Denis Hapi: A successful Canadian artist under the radar
Walking through Frelighsburg, locals and visitors may have noticed the few grand sculptures that have made a place for themselves in the village’s landscape. These sculptures were created by successful Canadian artist Denis Happy, a.k.a. Hapi, who made a name for himself in the artistic world throughout the 90s. In the prime of his career, Hapi suffered an unfortunate stroke around 2007 leaving his work to fly under the radar. A true Canadian talent, Hapi left his mark on the Townships and now his son, Martin Happy, is looking to keep his legacy alive.
Before Denis Hapi became an artist, he worked in the mining business and invested in uranium. “He actually had invested all his money in uranium, he saw nuclear power plants getting big in the world and he knew it was an alternative source of energy. Trudeau passed a moratorium in the 70s on uranium and there was no exportation to Canada. This put him out of business and all the money went out the window,” his son explained.
To rebuild his life, Hapi moved to Newfoundland. “He had nothing left. He had a house in Newfoundland when he owned the mining company that he was renting so he stayed in that house from his mining company days.”
Looking for something to grasp onto and out of desperation to make a living, Hapi started carving reliefs and mastered the art through trial and error. “His small relief carvings were phenomenal.”
His relief carvings garnered attention and he was selected to represent a pavilion of artists at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. “He represented Newfoundland in the 1976 Olympics as a Canadian artist and he started getting some exposure.”
His exposure continued to grow after creating a collection made out of whalebone. “We were playing Frisbee in Newfoundland on the beach and we tripped on whale bones. We came back and dug them up and he did a beautiful collection. He sold them to this millionaire in Toronto and he was able to buy a house in Bromont.”
After moving to Bromont, Hapi started creating massive sculptures and he was quickly commissioned to create pieces. “He started doing massive sculptures and he got commissioned by the Pope to do a sculpture. He found an old marble mine outside of Sherbrooke that went out of business and bought 40 tonnes of marble stone, a compressor, and he just got really good at these sculptures,” explained Happy. “He had another guy pass by the house in Bromont from Scotland and he stopped his car and fell in love with my dad’s work. He bought two sculptures and he flew my dad to Scotland and commissioned him to do work over there.”
The piece of work for the Pope, a depiction of Mary, can be found behind the St Paul’s Roman Catholic Church in Toronto.
After selling his whalebone collect, Happy explained that his father didn’t get involved in many art exhibitions as he made enough money to live; he just wanted to create art. He didn’t do too many exhibitions, he just worked seven days a week making these sculptures. He wanted to make poetry through stone; that was his philosophy. You look at the sculpture and you get the message he was trying to convey.”
After presenting his sculpture to the Pope, Hapi started to work on the few sculptures that can now be found in Frelighsburg. The sculptures were moved there after Hapi lost his studio in Waterloo to a fire. “He was in a hurry to move the sculptures and it cost $15,000 to move the pieces to Frelighsburg. He was forced to find a place to put those sculptors right away to have them seen by the public. He wasn’t looking for money and he signed a contract with the town to lease them for $2500 a year.”
Around 2007, Hapi suffered a stroke and Martin Happy came from James Bay, where he worked as a nurse, to take care of him. “When I came back from James Bay, he told me about this contract. I said thank god we moved them out of Waterloo and they are in a public place.”
The municipality of Frelighsburg decided to end the contract not long after Hapi suffered his stroke and his son is in the process of trying to retrieve the sculptures with the goal of keeping his father’s legacy alive. The process has been complicated by the fact Martin Happy is not named executor in Hapi’s will. Frelighsburg, wants to resolve the