Phase three in Saskatchewan means more businesses and activities are opening up, but for many still at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic there isn’t much to do.
One artist in Saskatoon found a way to make his neighbours’ walks a bit more colourful.
In the Lakeridge neighbourhood, artist Paul Constable is bringing his art to his neighbours with his “one window gallery”.
A number of his shows were cancelled because of the virus, and it felt like a waste not putting his art up somewhere. So every week he puts a new painting out in a display case outside his house for anyone to view.
“The kids love it,” said Constable. His display includes a ‘comment’ box, where thankful children — or their parents — leave him little notes.
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With people still at home #Saskatoon artist Paul Constable set up a “window gallery” for his neighbours. He puts a new piece every week. These 3 especially love the pirates in this painting – even though Paul didn’t paint any. More tonight on @GlobalSaskatoon#yxe#sask#COVID19pic.twitter.com/Vgph3pLJZU
— Gabriela Panza-Beltrandi (@GabrielaPanza) June 8, 2020
Some of his favourites include, “We look forward to the weekly painting!” and a simple heart drawn in pencil on a folded piece of paper.
“I change the image every Monday so everybody kind of looks forward to the next week which is kind of nice.”
Saskatoon’s newest — and likely smallest — gallery opened six weeks ago.
Along with one weekly painting, it sports a sculpture from another local artist, and a fun surprise for kids to find — a snake sculpture popping out under the display.
“It lifts the spirits of the neighbourhood for sure,” said Kayla Cropper, who walks by the gallery with her dog.
Fellow Saskatoon artist James S. Korpan donated his sculpture to Constable’s inventory.
“Right now in this time of COVID[-19] things are very closed… this is a very good way of bringing the art scene to the public,” he said.
Siblings Jonathan, 7, Brayden, 5, and Kaylee Leier, 3, all love playing with the snake toy at the gallery, and using their imaginations when looking at constable’s paintings.
“I can see the pirates!” exclaims an excited Brayden, joined in by his siblings as they point out the pirates on the canvas.
Constable didn’t paint pirates — but watching the trio gush about them, he said he wishes he had.
He said he’s happy so many people can get joy from his little display.
“It’s changing the walk pattern a little bit; people have something to see,” he said.
“[It’s] something different to see while they’re doing their walks, because everybody’s out walking every day just trying to get out.”
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Constable says he plans to keep the gallery running for the foreseeable future. He’s looking at making more space to include children’s artwork, or other contributions from the community.
Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:
Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.
To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out. In situations where you can’t keep a safe distance from others, public health officials recommend the use of a non-medical face mask or covering to prevent spreading the respiratory droplets that can carry the virus.
For full COVID-19 coverage from Global News, click here.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
