With its passionate hockey parents and rowdy, face-painted Comets fans, the Shawville arena isn’t exactly the peaceful venue one might imagine for a series of landscape paintings.
But as of two weeks ago, that is exactly what hangs on the walls directly behind the bleachers.
Conceived by Luskville artist Ruby Ewen, the 36-panel landscape scene, which she collectively calls “Suite For A Hill,” is now on display there.
The panels depict a hike through the Gatineau hills, a location Ewen would frequent as it was within walking distance from the two-room, two-lightbulb house she rented after moving to the area in the early 1980s.
“Facing the mountains and facing the escarpment, I fell in love with the place,” she said, noting she painted three panels at a time on various hikes starting in November and ending in summer.
The paintings are meant to guide the observer along the same hiking route Ewen took, first showing the foot of the mountain, then scenes from the climb to the top, and ending with a view of the valley below, capturing the experience of the hike in all the seasons.
“Suite For A Hill is 78 feet long of a spiralling walk, up a hill from late fall to early spring, where you reach the top of the hill and look out into the four directions into summer.”
The piece, which was first displayed at the Arts Court in Ottawa, is broken up into sections as the arena’s architecture allows, and occupies nearly a half of the building’s wall space. It’s an arrangement that is not exactly as Ewen intended.
“It makes me slap my forehead because it is hung as the walls allow. It’s not a formal gallery hanging, so it’s not all together,” she said, adding that even if the work is not displayed as she has traditionally done it, she still appreciates the absurdity of it all.
“I think it’s very funny and lovely at the same time,” she said with a smile.
Ewen, who donated the painting to the MRC Pontiac to display in the arena, was glad they found a home for the paintings and that they will be available to the public.
“Usually you think of a large piece of work being situated in a gallery accessible to those who are interested in artwork and painting and culture [ . . . ] It’s taking art out of an elite space and putting it up for all to see.”
Ewen, who has been involved with community art organizations like artPontiac, said artists in the Pontiac need more spaces to display their work and be able to dialogue with others like them.
“They need a venue where people can come and go and see and listen and enjoy,” she said, adding that non-visual arts mediums are in particular need of these spaces.
“I would love to see artPontiac become more of a cross-cultural tool to bring people together in theatre, dance, music, all of the arts.”
Ewen has been making oil paintings since the early 80s, in Luskville as well as in the Rocky Mountains, and taught art at various locations in the Ottawa Valley for over 20 years. During the early 2000s she produced weekly social commentary drawings for the West Quebec Post.
Lately, she has pivoted her focus toward more tactile forms of art, such as sculptures made with found objects.
The MRC Pontiac is holding a free cultural skate on Dec. 27 at the Shawville arena from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., as an opportunity for the public to view the painting and chat with the artist.
Ewen, who describes herself as a private person, said she doesn’t often engage with people viewing her work, and is looking forward to the opportunity to meet the public and discuss her art.
“I’m thrilled with the whole thing, and that it’s family skate day is just great fun, no?”
Over the nexr three years, the paintings will be rotated annually between the Shawville, Fort Coulonge and Chapeau arenas, and after that the collection will be split, with two panels going to each of the MRC ‘s municipalities.
