March 25th, 2021 Newsletter

CBC Windsor Morning with Tony Doucette

Transcription

Doucette:

Now to the artist, Ron Suchiu is on the line from his gallery in Essex. Good morning!

Suchiu:

Good morning, Tony.

Doucette:

Why have you chosen to paint the BLUENOSE, or why did you choose to paint the BLUENOSE?

Suchiu:

It’s basically a celebration in Canada. We are just coming through a horrific time with COVID and everything else, so  I thought with a lot of my paintings I am going to be working on I want to project hope with. The BLUENOSE as an iconic image for Canada seems to offer that hope. In my painting I actually represented it as a very strong ship coming through a storm.

Doucette:

Now a bit of background here, was there not a bit of spousal influence here?

Suchiu:

Yes, (oh boy you’re going to get me in trouble this morning!). Yes, Colleen had noticed that it was the 100th anniversary of the BLUENOSE launch as of today at 9:00 this morning, and she brought it to our meetings that we have. I’m always looking for something new to do and something exciting to do. In reference to what I’ve done in the maritime, I’ve worked with Millvina Dean with the Titanic, and Gordon Lightfoot with the Edmund Fitzgerald. Colleen brought that subject forward and we got it done.

Doucette:

Unlike the Titanic and the Edmund Fitzgerald, the BLUENOSE is a Canadian icon. What does that mean to you?

Suchiu:

You know, we are so far down in Canada, we are the southernmost tip of Canada and I started to believe I was becoming kind of an Americanized Canadian. Again, looking through the last year we’ve been through and everything else, it put me back and I watched Canada come through it very, very strong and I’m very, very proud of my country. I’ve mentioned before, I’m a born-again Canadian. The strength of our country, the size of the country, you know everything about Canada is something to celebrate and the BLUENOSE becomes a real good symbol for that.

Doucette:

In setting out to paint the BLUENOSE, what did you have in mind?

Suchiu:

I kind of stole the theme from the Gordon Lightfoot song “she’s a good ol’ boat, and she’ll stay afloat through the toughest gale and keep smiling”. I wanted to show the strength of the ship and coming through in the background you’ll actually see a gale that it has just come through.

Doucette:

So, in addition to the actual painting, you have some unique mementos. Tell me about that.

Suchiu:

A few years back, we worked with the Lunenburg company of the BLUENOSE II and when they were restoring the ship, we actually obtained some of the BLUENOSE II. What’s really nice with this is that we have framing packages, and everyone who knows us knows that we come up with some pretty unique framing packages for my art. Again, now for this piece, when it gets framed, it gets framed with a piece of the BLUENOSE II, the daughter ship of the BLUENOSE. The painting is called “The BLUENOSE Legacy” so we are actually tying the two ships together by using the framing that we are doing.

Doucette:

I should point out here that you had already done a painting of the BLUENOSE II, and this piece you’re talking about — it’s deck planking? Is that right?

Suchiu:

It’s actually the hull. They would be looking for dry rot in the hull, and we actually have pictures which I jokingly say the picture of the men that are  placing the plank on the side that it’s the actual plank that they are replacing. But it’s not, we will just have to pretend that’s true. But it is an actual plank piece from the side of the ship.

Doucette:

And it is actually possible that if one were to purchase this painting, they would get 10 cents back? Explain that.

Suchiu:

They can get as far as twenty cents back with the press proofs and artist proofs! For the artist proofs we have a 1921 dime, you know, a 100-year-old Canadian dime. There is no BLUENOSE on it, you know that year obviously there was no reason as she launched, to have a dime with her on it. Then in 1937, they actually started to put the BLUENOSE on the back of the dime and it’s been on there ever since.  So what we’ve done for the artist proofs, we have a 1921 dime with the piece of the wood in the frame, and in the press proofs we have a 1921 dime and 1937 dime. It’s actually the rarest dime in Canada it took us a long time just to find ten of them. And that also includes a piece of the ship. It’s quite a nice package for the wall, it’s not only showing a piece of history but it’s owning a piece of history.

Doucette:

Awfully good of you to to tell us about it. Thank-you so much, good luck!

Suchiu:

Thanks, Tony.