One artist, 150 paintings for Canada’s 150th birthday

PREVIEW

What: O-Canada 150 Celebration

When: Saturday through Jan. 22

Where: Trounce Alley Gallery, 616 Trounce Alley

Timothy Wilson Hoey keeps to a routine that sees him draw or paint something seven days a week. It’s part of his process as an artist, and the Victoria native has stuck to it for the better part of 30 years.

But over the summer, he set upon a pace in his basement studio that pushed him into next-level territory in terms of productivity. Hoey, 48, hatched an idea in July that would require him to create 150 paintings suitable for publishing. But there was a serious hitch: In order to have a book completed in time to celebrate Canada’s sesquicentennial in 2017, his publisher needed the paintings by early November. “Eighty-seven days later, the paintings were finished,” Hoey said, laughing at his pace of nearly two paintings per day. “I didn’t over-think. I just let them flow.”

The result is O-Canada 150 Celebration, which opens a week-long run on Saturday at Trounce Alley Gallery. Hoey’s work will be familiar to many, as he is known for his unique sense of Canadiana, be it the Queen or the Hudson’s Bay Company or Molson Export beer.

The series of paintings (all 8x10 in size, according to Hoey) for his O-Canada celebration were crafted with acrylic paint on board. The frames feature another trademark from Hoey: hockey sticks, the most Canadian of sports equipment.

Hoey said he cut up 173 wood or composite sticks to make the frames, which he bound at the corners with hockey tape — 80 rolls in all. The paintings will sell for $349 and will be taken on the road to exhibits in Canmore, Alta., in February, and Saskatoon, in April.

High-resolution photos of his 150 paintings will be showcased in Hoey’s book and separated into six sections: animals, environment, sports figures, celebrities and musicians, history and food. Each chapter page features a painting of the Queen alongside some sort of prototypical Canadiana — a beaver, the Stanley Cup, a canoe and Hawkins Cheezies, among other items. “Let’s face it. The Queen, in our time, is probably the greatest pop icon of them all.”

Never short on ideas, Hoey also asked several Canadian musicians — some of whom he knew, some of whom he didn’t — to write a few words that could accompany their portraits.

“I wanted to ask musicians I’ve shared a venue with, been in a band with or shared a drummer with,” said Hoey, who fronted local cow-punk act the Metronome Cowboys. “Nobody has seen this country more than musicians have.”

That list includes Stephen McBean of Black Mountain, bluesman Paul Pigat, punk provocateur Ford Pier, Grant Lawrence of the Smugglers, Mike McDonald of Jr. Gone Wild, Jerry Woods of Jerry Jerry and the Sons of Rhythm Orchestra, and Jann Arden.

“Now that I’ve done this book and we’ve met, celebrity aside, these are just really genuine people. In some ways, that defines Canadian celebrity more than anything.”

No major networking was needed to bring artists such as Arden on board, Hoey said.

“Canada is really small. It’s not six degrees of separation, it’s like two — if you’re lucky.”

[email protected]