When David Woods volunteered in the North-End Library in Halifax in the 1980s, one of the women with whom he was regularly used to tell him how his mother used to paint.
And although I used to mention this frequently, he did not provide many details.
When Woods was organizing an exhibition of black art of New Scotland at the end of the 1990s, he thought of those conversations with Ruth Johnson. Then he went home to see some of the paintings that his mother, Edith Macdonald-Brown, had done.
Woods used some of the paintings in the exhibition and hit the quality of work, Woods somedded to gather an individual exhibition of Macdonald-Brown work.
While Johnson died in 2003, her promise to her has finally been fulfilled.
From Africville: Edith Macdonald-Brown’s paintings Open Saturday at the Mount Saint Vincent University Gallery.
“What surprises me is that he did some of these works when I had, such as 13, 14, 15 years and part of [her] The training was to replicate teachers, you know, established paintings, but if you look at the originals and look at their work, it would be difficult for you to distinguish who the teacher was, “Woods said.
Macdonald-Brown was born in Africville, NS, in 1886, and grew in the North Extreme Halifax community, as well as in Montreal.
His first known painting was carried out in 1898, while his last known work was in 1913. His paintings cover nature and rural life.
Macdonald-Brown returned to Africville around 1914 to marry a man, corresponding to when his work of art ceased. She died in 1954.
Melanie Colosimo, director of the Mount Art Gallery, said that Macdonald-Brown’s work fits well to the mandate of the gallery to focus on women as artists, but also for the proximity of the university to Africville.
Africville residents were displaced and their houses demolished by the city of Halifax in the 1960s. In early 1970, the last resident left the community and approximately 400 people from 80 families had been relocated.
Colosimo wonders how Macdonald-Brown’s work would see if he continued to make art.
“What would have been your subjects, being resident in Africville and the stories she had and her family and seeing your children grow?” Colosimo said. “That is what it is, I think, one of the most interesting aspects of this program is that there was so much talent and we still couldn’t see that.”
The exhibition presents nine of the 13 known works of Macdonald-Brown, who receive a loan from family members, including the great-grandchildren Colleen Howe-Bone. Howe-Bone is in the city for Saturday opening, after having traveled from Virginia Beach, Virginia, for the event.
“It is spiritual for me to see it [artwork]Recognizing this is my great-grandmother, “said Howe-Bone.
She said that within her family, there are many people who have an artistic inclination, which provides Macdonald-Brown as responsible.
Howe-Bone believes that the story of Macdonald-Brown tells the other side of Africville’s history.
“Many of the stories that people would hear when they left Africville,” they were homeless and were poor and had nothing, “said Howe-Bone.
“Well, they were a proud town and had houses and gardeners and kept their property up and removed them and took them away. And when I looked at the earth in Africville, that is the land of Edith Brown.”
Colosimo hopes that by calling attention to the work of Macdonald-Brown, people will continue to investigate their life, and maybe some unknown works of art arise from her.
Woods expects the exhibition to bring recognition for a long time.
“We have these gifts and we can only be grateful that we still have them, you know, 100 years later to celebrate and perhaps bring him some honor for his art that he did not receive during the time he was creating the works,” he said.
The exhibition extends until April 26.
To obtain more stories about the experiences of black Canadians, from anti-negral racism to success stories within the black community, visit Be black in CanadaA CBC project that black Canadians can be proud. You can read more stories here.
