Former police officer honours victims through art

MAPLETON – After working for the Waterloo Regional Police Service for 26 years, Andy Knetsch needed an outlet to work through the horrors he faced on the job. 

Upon retiring in 2001, “knowing it was time for a change,” he got a job as an instructor teaching police foundations at Conestoga College. 

He taught for eight years and “thoroughly enjoyed the teaching and mentoring that goes along with being an instructor,” he told the Advertiser.

Knetsch started his creative journey while teaching in the early 2000s, by composing sculptures and working with wood. 

“A lot of my work has stories to them,” he said. 

His art studio is in his home in Drayton.

“I dealt with a lot of responding to impaired driving and I wanted to … portray that in an abstract way,” he explained.

To do so, Knetsch obtained a piece of steel, painted it to mirror a portion of road and splattered red paint on the piece to resemble a fatal crash.

“That was my take on impaired driving from an abstract perspective; there is so much serious injury and death involved,” he said. 

Although he enjoyed sculpting, the medium became too hard on his hands. So he turned to acrylic paint as an alternative.

“For me I’ve always enjoyed creating and I also think, especially when I left policing, it gave me an avenue to work through the stuff that I dealt with,” Knetsch added. “Whether that was impaired driving or domestic violence.”

During his time in policing he found many adults arrested for domestic violence came from “broken relationships,” which caused physical, emotional and sexual abuse. 

“Another reason I wanted to do this was not only for myself, but to honour the victims and make sure that they are not forgotten,” he said.

Though being an artist is his current career, he and his wife partake in disaster relief work in the United States. 

Those who want to purchase or see Knetsch’s artwork can email eveknetsch@gmail.com for information.

Another piece of Knetsch’s art inspired by his time as an officer. Submitted photo

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