Ernest and Nancy Clarke’s art on display at L.P. Fisher Library’s Thompson Gallery
By B (Brigitte) Rivers
Woodstock’s L.P. Fisher Public Library hosted an art show opening on March 13 that attracted art lovers from across Carleton County.
The current show features the combined creative talents of Hartland-based artists Ernest and Nancy Clarke. Their artwork, displayed throughout the library’s Thompson Gallery, greets library visitors with an eclectic mix: Ernest’s acrylic paintings, illustrations, wood carvings, and brightly coloured wooden toys, alongside Nancy’s watercolour paintings of flowers, buildings, and landscapes, several of which are showcased in carved wooden frames.
“We have upwards of 40 pieces in the show, recent and retrospective,” said Ernest. “We could have done three exhibitions with what we had brought from our home. About half of my work consists of carvings, and the other half is paintings. Nancy’s work is all paintings.”
Ernest, a retired architect and town planner, has been making art since he was four. A Carleton County Historical Society member and author of The Siege of Fort Cumberland, 1776 (McGill-Queen’s University Press), his historical interest often informs his paintings.
“I did a painting of a dodo, an extinct flightless bird in Mauritius, that is in the show,” he noted. “The great auk also went extinct in Newfoundland, and I’m currently doing a painting of the last great auk.”
The keen historian has made numerous presentations to the Carleton County Historical Society and Mount Allison University.
“I did illustrations for a lot of my presentations, including plans of the Presque Isle military post in modern day Connell, and I made models,” he noted. “The large illustration of The Widow Anderson on the tall wall in the library depicts an early settler who had to paddle to the military post to get supplies.”
The couple met while growing up in Hartland.
“We had one date when we were teenagers, then we both went our separate ways,” Nancy recalled. “I was a librarian on the book mobile and in the outreach service in Vancouver and Ernest worked in Toronto and Halifax. I got into watercolour in the 1990s and studied with Margaret King for over 10 years. I also carved wood, but since I’ve come here I’ve mostly done painting.”
Forty years after they had last met, Ernest plucked up the courage to call his high school crush, and they married in 2005. When Nancy inherited the house her grandfather, also a wood carver, had built, the couple returned to Hartland and have continued making and enjoying art together in their retirement. They also showcased their work in the Andrew & Laura McCain Gallery’s Small Works show and sale, as well as at the Dr. Walter Chestnut Library in Hartland.
The Clarkes’ home is filled with artwork, and Ernest has even carved designs on the doors and furniture.
“I carve right in our living room,” said Ernest. “We’re always cleaning up shavings.”
My grandfather used to say, “Well, it’s clean dirt,” Nancy said with a smile.
Their art will be displayed at the L.P. Fisher Public Library until late April or early May.
