7 February 2007
Brownridge Turns his Brush to Country's Railroad Past
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Where Flowers Grow, the Brandon, Man. CP roundhouse, by Bill
Brownridge.
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Banff Alberta - For more than 30 years Bill Brownridge
has been a Calgary - nay, a Canadian - icon, known for his joyfully evocative paintings of another Canadian icon: hockey.
Through his books - The Moccasin Goalie, The Final Game and Victory at Paradise Hill - Brownridge's art and words have propelled
countless hundreds of thousands of readers to an earlier era, a less structured and stressful way of life on the Canadian prairies.
This weekend Brownridge is unveiling his homage to another Canadian icon, the railroad, with an exhibit of 40 paintings and 24
charcoal sketches at the Canada House Gallery in Banff. Concurrently, he's launching his latest book, Tracking the Iron Horse, a
compilation of many of those works of art and the voices of dozens of railroad men whose stories he collected more than three decades
ago.
The 150-page book is a tribute to his father, Roy Brownridge, a depression-era Canadian National station
agent in their home town of Vaughan, Sask.
"Thirty years ago I had a dream. I wanted to leave a marker in history that would commemorate my dad and the men of the early
railways. This exhibit and book will, I hope, fulfill the dream," Brownridge said in a recent interview.
Most of the paintings were created 30 years ago, with the help of a Canada Council grant that allowed the younger Brownridge to
meander across the three prairie provinces in an old station wagon, setting up his easel where an image presented itself.
"I wanted to capture the old railway buildings and interview some of the old railroaders before they all disappeared
entirely," said Brownridge.
"Now, I've been sitting on them for so many years that I finally decided I'd better do something with them."
According to the terms of the original Canada Council grant, Brownridge exhibited the works when they were first completed, in a
cross-country tour that culminated at the Museum of Man and Nature in Ottawa in 1977. Then, also according to the terms
of the grant, the ownership of the originals reverted back to him, but they've largely sat untouched and forgotten ever since.
"I just thought I'd better get on this and do something with it all before it's too late," said the
70-something artist, who spent three-and-a-half months in hospital last year with kidney ailments.
At one time Brownridge exhibited and sold his works at three western galleries, in Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Banff, but he had to drop
the Edmonton gallery because he just couldn't produce enough paintings to keep three galleries happy.
And even though the collection and book are being unveiled in Banff, there are no images of Banff's railroad history in the exhibit.
"I look for the small and intimate, not so much the grand," said Brownridge, noting that the only two showcase railroad
hotels he included were the Fort Garry in Winnipeg and the Bessborough in Saskatoon.
"The Banff Springs Hotel was just too big a subject for me," he joked.
Nor does the famed Banff CP train station appear, and for good reason.
"When I got to the resorts, they're always such busy places. There's a lot of people, and I'm not much of a performer when I
work. There would be a lot of interruptions when I was trying to paint, so I didn't get much work done."
Brownridge will be at the Canada House Gallery this Saturday
(10 Feb 2007) from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. signing copies of his book Tracking the Iron Horse. Along with the 64
railway-themed works, he is also unveiling 12 contemporary works that again reflect his love of hockey.
All of the works in the exhibition can be viewed online at canadahouse.com.
The Last Signal - CN/CP Signal Tower - Woodman
Manitoba.
CPR Red Station, Section House, and Shed - Vulcan
Alberta.
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