By Dan Welcher
There was a time when to say, "I'm going to play my music," didn't mean push a button or stream a video. It meant the person was proficient on a musical instrument, or several, and was about to play something.
In the 1930s and 1940s, live music played by big bands was the predecessor of today's rock concert. Young people would flock to large auditoriums, or even stadiums, to hear the live music of one of these bands. These orchestras consisted of about 15-25 woodwind, brass and stringed instruments, along with a very busy drummer. Because the music was often up-tempo, swing music, these concerts were also dances. Bandleaders like Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman could easily fill an arena or Carnegie Hall. They often had their own radio programs.
The St. Marys Station Gallery will present an exhibition called Memories of the Big Band Era, beginning on Nov. 9. Curator Cameron Porteous says the idea came to him when he was viewing a private collection of portraits of Big Band leaders who had come to Canada in the 1940s. A memory of sneaking out of the house as a young boy is emblazoned in his mind. While staying in a campground in Saskatchewan one summer evening, Porteous’ parents told him to stay in bed, saying they were just going down the road for a while.
"Shortly after they left, I slipped out of bed and, in my pajamas, made my way down the road toward the sounds of brass, drums and piano in the night air,” Porteous remembered. “The music was coming from the pavilion. I looked through the screened windows and saw an amazing sight of people dancing to the music played by a small ensemble of musicians. Happy couples were swirling around the dance floor in the warm, evening air with the cotton dresses of the ladies clinging to their bodies."
It is a bittersweet vision of a bygone era that becomes the focus of this new Station Gallery show. It features the work of two artists – James Mackey, whose portraits of the band leaders Porteous saw in that private collection, and Hans Veenvliet, who produced a number of three-dimensional collages made from musical instruments. Ironically, both the portraits and the collages are here because of a kind of rescue mission. The Big Band leaders’ portraits were found in a hockey arena in London that was about to be torn down and were saved from destruction by Mackey's sister, Ethel. She gave the portraits to the painter's son, Matthew. The musical instruments that Veenvliet turned into collages were salvaged from a high school that was being demolished.
James Mackey (1926-1990) was born in Detroit but spent much of his early life in Canada. A prodigiously talented young man, he attended art school in London, Ont., where he met his future wife, Ruth. The couple moved to Boston so Mackey could attend the Boston Museum School of Fine Art. Their plan was to move to Europe after his studies so both could do some serious painting there. But their son Matthew was born in 1948, effectively ending that dream.
Mackey went into commercial art to support his growing family (twin sons were born four years later), and from then on, he led a peripatetic and rather tortured life. He suffered from what would now be called bipolar disorder, leading to alcoholism and deep depression. The couple eventually lived apart with Mackey working as a commercial artist in Detroit at BBDO, one of the largest advertising agencies in the world. His wife and the boys returned to Stratford.
The bandleader portraits were made in London when Mackey was only 17. The younger Mackey isn't certain of the details, but he speculates they were made as souvenirs of each bandleader's visit to London. The most famous bandleader in the collection is Duke Ellington, the composer and pianist who led one of the most successful big bands in America for several decades. Some of the others are more obscure but all were painted while on tour in Ontario.
Hans Veenvliet (1960 to present) is an artist who lives and works in Blyth, Ont. Originally trained as a stonemason, he now is primarily a woodworker. The change came when a family friend asked him to turn a violin into a memorial piece. He deconstructed the body of the violin, then reformed the pieces into something unique. The result was not quite sculpture, but more a three-dimensional collage. He has repeated that process numerous times since with various kinds of musical instruments.
Veenvliet and his wife, Cynthia McKenna, a painter, began the Wild Goose Studio in Southampton, Ont., and later relocated to 432 Queen St. in Blyth. It is an exhibition space and working studio for both artists.
St. Marys Station Gallery opened Memories of the Big Band Era with a reception on Nov. 9. The Gallery is open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
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