ELORA – Sue Hosking never had much money and she never considered herself an artist.
But following her death and as per her wishes, her friends are auctioning off 93 pieces of art Hosking created over the years.
All proceeds will go to the Aboyne Rural Hospice, a facility planned to be built near Groves Memorial Community Hospital but for which much fundraising remains before shovels hit the ground.
Hosking died on July 30 from pancreatic cancer. She was 72.
“She found out she had it three years ago, fought it, and went into remission,” said good friend Marilyn Donkers.
But Hosking’s cancer came back this spring and she knew she didn’t have too much time to take care of her affairs.
It was her strong desire that the rural hospice receive the funding it needs to be built. So after gifting many of her paintings to friends, she donated the rest to the Aboyne Rural Hospice.
“Everything we are doing, she knew about. She knew about the hospice,” Donkers said.
We were hoping she’d be alive to benefit from it because in the end, she needed it. She was too ill to go home and it was not practical to go to the Guelph hospice.
“As her disease progressed, she was adamant that she wanted to support hospice.”
Many people in Fergus and Elora will know Hosking from her life in the community.
She lived in the Yukon Territories when she was young, married a bush pilot and moved around a lot – Calgary, New Zealand and France – before finally landing in Elora.
She had a business in Elora in the 1970s and ‘80s – Pleasant Dreams – where she sold Indigenous art and sculptures, among other things.
She was a figure skating coach most of her life and has a huge circle of friends and former students who have become friends.
She was also a frequent hiker and, with her dog Skye, she made good use of local trails and those further afield.
Donkers said if Hosking saw the same person on the trail three times, she made it her mission to introduce herself and learn about them. She has a large circle of friends, just from walking the dog.
Many of her friends come from the skating world, the art world, and the dog walking world, and they came together for Hosking’s final days.
“It’s funny, most of her care team had never met each other,” added Joyce Roth, another longtime friend whose children had Hosking as their skating coach.
“She was a wonderful person and excellent coach. And all her students loved her.
“She would listen to her students, remember what was important to them, and helped them reach their individual goals.”
Roth added, “But she really encouraged ‘team.’ Her skaters might compete against each other, but they also encouraged each other.”
Roth said Hosking had the rare gift of really listening to people, so they all felt valued.
During her short stay at Wellington Terrace, where she died in its palliative care unit, Hosking would visit with other residents and even concocted a secret handshake with some of those residents.
“She had this incredible effect on people,” Roth said. “She was just so dear.”
Donkers said Hosking thought of her art as “therapeutic” and never sold her own work.
“Her apartment was like an art gallery – full of other people’s art,” she said. “Her art might be pinned on a wall. Most of it was behind a door or under the bed. But it’s incredible.”
Dennis and Cathy Novosad agree with that statement.
Hosking was their tenant for 10 years in Elora but it was many years later when they saw Hosking’s own paintings.
“We viewed the art and were impressed with the skill and sensitive portrayal of animals and Inuit people,” the couple stated in an email.
“Sue indicated her desire to donate the funds raised from selling her art to the Aboyne Rural Hospice but was unsure how this could be done. We suggested having an art auction.”
Dennis Novosad photographed and catalogued approximately 90 pieces of Hosking’s art and placed each piece in protective sleeves.
Cathy researched possible web sites for an auction and contacted Aboyne Rural Hospice to initiate and organize a sale.
“Sue got to see her photographed art before she passed away,” Cathy said.
The online auction hosted by Rapid-Sell will be live from Sept. 22 at noon to Sept. 26 at 7pm. For the link click here.
On Sept. 24, there will be a Celebration of Life service for Hosking at the Wellington County Museum and Archives.
It promises a day full of events that capture Hosking’s interests and passions:
- 11am, Trail Walk starting from Aboyne Library;
- 12pm, enjoy a light lunch and remembrances of Sue shared in the Archives’ Nicholas Keith room;
- 1pm, educational smudging ceremony: and
- 2 to 6pm, public viewing of Hosking’s paintings – the paintings will continue to be available for viewing by those with an interest in the auction.
For those who make a purchase, the paintings cannot be shipped.
Pick-up events are scheduled for Sept. 28 from 10:15am to noon and Sept. 29 from 1:15pm to 3pm in the program room at the Aboyne library, 552 Wellington Road 18, beside the museum.
“People can choose to do part of it or all of it,” Donkers said, referring to the Celebration of Life events.
Donkers noted Hosking received superb care at Groves hospital and at Wellington Terrace but that neither is designed to accommodate family or visitors of someone who is dying the way a hospice can.
“The need for a rural hospice is huge,” she said.
“Sue knew that. That’s why she wanted to do this.
“She never had very much and lived frugally, but she had a very rich life and a rich network of friends.
“Friendship was her currency.”
