorne Harris, and Dr. MacCallum, which was most definitely a turning in his mission to remain a professional artist. "In the fall of 1913, Alec met Dr. James MacCallum, a friend of Lawren Harris. MacCallum liked Alec's work. When Alec explained that he was thinking of moving to the United States because there seemed little hope of making a living in Canada as a painter, MacCallum made Alec what he later described as a 'surprising proposition.' 'If I would take a studio in the building he and Harris were having erected, he would guarantee my expenses for a year.' Alec agreed, and that money saw him through the year 1914, and in June 1916 was wounded by a bullet in the shoulder while fighting at Maple Copse in Flanders. The shrapnel wound healed nicely and in 1917 he was given the opportunity to paint again. He was made a lieutenant and a member of the Canadian War Records Office under Lord Beaverbrook."
This isn't the entire biography of A.Y. Jackson's early years, as a struggling artist. The hardships continued past the war years, and he was, like many others, severely disadvantaged by the years of the Great Depression. But his connection with the Group of Seven paid off. Despite some terrible reviews, early on, regarding the liberties taken by the Group, challenging the conservative views of national art to that point. Breaking traditions, enlightening the national art community to future trends, Jackson's sacrifices for his craft were ongoing, as Firestone says, until after his 60th year, when his fame, and the allure of his paintings, began to attract a literal parade of serious art investors.
I often think about the artists today, musicians and writers included, who go years without serious financial validation, that their efforts to enhance the culture of this country, have, and are being appreciated. It's all part of the sacrifice, that most "starving" but committed artists would agree, is worth the angst and financial shortfalls. Experience is always hard to come by, but precious to possess.
I don't want to give the impression, by the reference to Canadian art in the passages above, that our "Church Shows," or however they're referred to, by our musician friends, are akin to the benevolent work of Dr. MacCallum, for artists such as A.Y. Jackson, and Tom Thomson. We're a long way from being able to bestow that kind of benevolence. Instead, we hope to make up for our financial limitations, by the fact we so heartily believe in the efforts of these musicians, to enhance our arts and culture, that we will never cease, to include them in our music projects. We welcome them to play their music in our town. Damn straight. We want to show them what Muskoka hospitality is all about. What we do appreciate, being involved in the Indie scene ourselves, is just how close-knit the musicians are, in what can only be seen as a pro-active, stalwart network, of cultural adventurers; who find hardship more palatable, and loneliness on the road, less anxiety filled, knowing they aren't alone feeling this way. I want to thank all the patrons who have come out to the "Church Shows," and supported these contemporary poets, folk-lorists, musicians, who tell us about the country they've seen, and experienced, in the thousands of miles travelled, and hundreds of communities visited.
Thank you so much for visiting with me today. As usual, it is always a pleasure to have you drop by.
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