This page was exported from Shelburne Free Press [ https://shelburnefreepress.ca ] Export date:Tue Jul 23 9:26:24 2024 / +0000 GMT ___________________________________________________ Title: Passion and poetry in his paintings – Wm. Scobie Houston collection opens at DCMA --------------------------------------------------- Dufferin Country Museum opens a collection of William Scobie Houston's fine art on Sunday July 13th. The works of Houston have been compared to “fine poetry – astute, observant, thought provoking.” Many of his pieces are of local landscapes in Dufferin - Caledon where he roamed the hills expressing his passion for nature, and especially trees, in his deeply sensitive works of art. William Scobie Houstoun was born in Chippawa, Ontario, now part of Niagara Falls, in 1914. Penelope Patton, Houstoun's daughter, said that William and his brother Mackay, also an artist, “came from an artistic family where a love of art and music and culture was considered normal. Their parents moved the family to Toronto, so their children could gain access to the art programs being offered at Western Technical Collegiate. That decision changed the course of all their lives significantly.” William was only 14 old when he was enrolled at the Collegiate, and began to study art under the direction of L.A.C Panton. Panton was director of art at Western Technical School from 1926 to 1937 and later became the principal of the Ontario College of Art, while at the same time building a career as an important Canadian artist. It was under Panton that Houstoun studied the traditional English watercolour painting technique “en plein air.” En plein air or “in the open air” is term used to describe painting outdoors. The popularity of en plein air painting increased in the 1870's with the introduction of paints in tubes. Students at Western Technical School were encouraged to take trips into the country to sketch and find inspiration in the landscape and to develop their technique; the beginning of a life long passion for Houstoun. Houstoun left Western Technical School early to work as an apprentice in a commercial art studio. He soon became part of Toronto's art community, which in those days, included the Group of Seven. During WWII he served in the Royal Canadian Air force, where he was given artistic tasks including designing posters for the war effort. After the war, Houstoun worked as an Art Director, and in 1950, he and his wife, whom he met during the war, bought a farm north of Tullamore in the area of Caledon. The couple raised their five children there, and when he retired from his commercial art career, William moved the historic Tullamore Orange Lodge building next to their home and fulfilled his passion for art full-time in his gallery. In the 1970s, Houstoun was commissioned by the government to join peacekeeping forces in Cyprus as a field artist. For 100 years Canadian artists have worked with the forces to capture history with their talent. Many of the greatest names in Canadian art have contributed under these programs, sometimes under horrible circumstances. Selections of Houstoun's work are now in the collection at the War Museum in Ottawa. After Cyprus, before he retired and dedicated himself full-time to his own art, Houstoun was invited to teach at Humber College in the Graphic Design Department and for studio classes. His daughter Penelope said, “He was able to use his knowledge and skills as a former commercial artist and as an active fine artist to teach design and colour theory as well as drawing and composition. As an “en plein air artist”, he taught students how to focus their attention, encouraging them to study the big picture first so that they could better understand the relationships of one thing to another.” “Like many artists from preceding generations,” reflected Penelope, “William learned to love nature by studying it. He encouraged all his students to do likewise. To him, a grove of trees could generate almost the same feelings of sacredness that great men strive to capture in religious architecture. He felt this enduring yet elusive quality could be found in ephemeral things too, in skyscapes, in a long distant view, in a mirrored reflection of shoreline in a freshwater lake, even in close up studies of rivers, streams, woods and hills, including the winding roads of both wilderness and rural country routes. Nature was his muse.” “He developed a portfolio of landscape paintings that became portraits of the communities he visited,” Penelope concluded. “The years he devoted to assembling his own private collection of these became part of the narrative of his life also. Many of these works are cheerful, others thoughtful and introspective. This emotional aspect of his work encourages the viewer to consider the content as well as the subjects he describes.” William Scobie Houstoun is recognized for his rural and historic scenes, preserving the beauty of nature around him, and his deep connection to his work. “Though he traveled far and wide,” said Penelope Patton, “this current show of his work at the Dufferin County Museum provides a rare glimpse of some of this artist's Ontario landscapes, selected from The Falconcroft Collection. Courtesy of Wayne and Penny Patton, this fine art collection is now showing at Dufferin County Museum and Archives until August 31st. For more information call 705-435-1881. DCMA is located at 936029 Airport Rd, Rosemont. By Marni Walsh --------------------------------------------------- Images: --------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Post date: 2014-07-10 08:46:01 Post date GMT: 2014-07-10 12:46:01 Post modified date: 2014-07-16 17:38:52 Post modified date GMT: 2014-07-16 21:38:52 ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Export of Post and Page as text file has been powered by [ Universal Post Manager ] plugin from www.gconverters.com