Painting (native) “This painting took its original inspiration from the designs made by students of the 1978 Summer Native Art Class.“It was edited, redesigned, and painted by Karen Harris, Ernie T. Monias, and Sid Harris, and it represents the essential unity of diverse Native cultures.“The fire is the life given to us by the sun. We share this life, as relatives, with the plants and animals that nourish us and teach us about our place on this earth.“The Cree syllables say: ‘This talk together has been good.’” – taken from a piece of paper in hard copy of database.
James (Jock) W. G. MacDonald was born in Thurso, Scotland in 1867. He studied at Edinburgh College of Art, and later worked as a fabric designer. He taught at Lincoln School of Art; Vancouver School of Art; School of Decorative and Applied Arts, Vancouver; Provincial Institute of Technology and Art, Calgary; and at Ontario College of Art after 1947. MacDonald was a member of Canadian Group of Painters and Painters Eleven. He died in Toronto in 1960. The artist was conducting independent experiments in Vancouver while the others worked in Winnipeg and Toronto. He had painted 'automatics' by 1934 and completely abstract or non-objective works by 1935 or 1936. (Painting in Canada: A History. Harper J. Russel. U of Toronto Press, 1977. P 327) Jock MacDonald was one of Canada's first painters to explore the relationship between abstraction and landscape. What MacDonald did is take the formal qualities of his subjects and isolate or abstract them form the landscape. (The History of Painting in Canada. Barry Lord. Toronto: NC Press, 1974. P 205-7)
Dimensions
23.5 X 33.5 cm
Size Overall
45 X 52.5 cm
Medium
watercolor
Condition
Slight cockling of surface.
Primary Support
paper
Secondary Support
mat, plexiglass, backing board; frame - wood and plaster with gild
The elevator was constructed in 1905 by the Western Canada Flour Mills on the Muir-Helston Branch of the Canadian Northern Railway. In May 1940, the building was sold to Manitoba Pool Elevators and, in August 1940, re-sold to farmers belonging to the Helson Co-operative Elevator Association No. 160. The elevator closed in December 1978 when the adjacent rail line was abandoned.
Custodial History
Slide was in the possession of John Everitt before its donation to the SJ McKee Archives in 2007.
Scope and Content
Item is an image of the Manitoba Pool Elevator at Helston, MB.
The SJ McKee Archives is the copyright holder for the John Everitt collection and as such is providing access to the John Everitt slide collection for educational and research purposes only. To publish, copy or otherwise use these images, written permission must be obtained from the SJ McKee Archives. Any issues arising from the use of an item is the responsibility of the persons desiring to use the item, as is the securing of any necessary permissions for use.
