Last week, I posted an update abut something I posted a while ago for Photo Hunt.
It was about a powder compact my mother had and had passed along to me. As I had said, I had tracked down a possible artist for the enamel image on the front, Karl Drerup. In last Friday’s post, I mentioned that I had been contacted by Karl Drerup’s son, Oliver, who, quite coincidentally, lives here in town. He invited me to lunch (Dim Sum) to pass along some catalogues of his father’s work. It was a lovely lunch and I had a terrific time and I learned a bit more about Karl and the piece that I own.
The catalogues are wonderful!
Here are a few favourites from the first catalogue.
"Plaque"
"Two-Part Panel"
"Multi-Part Panel"
The last one reminds me of some of my father’s work, particularly one that is in The Firestone Collection of Canadian art. Unfortunately, it isn’t one that has been photographed. It used to hang beside the bathroom door in the Firestone house, before the collection was sent to the Ottawa Art Gallery. My father’s piece was called “Embryo” and was a mixed-media piece (Enamel, copper, acrylic and sand on canvas). The only piece of any size that I have is this one.
Untitled
In recent years, I have been able to put it up on the wall but it used to scare the crap out of me when I was a kid. Apparently, it was something he did while he was teaching prisoners at Kingston Penitentiary copper enamelling. Mom tells me that it was of three prisoners.
I do have a dish, as well which we haven’t unpacked, yet. It is an abstract design. Over the years everything else has been lost. I remember jewellery, belts, small dishes. I have no idea where they all went. Had I had them, they’d not have disappeared. Anything of value, either monetary or of family meaning I still have. So much just simply disappeared (or was broken).
And… I JUST looked further at the Ottawa Art Gallery website and see that last year, from May 8 to August 1, they had an exhibition which featured the very piece of my father’s that I mentioned above, “Embryo”…. Had I known I would have gone. Jesus.
Mudpuddle 