Lucy Maud Montgomery’s eloquent words in Anne of Green Gables have provided the artistic vision for a new series of pastels based upon the book, which is celebrating its centennial this year.
That’s because this timeless author literally painted a verbal portrait in her 1908 novel from which modern-day Summerside artist Maurice Bernard pulled some of the details for a new Anne’s Island series.
This set of 13 original pastels, which will be spun off into desk calendars, note cards, postcards, posters and a series of limited edition prints, will be launched at The Studio Gallery in Victoria on Sunday, May 18, 1-6 p.m.
“It was really, really interesting as an artist to read her passages because they are quite visual,” says Bernard, who for the first time in his 24 years as a professional artist has focused on Anne of Green Gables as a series subject.
For the most part, Bernard had concentrated on portraits, which have been the mainstay of his livelihood, in addition to teaching art.
He was in the midst of his usually mix of art-related endeavors when Henry Dunsmore, co-owner of The Studio Gallery, dreamed up the Anne’s Island calendar concept in the fall of 2007.
Dunsmore proposed that fresh new pastel pieces by Bernard would be the foundation images for an Anne’s Island series of calendars, posters, cards and a limited edition print run.
“The actual idea was to market all the products and the exhibition kind of came as an afterthought,” Dunsmore says.
First up was to have the proper Anne licensing in place.
“The fee isn’t huge but it’s almost a bonus to have something authorized because then people know that it was a product that was of quality,” he adds.
Bernard was keen on the idea, but he knew that adding 13 Anne-related images to his regular routine was going to be a challenge, especially with his goal of completing the images in early in this calendar year.
“I wanted to finish the pictures in 2008 to coincide with the (100th anniversary of Anne) so I could sign it as 2008. That was very important,” the artist says.
And so he started researching Anne of Green Gables to open the doors to whatever images might flow forth. That included revisiting the novel itself so the images of Anne that pertain to the book would be more along the lines of what Montgomery wrote about.
“When I read the book the first time, it was more as a person who wanted to read the book because it’s a rite of passage, I believe,” Bernard says.
“And then when I read it as an artist it was more so I could see the book in a whole different light. The descriptions that she puts (in the book) — how she describes everything that surrounds the plot where the story is going — that’s what I was looking more at.”
Some of the images are in the settings that Montgomery described, others are from Bernard’s imagination. He let his 20-plus years of painting the people and landscapes of P.E.I. be his guide.
For instance, the signature image for the series is a potato sack race that is not in the novel but is a novel P.E.I. tradition.
“She wrote a fictional book that was about real people in her life and real places and she wrote them as a work of fiction . . . ,” he says.
“I thought with this theme Anne’s Island that I would use some of my own creativity and my own images that would relate to the images that she wanted to portray.”
Bernard is quick to note that anyone reading the book would come away with his or her own visual interpretation of Montgomery’s writings that might be vastly different from his own.
“That’s what a good book is — that people can be inspired by the book and be inspired in different ways,” he says. “Her series of books are beautiful nostalgic paintings that really kind of bring (to life) what P.E.I. was like and what it is still like. There is still a lot of Anne’s Prince Edward Island that still (exists) today.”
At a glance
Launch planned
n The Anne’s Island series of 13 original pastels by Maurice Bernard of Summerside will be launched at The Studio Gallery in Victoria, Sunday, May 18, 1-6 p.m.
n This event is free. There will be entertainment and refreshments and the artist will be present.
n Once The Studio Gallery exhibit of Anne’s Island wraps up on June 1, a dual series of fine-art reproductions will start a tour of several venues around P.E.I. and possibly Ontario.
n The Anne’s Island series is the inspiration for two desk calendar sets, note cards, postcards, posters and a series of limited edition prints which are available at The Studio Gallery in Victoria, at www.AnnesIsland.ca or www.lmmontgomery.ca. Some products are available at fine arts and crafts shops on P.E.I.