Wesleyville, Burning of the Methodist Church -- David Blackwood
This past weekend one of Canada's great artists, David Blackwood, died at the age of 80. Blackwood was born in outport Newfoundland in an era when his community of Wesleyville was only in contact with the world beyond it by ship. As it happens, when I began ministry in 1980 it was serving five outports only an hour's drive away, so we came to appreciate the fierce landscape which imbues Blackwood's remarkable paintings and prints.
Many of his images include churches, usually the largest buildings by far in the coastal villages. When we visited an exhibition of his work at the Art Gallery of Ontario is 2011 one of his sketchbooks was open to a drawing of the hill into Frederickton, NL, which I drove down to lead worship in the church portrayed in it. Ruth was admonished for taking this photo, but how could she resist?
David Blackwood sketch of Frederickton, NL
In interviews Blackwood spoke of his Methodist upbringing which included services in the morning and evening with Sunday School in the afternoon. That would be enough to turn off even the most devout person but he also spoke of the Methodist influence on learning (schools were denominational back then) and the encouragement to view creativity as a gift. He also mentioned the Methodist penchant for naming children after Old Testament characters. Our son, Isaac, was born in Newfoundland and this tradition was the inspiration for his name. As another example, our Carmanville next door neighbour was Eli Green, a wise elder and a fine Christian.
Blackwood trained at the art school which is now known as OCAD University in Toronto and while he returned to Wesleyville in summers he eventually lived for many years in Port Hope. We lived not far away and a parishioner who knew the Blackwoods kindly invited us to a dinner party of eight which included David and his wife, Anita. I sat next to him for several hours and we chatted about Newfoundland and some of his pieces, amongst other subjects.
One more connection, which I will ruefully reveal. The high school principal in our outport home left for Ontario and sold many possessions before leaving, including a David Blackwood print. He offered it to us for $400, which was an amount beyond our ken at the time. Sigh.
It was reassuring to hear that Blackwood died peacefully with loved ones at his side. His life and creative legacy deserve to be honoured. Here are links to an interview with David at The Rooms in St. John's a decade ago, and a National Film Board documentary showing him at work in his print-making studio. Both are excellent. I've added a CBC article link for good measure!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h30ap1b2uQ
https://www.nfb.ca/film/blackwood/
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6509080
The Loop, from Carmanville to Wesleyville
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