Yarmouth native making her dream come true
Patti Durkee’s dream was always to move back to the Yarmouth area, live in an old Victorian house near the ocean, and open an art gallery.
Five years ago, that dream became a reality.
After growing up in Yarmouth, she moved away to teach elementary school in Toronto, where she taught for 26 years before she pulled up stakes again and moved back home in 2014. It was then that she and her husband purchased that dream Victorian house by the sea in Port Maitland.
The house is filled with character and lots of history, she says. Originally built by a carriage maker in 1879, it was later purchased by the Ellis family who owned the luxurious Ellis House Hotel next door. Some of the staff that worked in the hotel stayed in the rooms at the back of her house, says Durkee.
She now uses the back room of her house — formerly a storage room, which comes complete with a second staircase to the former hotel employees’ rooms — to run her art business.
LEARNING TO BE CREATIVE
When asked if she had always been a crafty and creative person, Durkee emphatically says "no."
“I couldn’t draw a stick man as a kid,” she says.
When teaching in Toronto, the principal at her school gave her art lessons, she says.
It was in the early 1980s that Durkee took a photography course, followed by drawing and painting lessons, helping her to discover art was her passion. Her sister, Roseann, who is an artist, helped inspire her to develop this creative side.
Now, Durkee considers herself a visual artist, using the pictures she takes to create paintings on canvas and old bait boards. She also makes and paints buoy pillows. She has the most fun, however, painting animals.
"Painting is a hobby which I thoroughly enjoy," she says. “I find inspiration in the landscape.” It was a piece of folk art she bought at a Mahone Bay flea market in 2003 that inspired Durkee to open her shop. She loved the piece and wondered if people in Toronto might be interested, as well.
From there, she did some research, met folk artists at the Nova Scotia Folk Art Festival, and started bringing back folk art to Toronto from their annual trip to Nova Scotia.
Durkee has been making and creating art since 1999, and in 2004, she began participating in shows and selling Nova Scotia folk art from her Toronto home and online under the name From the Heart Folk Art.
Opening a gallery in Toronto was out of the question, she says. Her move back to Nova Scotia allowed her to follow her dream of opening an art gallery. It was also her chance to rebrand her business so she could include many forms of art.
“My daughter Haley suggested I should name the shop after my mom and dad,” says Durkee, who loved the idea.
Durkee’s father was a former councillor, deputy mayor, and businessman in the Town of Yarmouth, and her parents were well known in the community. Her father passed away in 1983, and her mother in February 2020 at the age of 94, just before COVID-19 struck the region.
It seemed like the perfect way to honour them, Durkee says. Thus, Hurbert and Belle’s was born.
BRINGING JOY TO OTHERS
“We have a lot of very talented artists in Nova Scotia,” says Durkee. “My greatest joy is supporting Nova Scotia artists, selling their work, and having to buy more.”
Patti Durkee Art gallery owner
Hubert and Belle’s now sells whimsical, colourful paintings, carvings, pottery, and unique Nova Scotia wares. Durkee encourages people to decorate with art pieces that bring them joy.
Lately, Durkee says carvings by Pat Ryerson have been selling quickly and people love pottery by Marla Benton and Kym McWhirter. The folk-art carvings by wellknown artists sell well outside of the province, she says, noting she has been shipping across Canada and the States.
"We have a lot of very talented artists in Nova Scotia," says Durkee. "My greatest joy is supporting Nova Scotia artists, selling their work, and having to buy more."
The shop features work by approximately 50 artists from across Nova Scotia, most of which she has bought, while some pieces are available on commission.
When asked how COVID19 impacted her business, Durkee says, surprisingly, 2020 was her best year.
“I participated in an online art sale with other folk artists which was very successful, and this opened the door to collectors in Canada and the USA,” she says.
She also spends time on social media posting pictures on Facebook and Instagram, especially targetting people who are shopping locally and looking for things that make them smile. Visitors this summer, she says, were staycationers from the Atlantic Bubble, which was great.
In the future, Durkee would like to continue to expand her repertoire and take on new artists. Her space, however, is small, so she says the art really has to fit.
Her next dream, she says, would be to move an unused church to her property for the gallery. Seeing how Durkee has fulfilled her other dreams, it’s something to watch out for.
WHAT
Now, forgetting for a moment those old-time first aid treatments, the encyclopedia issues a warning about the moon that’s interesting.
Did you know you can get moon stroke and it’s almost as bad as sunstroke? I never heard of this until I read the encyclopedia, but here’s a warning it issues about the moon: “Don’t sleep with the moon shining on your face. You can get moonstruck and it’s almost as bad as sunstroke.”
Under the heading “Outdoors Doctor,” the encyclopedia suggests one should treat diarrhea by applying warm bandages to the stomach; or one could make a drink by mixing “browned flour,” with two teaspoons of vinegar and a teaspoon of salt. For poisoning (not recommended) there’s a simple treatment — cause vomiting by swallowing small pieces of soap or tobacco.
All of the first aid treatments offered by the old encyclopedia belong to the folklore category, but there is one recommendation that sort of makes sense and I quote: “Keep head cool by placing wet green leaves inside your hat.” I tried this after I saw an older generation angler do just that. The effect was shortlived but it worked. Kind of messy, though.