@movernie
For those people who are into art and who lives in Canada will possibly and most likely heard of Maud Lewis. But for a person such as myself who doesn’t know much about art, but don’t mind going to art galleries to look at art, I didn’t know who was Maud Lewis until I came to Halifax and went to Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) to check out some art exhibitions.
I am super grateful and thankful for Discover Halifax for providing us with media passes. I came into AGNS with no expectations. But when the staff at AGNS suggested us to go and check out Maud Lewis art exhibit first, we follow his suggestion.
When I saw the sign “Her House. Her Art. Her Legacy.“, the few words made me wanted to know more about this female artists.
The descriptions along the walls of this art exhibit plus the real artwork of hers was very educational. I was gravitated to her work, her positive energy and her inspirations.
Maud Lewis had severe juvenile arthritis, a form of arthritis in children ages 16 or younger. It causes joint inflammation and stiffness all over the body. The most common symptoms include swollen, stiff, warm, red, and painful joints. But that didn’t stop Maud from painting and making artwork such as Christmas cards that she learned the skillz from her mother.
What I found Maud so intriguing was the fact that she made all of her artwork from the little house that she shared with her husband. She hadn’t travel outside of Nova Scotia, she spent her entire life in Nova Scotia, she only painted landscape, animals and other flowers from the surrounding areas where she lived. She never paint something that she never saw or visited.
She and her husband lived mostly in poverty but they never complained, they worked hard, her art were inspirational as the paintings were colourful, joyful and it represents her neighbourhood. She would make arts at her tiny house while her husband went fishing and sells the fish door-to-door along with selling her artwork.
The tiny house (which was saved, restored by local communities could be seen at this art exhibit inside AGNS. I took a peek of the tiny house. She painted her front door over and over again as paint got deteriorated and required maintenance. There was a sleeping room upstairs in the loft. Otherwise, you could pretty much see the entire layout of the house. The only thing that brought heat to the house was the stove in the kitchen, that’s their own source of energy and heat.
This was very interesting to me. Normally after I visited a museum or art gallery, I don’t really keep looping on the imagery or think about the art gallery, but I was thinking about her story and history even when I came back to Toronto. I don’t know what it was but it’s just caught my attention.
Maud Lewis Art Exhibit – Artist
Her House Her Art. Her Legacy.
Maud’s world was limited to her home and in the small southwest area of Nova Scotia, where she lived. Her impact continues to grow far beyond this province and her unique and colourful artwork continues to capture the hearts of the people around the world.
This was an interesting and powerful art exhibit of Maud Lewis as I never heard of her but I was gravitated by her life and her stories.
Her actual mini home was disassembled after both of her and her husband death and was preserved and reassembled and placed in this Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.
MoVernie FUN FACT: Did you know….Maud Lewis’s story was being put into a movie called “Maudie“. It’s available on Netflix and could be watched to learn a glimpse of Maud Lewis’ life.
Click here to watch the trailer of Maudie.
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia – Downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Website
Address: 1723 Hollis St, Halifax, NS B3J 1V9
Phone: (902) 424-5280
Opened: 1908
Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/e9sM6yiSt2sB78W96
Dear Discover Halifax, thank you for the media passes and allowing me to get to learn more about Maud Lewis and her incredible work. Her artwork were marvelous.
The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia experience was provided by Discover Halifax. However, as always, the opinions expressed in this post is entirely my own.
