Shawville’s Café 349 hosted a vernissage Saturday for Calumet Island artist Jelly Massee’s engaging new collection of art titled Preserving The Past.
Spread across the large dining area were more than 20 pieces of art showcasing Massee’s technique of first using pen and ink on birch panels over which she applied watercolour wash in sepia tones and gouache, an opaque white medium that would not absorb into the wood panel as the watercolour did.
The result is a stunning ensemble and attendees to the opening were openly in awe over the effect. “They really jump off the wall at you,” said Don Armitage.
Massee’s inspiration for most of the pieces comes from scenes captured by some well-known Canadian artists including painter Paul Kane and photographers Charles William Jefferys and William James Topley.
“I started in November,” Massee said. “I found two books on eBay called Picturesque Canada. They were full of images from the 1800s of what Canada was like. And then I found two more books by E.W. Jeffries and did a whole bunch of searching on the internet. Together, they inspired me. I mean, this is our heritage – our legacy. We need to preserve it.”
While most of the images Massee worked from were strong enough to be used as is, some needed a little finessing.
“I’d get these beautiful antique pictures and some of them were really, really bad in quality or quite faded,” she said. For some of these, Massee said she relied upon AI technology to craft improved versions she could then transform with her own techniques.
The original images from which Massee was working were all in black and white and she chose a sepia tone for her versions so the resulting artwork would look as true to the inspiration as possible.
In this, she was very effective and the past is well-presented with a modern spin.
“I really enjoyed producing this series and am delighted to see it on the walls here at the café,” Massee said.
The exhibit runs through to the end of June and the café’s hours are Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to
2 p.m.
