November
14, 2015
New
exhibition of Inuit children's art launches in Ottawa
Beth McKenty spent 13 years in Canada's Arctic holding informal art
classes in her home
By Sandra Abma, CBC News
Posted: Nov 14, 2015 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Nov 14, 2015 12:11 PM ET
It's Beth McKenty's fervent
belief that inside every human being resides an artist.
For more than a decade, McKenty inspired the children of Canada's
Arctic to express that inner creativity, doling out brushes and paint,
cookies and milk, and lots of encouragement along the way.
Now, an exhibition launching Sunday at the Kevin Dodds Art Gallery and
Studio will allow Ottawans to see that creativity for themselves.
When McKenty was in her 60s and early 70s, she spent 13 years living in
the Baha'i House in Iqaluit on the shores of Frobisher Bay.
Inuit children's art
She'd gone there because she was concerned about the high rate of
suicide among young people.
McKenty always made a point of keeping her dining room table clear so
that neighbourhood kids could drop by to sketch, paint and enjoy a
snack. She said she came up with the idea after seeing some children
idly throwing rocks outside her home and inviting them inside for juice
and a chat.
'Inside every human being is an artist.'
- Beth McKenty
"I'm just going to give each of them a brush and tell them I know
inside every human being is an artist," said McKenty. "And when I
looked at what they painted, I was overwhelmed."
The little artists' studio that sprouted in McKenty's dining room soon
grew, inspiring her to launch a one-woman creative campaign.
With the support of a regional airline, McKenty travelled to the
north's farthest-flung communities — with pencils, paint and paper in
tow.
Through art, said McKenty, the children she visited were able to
express not only the raw beauty of their natural environment and their
love for their families, but also their fears, and even the darkness of
depression.
Memories
and tears
Today, the 84-year-old great-grandmother lives in a small apartment at
The Palisades retirement home in Ottawa. The room is crowded with
colourful mementos of the time she spent making art with the
children of Baffin Island.
There's a sparkle in her eyes as she sorts through the rainbows,
multi-coloured snowmen and self-portraits. But when she comes to a
picture of a flower, there are tears.
Jennifer Naglingniq was 13 when she took part in one of McKenty's art
classes. McKenty remembers smiling at the end of that day: she had
encouraged Naglingniq to transform a mistake she'd made on her paper
into a beautiful flower.
A few days later McKenty turned on the radio, and was plunged into
despair.
"I felt literally like wanting to kill myself, the news was so
horrible. This girl that I had praised for her painting had been
murdered," she said.
Plagued by her grief over the senseless tragedy, McKenty began to
question whether her ambitious art project really was improving the
lives of the children she reached.
But she rediscovered her sense of purpose when she found the slain
girl's painting of the flower a few months later. Using that image, she
created an anti-violence poster for schools with the heading "Let's not
forget Jennifer."
Exhibition Sunday
McKentry says many of the children who gathered around her dining room
table discovered camaraderie and self-esteem. A few even discovered a
real hidden talent, and went on to hold art exhibits of their own, she
said.
She recently began searching for a way to share the years' worth of art
she has stored in her apartment — and she found what she was looking
for at Kevin Dodds Art Gallery and Studio at 1101 Bank St.
The exhibition will take place Sunday, Nov. 15. McKenty intends to give
away much of art that will be on display.
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