Elisabeth Dabuleanu - The exhibit at the Heintzman House
" A short story of myself
Art has always made a strong connection with me. I am sure it is the same with many other people, yet as the child of immigrants to Canada after the second world war, an interest in art was a luxury during the 1950’s. I was born in Windsor Ontario soon after my parents had arrived in Canada. I still remember as a child of five, hearing the siren drill go off at 11 am every Saturday morning. This was a post war precautionary practice . My parents’ journey to Canada took them from Marseilles France where they were married to Halifax Nova Scotia. Crossing the ocean by ship in 1951 was the only way to reach the supposed better life of Canada. Even at that time, a post war European immigrant had a difficult time integrating into Anglo-Saxon society. As a child I remember asking my father to sketch for me, as I knew he was talented, and he would tell me stories of relatives that made their living as professional painters in Bucharest. In fact whenever my father spoke of Romania it was the land of milk and honey as he had lived during the interbellum period between the first and second world war. Unfortunately for him the challenges of a new country were great, Canada was experiencing a recession, and art was just an extravagance. I did persuade my father to do a sketch for me, just once and I still keep it as a sweet memory. We were a tightly knit family in a community of Greek-Romanians. Although my mother spoke Greek to my brother and myself, my father spoke to us in English so he could perfect himself. As a teenager I put aside my dream of becoming a fashion designer in Paris, and instead chose to study French literature and Fine Arts. After I married I devoted my energy to helping my husband establish his practice, and to family life. Now in my mature years I find a little more time for my passion in art. "
The exhibit at the Heintzman House, 135 Bay Thorn Drive in Thornhill April 29-May 1 is comprised of many artists who wish to express themselves and to exhibit their art.
A brief history of the Heintzman House:
The Heintzman house is a designated historic property protected under the Ontario Heritage act, a beautiful thirteen room mansion built in 1817 with a large ballroom, a lounge, a kitchen and several big rooms ( parlors). The Heintzman house is the earliest mudhouse on record in Ontario. Made of adobe ( fired ) brick and frame construction, the house has had many additions, although parts of the original 1798 construction are believed to have been incorporated into the existing house. In 1930 the property was sold to Charles Theodore Heintzman, and his wife. Charles was the grandson of Theodore August Heintzman, the founder of the Heintzman Piano Company of Toronto. After his death it was eventually purchased by the Town of Markham,
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Observator 4/18/2016 |
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