The Grand River is being showcased in the unique and detailed medium of wood engraving.
Gerard Brender à Brandis, 73, has been a wood engraver for more than 50 years, ever since he took a printmaking course at McMaster University as part of his bachelor of fine arts degree.
“The day I did my first wood engraving I decided then and there that I was going to be a wood engraver, that very afternoon,” he said. “It was just an instant thing.”
Over the past 13 years Brender à Brandis visited the Grand River at various spots and sketched scenes that caught his eye.
“It has to be texture and there has to be light and dark and there has to be a focus, like a bridge or some focus that catches my imagination,” he said.
One location that he was particularly taken with was the Fergus post office.
“I took one look at the post office and said ‘there’s one right there,’” Brender à Brandis said with a laugh. “And it was a cold day. I can tell you my fingers were freezing … so I had to go and sit in the car and warm up a little while and go back out and finish my sketch.”
The Fergus post office is one of 67 engravings included in the Grand River exhibit that is now open at the Wellington Artists’ Gallery until the end of September.
Showcased are framed prints of all 67 engravings produced on handmade paper and printed on Brender à Brandis’ 1882 printing press that’s located in his Stratford studio.
“Gerard sent me his work …. it’s unique, it’s something that we don’t have any other artist doing in the gallery,” said Wellington Artist Gallery chair John McGill.
“And his artwork seems to be mostly regional, … so I thought it would be a nice fit. “
What makes Brender à Brandis’ work unique is his attention to detail, his practise of sketching on the spot and his traditional style.
“I start doing the creative work right on the spot,” he said. “I decide exactly how far to the right or the left, you know the cropping … but I also decide, okay you know I don’t really like certain things in there so I’m going to start doing some editing and some selecting right away, right from start, so I internalize that image.”
He said it could take him anywhere from an hour to three hours to complete any given sketch, and when working on the Grand River, he occasionally returned to a location because he wanted to experience it again.
The next step was to take the sketch home and refine the drawing adding the fine details, he explained. He would then redraw the image on a highly polished block of boxwood and cut out the portion of the sketch that was white, a process that could take anywhere from 40 to 60 hours for one image.
Then, like with a stamp, he rolls ink onto the carved boxwood block and that’s what’s imprinted on the printing press. He said he could make infinite reproductions of his work, which helps to keep the cost per piece relatively low.
All of the images at the Wellington Artists’ gallery show will be available for purchase.
“We’re hoping that it draws visitors to the gallery, not only to see [his] work but to see the other members’ work and the work that is displayed in the entire building is for sale so we’re hoping to generate some sales,” explained McGill.
Brender à Brandis also completed a book called The Grand River with his sister Marianne Brandis, 76, who researched the history of the Grand River.
The gallery is hosting a grand opening of the exhibit on Sept. 13 where visitors can peruse the wood engravings, as well as purchase a copy of The Grand River. Both Brender à Brandis and Brandis will be on site to sign books.
Along with the Fergus post office, other scenes from Wellington County are included in the exhibit. Some pieces include the backs of the shops along Mill Street in Elora where the balconies overhang the river, a view of the Elora Gorge looking down near Lover’s Leap, Templin Gardens in Fergus, Lake Belwood and a site just down river from Fergus.
“I was there in the spring and the water was quite high and it was rushing past and you could again see all of the eroded rock and the cedar trees somehow managed to grow with their roots into the rocks overhanging the water,” said Brender à Brandis.
The Wellington Artists’ Gallery is open Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to 5pm at 6142 Wellington Road 29.
