July’s Exhibit:

”A Journey Through Nova Scotia Through Art” by Rhonda MacLellan

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Always an artist, and able to produce and draw any subject, much of Rhonda MacLellan’s art is displayed across homes of Canada and the United States. MacLellan’s biggest artistic and musical influence was her Russian-born grandad, George Sawatsky. Sawatsky was an accomplished artist that taught many different art forms. He taught Rhonda to work in diverse mediums: oils, acrylics, pastels (chalk and oil), ink, coloured pencils and soft pencils. Sawatsky also gifted Rhonda with all the needed mediums and other artistic supplies to produce this work.

As far as formal training goes, MacLellan is basically self-taught. She had one year of high school art. During this instruction her art teacher realized she was incredibly talented and procured an offer of a scholarship from Emily Carr University of Art and Design, but Rhonda’s parents did not think that art was a viable career choice, and so the scholarship was declined.

MacLellan spent five years teaching elementary-aged children; during this time, she also gave art classes to this age group. She also has given art instruction and demonstrations to adults.

MacLellan’s philosophy to her art is to re-create reality, ‘why mess with something already so beautiful’, often with added brightness, self-labelling her genre of art, ‘bright realism’. She is not whimsical nor abstractive in her artistic productions. The more detailed and articulate the prospective reality, the more MacLellan gravitates to producing it. Therefore, her artwork takes a long time; it is not produced quickly. MacLellan’s core philosophy in her life and art, is to bring joy to people. When people are caught up in the beauty of her art and enjoy it, she feels a part of her core mission is accomplished. To me art and music are a calling. A few years ago, a friend of Rhonda’s, a minister, asked her what God was telling her to do. Her immediate reply to this friend was, “Do art, do music and be kind to the person next to me” – that is MacLellan’s core mission. This has not changed. Although open to change, thus far, this has still been her life directive.

Since a child MacLellan has been producing art in various mediums, but in the last few years she produces each piece of free hand art with the same group of mixed media – oil pastels, coloured pencils, soft pencils and fine-tip black markers. Since moving to the Maritimes in 2017, most all her art subjects have been of Nova Scotiavistas. All but a few in “Series One” of “MacLellan Maritime Art”, were reproduced into art from photos that MacLellan personally photographed. * While looking at the photo, MacLellan first sketches in the scene, then works her magic with the colouring, starting from the top left-hand corner of the weighty cardstock, completing the work at the bottom right. This technique can be seen in the above photo.

Since arriving in Nova Scotia from British Columbia, MacLellan had her first solo exhibit at the Colchester-East Hants Library located in Truro, NS. This was only the second art exhibit that the library ran. This exhibit ran from June 1 – August 31, 2019. Readers’ Digest did an article called “Pursuit of Art”, (2019, September), More of Our Canada, 12(1), 28-30, talking about this exhibit and other aspects of MacLellan’s life and art. Since November 2019, this Readers’ Digest article also became available online, and can be found at this link: https://www.readersdigest.ca/travel/canada/art-of-rhonda-maclellan/.

MacLellan’s business is called “MacLellan Music and Maritime Art”. But there is more to the Maritimes than Nova Scotia! So, she is photographing more of the Maritimes, hoping to possibly use different mediums (water-colours?) to produce scenes from more of the Maritimes.

MacLellan also has a business education and values and appreciates the work that needs to be done in marketing a product. She also is a violinist, fiddler, pianist and vocalist (and teaches these disciplines.) Stradivari violins reached their peak and thus far the pinnacle of violins, because of the Hill Brothers marketing endeavors. Marketing takes time. MacLellan would love to have an art agent to market her products, mainly the originals. MacLellan has available limited-numbered signed prints, cards, gift-card packages, calendars, mugs, and other art products.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I love Nova Scotia – the people, my family, the beauty, the changing skies. Although I settled in Colchester County, my paternal family is from Inverness County on Cape Breton Island. If you drive pass Mabou, on Route 19 on your way to Inverness, you will see on the left-hand side of the highway the ‘MacLellan Cairn’, that my aunt had erected in 1983. The four MacLellan brothers listed on the cairn, that came from the Highlands of Scotland, my great-great-great grandfather is John (King) MacLellan. I try to get up for a Cape Breton visit (clan gathering) at least once a year and of course take photos for future art. Nova Scotia is ‘home’. During one of my MBA courses, a fellow student (from BC) that looked at my NS art said this about it, “Your art makes me feel like home, and I have never even been to Nova Scotia.”

*All of art displayed in “A Journey Through Nova Scotia Through Art” were created by MacLellan when looking at photos that MacLellan herself photographed.