folkartcanada.ca

[farmerboy]

Maybe six or seven years ago I purchased thirty some relief carved flat wood blocks and a few in the round carvings along with a dilapidated folder of old photos. I purchased them from an auctioneer aquaintance and since he knew my tastes, paid a lot more for them than I usually do for the folk art I buy. For me they were and are wonderful..heavily relief carved and painted faces mainly, and half life size, of men and women with names sometimes painted and sometimes scribbled on. Beckstead, I gather from putting together whatever secrets the photos revealled, was a WWI Canadian soldier, then a trainman and lived both in Northern and eastern Ontario. What's great about his carving is that his faces..Molly, Dixie etc, are all almost all happy and full of expression. The photos suggest he was carving friends, girls friends and then his wife and perhaps his mother. Since I paid a whole lot for them I had to sell about tho third to recoup my spending. I tried eleven at the Bowmanville show. As great as that show is, nobody bought. I took the eight to the states to a New York City show and sold seven before the show opened. The eighth within minutes of the opening. The dealer who bought the seven from me later wanted all that I had. They showed up at an outsider show a few months later at many times my price. It turns out that by chance a whimsy with two carved faces had ended up as a found in New England objects in a folk art book by one of the U.S.'s most respected authorities, Robert Bishop. All of this is to say that Canadians mostly are very insecure about recognizing folk art in whatever form simply because it has exceptional qualities. The reference books we have on folk art are mostly not nearly up to date or far from complete, especially on some of the great work done in the second half od the 20th century. We're long overdue for some growing up and sorting out of Canadian folk art, especially in Ontario and westward.

[ansonyc]

I just want to touch on your last point. I agree that Ontario and western folk art often gets overwhelmed in discussions about Canadian folk art.

The stuff from Quebec and Nova Scotia is just so well known and iconic, but it's a shame that we don't hear more about really fantastic work from other parts of the country. The reference books are sparse for that, and I wonder if there should be more arts funding directed towards documentation of Canadian folk art.

Of course, I say this when our site here currently still lacks links in our Western Provinces gallery But I think we'll work on a Philip Melvin page soon, and interesting relief carver that we might classify as western because of his British Columbia subject matter.
_________________
Anson the Mighty

[cassyroo]

Thank you so much for the information on George Beckstead, farmerjim. Along with the pics you sent for Beckstead and Sam Spencer I was able to add two more bios to Folk Art Canada. Best of all - we have a Western Provinces artist! It's a start! I know there are many more artists out there but you really helped make my job easier.

If anyone else wants to lend a hand I'd be much obliged. I've always had to rely on the kindness of strangers (and I'll never go hungry again!... you know what I'm talking about...).

Here's the two new bios in case you missed them (well, the bio for George Beckstead is coming very soon but right now some pictures are up):
George Beckstead
Sam Spencer

I hope we will hear more from you soon farmerjim! Thanks again.
_________________
"Art is a means for survival"
- Yoko Ono