An artist who was born and raised in the qathet region recently returned to the area to rekindle some memories.
Patricia Lawton lived in the community until she was 16 and now resides in the Vernon area, where she moved in 1984.
Newly married, Lawton wanted to reminisce with her husband Walter.
“It’s a sentimental journey,” said Lawton.
She said she has strong family connections to the community. Her family homesteaded at Okeover Inlet, having a big acreage on the water. They were fishers and had oyster beds.
“I want Walter to see where the family grew up,” said Lawton.
Lawton said her mother died at the age of 22, when Lawton was young, so she was raised by her father’s family.
“I grew up with the best grandparents you could imagine,” said Lawton.
In terms of her art, she said she has been passionate about it since the age of two or three.
“I don’t remember ever not drawing,” said Lawton. “Everybody asked what I wanted to be when I grew up and I said I was going to be an artist. Everybody would say artists are only men – you cannot be an artist, but I always have been.”
She went to the Vancouver School of Art in Vancouver, which is now Emily Carr [University of Art and Design], where she ended up teaching night school, and at Langara College, where she taught advertising. She characterizes herself as self-taught.
Her favourite subjects are animals, and because she did fashion figures for so long, she really enjoys people.
“I love painting children with musical instruments and children with their pets,” said Lawton.
As for animals, she treats them like little people.
“They think, they dream, they have plans,” said Lawton.
She paints lots of animals on commission.
She remembers when she went to school here and at Christmastime would get up and draw a whole blackboard in a Santa Claus theme when she was seven or eight years old.
“I would use coloured chalk and I was in my element,” said Lawton.
She said she didn’t know she could paint, however, until she was hired by the First Nation in Waglisla, or Bella Bella, when she went to teach art in the secondary school.
“That was a wonderful year,” said Lawton. “Then, I realized I would never be a painter if I didn’t stay home and paint, so that’s what I did after that.”
Lawton said she is hoping she can use her visit to this community as inspiration for art pieces. She is intrigued by Dwight Hall and wanted to go see it again. She has already painted local landmarks, such as the pulp and paper mill.
