Canadian Folk Art and Outsider Art
Molly Lenhardt. Painter. Melville, Saskatchewan. Active 20th c.
Molly Lenhardt painted her childhood memories and her Ukrainian heritage where she grew up in Manitoba. She was completely self taught and she achieved national acclaim for her paintings depicting her Ukrainian heritage and culture. An example of her work is shown here.
A Poet’s Dream. Molly Lenhardt:
George Markel. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Southey, Saskatchewan. Active 1980 – 2006.
George Markel farmed in rural Saskatchewan before moving to Regina to work. He retired and moved to Medicine Hat, Alberta where he began carving sculptures showing rural life on the farm. His favorite subjects were Horses and Pigs.
From a Bio by the Alberta Foundation for the arts:
“Markel’s whimsy and imagination also prompted him to create sculptures
with titles such as Sheeposaur in a body of work built from found materials such as jewelry,
fur, branches, buttons, beads, fabrics, and toys.
“Explaining how he came to be a folk artist, Markel wrote that one day around 1975, he was
shopping and saw a china horse sculpture with a harness on it. The price was over
$80—about $350 in 2016. “That was too much for me to pay,” he wrote. “Later on I saw a
horse just like the first one in a different store, but they had a Red River Cart with
the horse. So I asked him if he would sell them separately. He said he would. So I said,
‘O.K., I will buy the horse. I will try to make the cart.’ So, that’s the way I started
making carts and wagons, sleighs, and finally I started carving horse, cows, and bulls.”
“Markel participated in exhibitions, including the Medicine Hat Exhibition
and Stampede Visual Arts Show, shows at Canadian Art Galleries in
Calgary, and Expo ’86. His works are in the collections of the Royal Alberta Museum, the
Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and the Canadian Museum of History.”
Some examples of the work of George Markel are shown here.
Hay Wagon by George Markel:
George Markel. Sculptor. Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Horse Drawn Cart by George Markel:
George Markel. Alberta. Horse and cart.
William Hazzard. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Regina, Saskatchewan. Active 1970’s – 1980’s.
William Hazzard made painted carvings of birds. Hazzard was largely self-taught. His carvings are lifelike and true to colour. He signed his work. He was cited in The Canadian Collector. 1985 and in the Canadian Museum of Civilization. William Hazzard also made painted relief carvings.
The Canadian Museum Of Civilization has a page on William Hazzard with a Gallery:
http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/arts/bronfman/hazzrd1e.shtml
Ref: Blake McKendry, An Illustrated Companion to Canadian Folk Art (1999).
Laura Harness. Painter. Arborfield, Saskatchewan. Active mid-late 20th century.
Born in Alysham, Saskatchewan; Laura Harness painted naive landscapes as well as pictures of her life story. “I paint and sketch our life, happy moments ….and sad times”. She used a variety of media including oils, water colours, charcoal and coloured pencils. She was first cited in Thauberger, 1976.*
Ref: D. Thauberger. Grassroots Saskatchewan. Regina: Norman MacKenzie Art Gallery. 1976.
Ref: Saskatchewan Network for Art Collecting. (Web Site.)
Ref: Kobayashi/Bird, A Compendium of Canadian Folk Artists (1985).
Ref: Blake McKendry, An Illustrated Companion to Canadian Folk Art (1999).
Ann Alexandra Harbuz. Painter. North Battleford, Saskatchewan. Active mid 20th century.
Ann Harbuz was a painter of naive landscapes. She also painted interior scenes and portraits. She began painting in the 1960’s and her work was influenced by her childhood memories. She is cited in Climer, 1975 and Thauberger, 1976*, and illustrated in McKendry, 1999 Fig. 80.**
Ref: J. Climer. Saskatchewan Primitives. Saskatoon. Mendel Art Gallery. 1975.
Ref: D. Thauberger. Grassroots Saskatchewan. Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery. 1976.
Ref: The Canadian Centre for Folk Culture Studies. From The Heart: Folk Art in Canada. McClelland and Stewart, Toronto. 1983.
Ref: Kobayashi/Bird, A Compendium of Canadian Folk Artists (1985)
Ref: Canadian Centre for Folk Culture Studies. Canadian Museum of Civilization.
Ref: Blake McKendry, An Illustrated Companion to Canadian Folk Art (1999).
The reverse: