‘It was overwhelming’
Waycobah artist created painting of Gord Downie in heaven
A Mi’kmaq artist has painted Canadian rock legend Gord Downie in heaven meeting a young boy who touched his heart while on earth.
Loretta Gould was commissioned to create the solemn piece for the Tragically Hip singer as a way of thanking him for his contributions to the Aboriginal community.
Before his death Tuesday, Downie had shone a spotlight on the country’s shameful legacy of residential schools. Downie’s recent work included a 10-song album that tells the story of 12-year-old Chanie Wenjack.
Wenjack died from exposure in 1966 after running away from an Ontario residential school in an attempt to return home.
“It brings a lump in my throat every time I talk about this but I just can’t imagine a little boy walking through the woods and being frozen there,” Gould said Saturday when contacted at home in Waycobah.
“He was just looking for his way home and it was too far for him to walk.”
The painting created by Gould shows Downie with a feather sticking out of his cap — an embellishment that highlighted the late musician’s farewell tour — meeting Wenjack in the afterlife.
In the donated image, Downie and Wenjack are performing a smudging ceremony with spirit animals formed out of the smoke and ground to represent the seven sacred teachings of the Mi’kmaq people.
It was the first time Gould featured a non-Aboriginal person in her work.
“He opened up so many eyes
in Canada for Aboriginal people and what our family members
went through — even the people who didn’t want to talk about it,” she said.
Gould was invited in December to witness Downie receiving several gifts, including her painting, during an emotional ceremony led by the Assembly of First Nations in Gatineau, Que.
Waycobah residents Lillian and Vivian Googoo were also asked to make Downie a beaded medallion that featured his signature cap.
“I worked on that painting day and night for about maybe four days, five days,” said Gould, who is a longtime fan of Downie’s music.
“I was honoured to present it to Gord Downie. It was overwhelming for me, especially with everything that was happening. He was such a humbled man. I don’t know if it was because he was sick at the time but that was what I got from him — very kind.”
A traditional quilter turned art quilter, Gould said she only began painting about four years ago after her sewing machine suddenly stopped working.
Gould was encouraged to pick up a paintbrush by her daughter and other family members.
She will now present another painting to Buffy Sainte-Marie during the singer-songwriter’s upcoming visit to St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish.
Although she expects there will be prints made of her Downie and Wenjack painting, Gould said she doesn’t yet have one.
“I don’t have a copy of the print but I would like one,” she said with a laugh.
“I was honoured to be asked to do this — it was overwhelming to be honest with you.”
Another piece of Gould’s work that has caught national attention is a painting of Amanda Polchies, the woman who knelt before RCMP while holding an eagle feather during anti-fracking protests in New Brunswick in 2013.
Downie died Tuesday after being diagnosed last year with terminal brain cancer.
“I was honoured to present it to Gord Downie. It was overwhelming for me, especially with everything that was happening. He was such a humbled man. I don’t know if it was because he was sick at the time but that was what I got from him — very kind.”
Loretta Gould on painting the late rock star