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| Begonia in Orange Cascade |
Ninety square feet of canvas, over 200 linear feet of frame,
countless tubes of oil paint and hours and hours of work are finally ready to
take to the stage, or in this case the gallery walls.
It’s been a long journey, a long time coming, and a bittersweet accomplishment.
Having a solo show at the Northern Alberta Jubilee has not only
been a dream of mine, but also a dream of my late husband Bernie.
Most people I know have hobbies they love; they find relaxation
and a great deal of enjoyment in these interests outside of work, my husband loved
to work. He loved to work so much that his hobby was working at the
Northern Alberta Jubilee part time. Although, he enjoyed his full time
job, worked with great people, and met each challenge head on, it was a stressful
job and consumed a lot of his life. He
wanted sometime to do in his time away from the job that would be fun and
stress free. When our children were
involved in sports and other activities that kept both of us busy, we loved it,
but once our children got to the age that they gave up some of their activities we found we had more time on our hands; I could always find something to occupy my
time, my husband on the other hand found himself restless.
Besides having a full time job, one of his sister's worked part
time at the Centrium in Red Deer.
Whenever my husband and her chatted about her part time job he would
tell me that it sounded like so much fun, wouldn’t it be great if he could find
something like that to do! It just
happened at that time the Northern Alberta Jubilee was looking for staff.
I remember Bernie’s boss, Bonnie telling us at his funeral that he
was the best employee she ever had; I could totally believe it. He was so dedicated and hardworking and so
much fun to be around. She told all of
us about the day he came in for an interview for a job. The interview went well, but before she could
say anything to him about getting back to him, he said to her something along
the lines of “When do I start?” I’m sure
she was surprised by his confidence, it never occurred to him that he wouldn’t
be hired, but that was my husband, never arrogant, but totally confident.
He started the job in September of 2005 and loved it. He
spend as much time as he could at the Jube, so much so that I asked him to put
a limit on it. He wanted me to apply and come and work with him, but our
youngest needed someone home in the evenings.
I always looked forward to him coming home at the end of his shift and
sitting down and hearing all about the evening.
He would always have an interesting or funny story about the events and
antics that took place. I knew from the
very beginning that this was a special place to him. Somewhere he felt he belonged, a place where I’m sure given half the chance he would have worked
full time.
A couple years after I started painting in 2006 and my art started
to get some notice, he mentioned to me that the Jube had a gallery in the lower
level, the Kassa Gallery, and he thought I should apply to have a show. I was curious about the gallery but didn’t
feel ready to apply. I went to the Jube
one day with him to have a look anyway.
It was a big space and I knew I needed to increase my inventory before I
could ever even think about applying; I put the thought aside. Over the course of a few more years while I
continued to paint and he continued with his hobby he mentioned over and over
to me to apply to the Kaasa Gallery. His boss also mentioned to him that
she thought I should apply for a show. I knew that one day I would, but I
wasn't sure when that would be.
After Bernie passed away in 2012, Bonnie and the staff at the Jube
were very supportive to me and my family. I knew they cared deeply for my
husband and thought highly of him.
Bonnie and a few other staff continued to encourage me to apply for a
show. Last year I was told that the Jube would open a new gallery on the
1st balcony, the Alcove Gallery, this gallery would be smaller and it might be
a good fit for me. But I knew if I wanted to apply for a show I would
have to paint a series.
It’s all good and fine telling yourself you have to paint a
series, but when you are a painter like me and just paint anything that you
feel like painting, from portraits of people and pets, to landscapes,
waterscapes, boats, signs and flowers, how do you pick? I started to think about my art and what I
wanted to be known for, but that in itself was hard. I didn’t want to pigeon hole myself, I wanted
to paint anything and everything, but as I started to really look at my art I
realized there was a pattern. I painted
mostly portraits, not just people, dogs and other animals, but also boats and
flowers. Most of my paintings, other
than landscape, had a singular subject. Once I figured this out I decided to go
ahead and paint some flowers for my first series. I had recently finished a rose that was well
received and a great deal of fun to paint. This particular rose was large,
three feet by three feet and I decided to keep to that size theme. I knew from my photography that I would have
lots of reference material and if I fell short I could always go and take more
photos. |
| The Rose |
I decided that it was time, I went to the Jube and met the person
in charge of the shows and had a look at the new gallery space. I felt confident that I could fill it. I told her I was going to send in an application
for a show. She said that was great and
explained how the jurying process worked….wait a minute….there was a jury, I
wasn’t a shoe in? As it turned out once
you send in an application it goes through her and then it goes to a jury of
the board members of the Jubilee, well, I didn’t know any of them, what if
after all this time I was turned down, what if after all this time I didn’t get
accepted? I sent in the application
and waited nervously.
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| Christina |
As all of this was taking place I heard back from the Jube, I was
in!!! The board liked my work and gave
the thumbs up. I was slated for November
and December of 2015; the first artist in the new gallery with eight months to
paint, which for me, is not enough time, but I was going to give it my all!!!
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| Serenity - Maluhia |
I was on a roll, I had everything figured out, how much time I
needed for each painting, how many hours I needed to work each day. Things were coming together, I was working
like crazy and had only two paintings to complete when just a few weeks before
the start date of the show, it was pushed back due to some issues with the
hanging rails, after all this is a new gallery and hiccups were pretty much to
be expected….but I was on a roll and now I had six additional weeks to work…………have
you ever met a procrastinator? Well,
hello. I took three weeks off, why you
ask, because I could. I actually did
have good reasons, I had to do the books for my son’s business, get them to the
accountant, work on my yard a bit, which I had planned to do once everything was
finished, read a book or two and think about painting. The show dates were now
October 19, 2015 to January 4, 2016, lots of time to work. Which in the end I did work. Once I got back into the rhythm of things the
paintings came together. But then
another hiccup emerged and as it has turned out my show starting date has been
moved back to the opening reception date of Friday, October 23, 2015, which is
not a bad thing, more time to fine tune things.
It’s getting close and I’m getting more excited. Only one more painting to touch up and
frame. I’ve been working on the
promotion, the marketing and have had two interviews with Scott Hayes of the
St. Albert Gazette. Bryan Young of the
Gazette came over in the summer and took photos of me and my art and Scott
plans on putting something in the paper next Wednesday. It’s been hectic, it’s been a lot of work,
but most of all it’s been fun. I’ve
never painted so large, I hope I can get the painting in my van, I guess I
should have checked that a while ago…
I look forward to next Friday evening with the hope that my
friends, family and supporters will come out to the opening reception to see my
art. I look forward to having the
patrons of the shows who go through the Alcove Gallery see my work over the
next 3 months.
It’s been a long time coming since the first day my late husband
told me I should apply to have a show at the Jube. Well, I did and it’s almost here. I hope it’s successful, I hope it’s well
received and I hope I did him proud and I wish he was here to share in this
moment.
Flower Power
A Solo Exhibition by Memory Roth
Northern Alberta Jubilee - Alcove Gallery
1st Balcony
Edmonton, AB
October 23, 2015 - January 4, 2016
Opening Reception - Friday, October 23, 2015
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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