A legacy of art - Shawn's Sense with Shawn Loughlin

Over the years in this space I have often reflected on the impact of a life (while making the case for more robust obituaries to be written) or someone’s impact on their community and everything that has been made better by what they’ve done, what they’ve created or what they’ve undertaken.

 

On Sunday, at Memorial Hall, it was easy to see the impact that Ron and Bev Walker have had on the community around them, despite neither of them being born in this area. Their two daughters, Tammy and Shawna, curated a simply perfect afternoon at the hall. I’m not sure how much of that was dictated by Ron and Bev themselves through funeral pre-planning and how much was brought to the table by Shawna and Tammy, but what was left for us little people to enjoy was sublime. There was a band and delicious food in the lower hall, a dynamic slideshow and music upstairs and a retrospective show of the couple’s art in the Blyth Festival Art Gallery, giving us one last chance (perhaps) to see Ron’s paintings and sketches and Bev’s prints and textile work, all in the space they helped to create.

 

One year after its first season, Blyth Festival co-founder and inaugural Artistic Director James Roy encouraged the newly-relocated Ron and Bev Walker to create an art gallery component to the new and exciting work being done in Blyth on the stage and the Blyth Festival Art Gallery was born. In 2015, when the gallery marked its 40th season, one of the professional shows was a retrospective of the work of Ron and Bev for all to see. Not only that, but one of Ron’s transcendent landscapes was used for the Festival’s season poster.

 

There are few things more powerful than being in the very place or establishment that someone helped to create to celebrate their life. Knowing that all of this *dramatically waves hand across the art gallery* came about because two young artists agreed with Roy that the community could use an art gallery is humbling and it reiterates the impact of those people in our lives who don’t let other people do things. They are happy to step up and do the work and our worlds are enriched as a result.

 

As community builders, Ron and Bev were among the best, and yet, that work pales in comparison to all that they did to have two beautiful children, nurture a loving family and teach the young people of tomorrow. I was struck by the pair of speeches, one by Shawna and the other by one of Ron’s oldest teaching friends, and the philosophy held by the Walkers that emphasized that less is more when it comes to control and direction, but that more is more when it comes to food and drink.

 

As a relatively new parent, it’s quite easy to overreach. For most who are actively involved in their childrens’ lives, it’s likely easier to get too involved than it is to allow your kids to make their own mistakes and to live their lives with your guidance, but not too much of it. We also heard that Ron was like this with his teaching career as well, and while it sounds like he may have had a dust-up or two with the school board of the day as a result, it sounds like we all could benefit from having a teacher like him or a mother like Bev. 

 

And this is all done not by curating an experience for your daughter or your students or your partner, but by creating a safe, loving and caring arena in which those people are free and encouraged to curate their own experience in everything from a field trip to New York City to in-class teaching to day-to-day life.

 

This community is poorer for losing Ron and Bev, but the legacy they’ve left behind for us is something that will live on and on and on.