Touching tribute

Nova Scotia artists who collaborated on artwork to celebrate Maud Lewis say they’re saving aspects of a chapter in history that has gone unrecognized.

A conversation about Maud Lewis led to a collaboration that resulted in some beautiful artwork by two Nova Scotia artists.

‘Saving Maud,’ with work by rug hooker Laura Kenney and painter Steven Rhude, can be seen at the Secord Gallery, in Halifax, until Sept 29, but the pieces can also be viewed online at http://www.secordgallery.com/art/

“We both like the storytelling aspect and Maud has such a fantastic story,” said Kenney. “With all her problems she was still able to create beauty.”

Rhude said he feels some of the aesthetic aspect of her work has been lost in the politics around where her house should be located after her death. He visited the memorial at Marshalltown and found it cold and grey.

“I don’t sense anything about Maude Lewis in it; it’s about modernism,” he said. “Maud was someone who looked out of her window and appreciated what was around her. She saw colour

and beauty. Art was her escape route, I think.”

He feels that with ‘Saving Maud’ they’re saving aspects of a chapter in Nova Scotia’s history

that has gone unrecognized.

One of Kenney’s hooked pieces, ‘Hanging Everett Out to Dry,’ shows Everett Lewis, Maud’s husband, being hung upside down on a clothesline.

“I saw that as saving her from the circumstances of the time,” said Kenney.

“It’s releasing her from health issues when she’s shown going out. We’re celebrating and paying tribute to her. A lot of us are Maud, living life and trying to

make the best of it.”

Lynn curWin/truro daily neWS Artists Laura Kenney and Steven Rhude have pieces of their work, inspired by Maud Lewis, making up an exhibition called ‘Saving Maud’ at the Secord Gallery.

Submitted Midnight Moon: A painting of Maud Lewis at work, by Steven Rhude.

Submitted Hanging Everett Out to Dry: Judy, a recurring character in Laura Kenney’s artwork, hangs Everett Lewis out to dry.