The world is his muse.
Boathouses in Victoria’s Fisherman’s Bay, lighthouses on Vancouver Island, forests near Kenora, Ontario, old barns in Manitoba or abandoned vehicles in a field near Blackie, they’ve all provided Bill Dixon inspiration for a lifetime spent creating art.
“I made a career roaming the countryside,” said the 83-year-old artist who now calls the Gladys Ridge area home.
Dixon is hosting a month-long sale this month at his home and gallery, named Artworx, located directly across from the Gladys United Church on Secondary Highway 547.
The sale features a lifetime of Dixon’s work with original paintings, prints, drawings and multi-media pieces.
His home, which was once the Gladys Ridge gas station, store and post office, is filled with paintings, drawings, a few sculptures and other pieces. Images of prairie scenes, mountains and seascapes join with a myriad of drawings, more experimental abstract artwork and constructive pieces made from flotsam found while combing the beaches of Vancouver Island combine to form his collection. Dixon’s background as a former United Church pastor comes out in some of his pieces, such as the tale of the Prodigal Son or the Good Samaritan.
It’s all for sale at the show. Dixon said prints will run around the $350 mark while originals cost around $1,000 to $1,200.
He has lived across western Canada working as a pastor and social worker, but through it all art has been a constant.
Dixon spent his first year as a United Church minister in Beardmore, Ontario. When his first wife died from a brain tumor, he took a year off to begin work in a fine arts degree spending a year at the Winnipeg School of Art. He went on to work as a pastor and social worker in communities across western Canada, from gold mining towns in Manitoba to fishing villages on Vancouver Island.
All the while, Dixon’s surroundings provided him with a source of inspiration for his art.
“I would scout out the country side, wherever I saw landscapes, waterfalls,” he said.
Dixon continued working as a minister and social worker, eventually earning a masters degree in social work and finally finishing his fine arts degree after 15 years. He was even a pastor at the Blackie and Gladys Ridge United churches in 1970 and 1971 while he was living in Calgary and traveling between the two communities and Cochrane to minister.
“I would do Blackie and Gladys in the morning and Cochrane at seven in the evening,” he said.
For much of Dixon’s life art was not his full-time job, but it continued to be an important part of his life. But he eventually shifted gears, working as a screen printer and in design studios. After losing a studio space in Calgary, he moved to his current home five years ago and his surroundings, this time the foothills country, continued to provide him inspiration.
Dixon has painted eight murals in communities across western Canada, including Kenora, Ont., Sooke, B.C. and a mural on the Bow Cycle building in Bowness on Calgary. One of his paintings of Alberta Einstein hangs at the University of Calgary’s Astronomy department.
The show runs every Sunday in the month of February, on Feb. 5, 12, 19 and 26, from noon to 6 p.m. For more information about the show call 403-862-5648.
