Today is Heritage Day in Nova Scotia -- a day to honour people, places and events that played a role in the provincial history and identity. This year the honoree is Maud Lewis, an artist. She was born early in the 20th century, with birth defects and later lived with rheumatoid arthritis. Her folk art style could be called design naif -- a simple depiction of rural life.Bright, bold colours showed the beauty she saw. Maud covered most flat surfaces of her home with flowers, leaves and vines. She began by making Christmas cards that she sold door to door in the small town. This developed into paintings on wood or boards that she sold outside her house. The exuberance of her colours and simplicity of her subjects made her paintings speak to people perhaps awakening something from childhood.
Maud lived with her husband in a small house about 10 feet square with a bedroom in the rafters up very steep stairs. Her paintings inside added some brightness to the depressing interior and exterior. The house had neither electricity or running water. The couple lived in soul-crushing poverty even by the standards of those in the village. Her husband peddled fish to the village inhabitants and she would go with him on his rounds to sell her cards. Despite this lifestyle, photos show her smiling and her pictures brightened the world around her and now around all of us. The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia has the restored house on permanent display with the Maud Lewis collection.
In 2017, a biopic of her life starred Sally Hawkins as Maud and Ethan Hawke as Everett Lewis, her husband. If you haven't seen this, it is well worth watching. The grim aspects of their lives are there, but it isn't all doom and gloom. It won many film festival and critics awards. The selection for tonight is from the soundtrack. The Canadian singer presents the lyrics as one would poetry. There are a few still shots from the movie that show the painting inside the house. Enjoy!
Dear Darling -- Mary Margaret O'Hara (from Maudie film soundtrack)
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