DOOR-TO-DOOR CANVAS
Wilf Perreault displays his door painting in his Regina studio. He is submitting the piece for a Habitat for Humanity fundraiser featuring household items turned into art.
When Habitat for Humanity first invited renowned Regina artist Wilf Perreault to paint a door for a fundraiser, he accepted and immediately took a trip to the Restore.
Back then, doors were the required canvas for participating artists, and Perreault found a maple door to use as the frame for his auctioned-off piece.
Now — as reflected in the event’s title, Doors & More — items range from chairs to spoons to a unicycle to whatever else the Restore has on hand. Even so, Perreault sticks with doors.
“It started a journey for me of playing with doors, like a whole new adventure of playing with a door as a starting point, as a frame actually,” said Perreault.
“It’s actually helped my other work too, in terms of composition.”
For this year’s event on March 7, Perreault is painting one of his signature alleyways, its pink-hued sky in honour of his wife Sandi and a friend’s wife, who both died from breast cancer.
Perreault’s piece is one of two dozen that will be auctioned to raise money for the non-profit Habitat For Humanity, which provides affordable housing in the community.
Kristin Macpherson isn’t usually drawn to doors. Last year, the artist chose a tool box; this year, a vintage ironing board caught her eye.
“One of the things I really love about Habitat is the ability to walk in there and find something and just think ‘this item’s intriguing, and I don’t know where I’m going to go with it,’ and then the piece sort of becomes something,” said Macpherson.
She picked the 1940s ironing board even though she has thought all along, “I don’t really want to paint on this, because it’s so beautiful just as a piece.”
So, she’s creating a fabric collage — a fitting choice for its canvas — to be attached to the ironing board.
“It’s a bit of embroidery; I’m cutting fabrics and other materials like lace textures and things like that, and that sort of comes from my grandmother, because she was big on starching doilies and she ironed everything,” said Macpherson.
Meanwhile, Justine Schlosser chose a corkboard and some gold paint from the Restore, and used them along with “just kind of whatever I could get my hands on.”
Her abstract painting is largely white, with metallics and small splashes of colour.
“I’ve never painted on a corkboard before and I always like to leave a little bit of the raw canvas kind of coming through, just very subtle hints of it, so that’s exactly what I did with this corkboard,” she said.
Schlosser is also participating in the new Battle of the Brushes, a live painting competition during Doors & More.
“I feel like I should be more nervous about it,” she said laughing.
She’s wondering how the 20-minute timeline will play out, since she usually paints in layers and likes to have them dry in between.
Twenty-some artists are represented in Doors & More, volunteering their time to create the artworks, and many of them attending the event.
“The thing that I love about Habitat is they include the artists in the whole process,” said Macpherson. Perreault agreed.
“It feels like you’re on a team. And I just feel like I’m part of the whole project. Normally I work in a studio by myself and it doesn’t feel like a team thing sometimes. But I know the work I do is bigger than who I am, which is pretty cool,” he said.
Schlosser enjoys giving back; she said she donates to different community fundraisers each month.
“I just think it’s good to give back to community. If it wasn’t for our strong support here in Regina, I wouldn’t have a job doing what I love.”
Doors & More takes place at the Casino Regina Show Lounge on Saturday, March 7, 7 p.m. For tickets ($100), visit casinoregina.com or eventbrite.com.