Bobbing for Apples

Working on these collages for Murphys in Griffintown is a lot like bobbing for apples.  Each day I dunk my head into a bucket of cold fresh water searching for the prize.  Everything around me is forgotten, the apple awaits!  I know if I stick my head in I'll get something.

"Gramma Guy's" is no ordinary apple.  It has been a struggle to the unknown.  Challenging.  Rewarding.  It is in some ways the best work I have ever done.  Scary to think that.

I finished it today!

I got a crisp Fuji apple.  My favourite!

Corner of Eleanor and Ottawa Streets in present day Griffintown.
Guy's corner store was located
where the empty lot is at bottom right.

Gramma Guy's

I'm deeply submerged in my current collage-"Gramma Guy's".  It is centered around Kathleen Murphy's sweetest childhood memory-the corner store, which sold penny candy.  She was close friends with Lise Guy whose grandmother owned the store at the corner of Ottawa and Eleanor Streets.  It was only a half block from where the Murphys lived, so they went often.  They would say "Let's go to Gramma Guys" and that would mean the shop on the corner.  She remembers two ladies, one fifty to sixty years of age, and the other an indescribable age...REALLY old.  Both ladies were very happy to see young Lise and Kathleen and no doubt gave great quantities of candy.

Because I love researching family history, I knew I couldn't depict the interior of the shop without knowing who they were.  I needed to research the family, the place.  I knew that the Murphys moved to Griffintown in 1948 so the store existed that year.   The most recent published Canadian Census is 1911 and it does have a number of Guy families.  But I wanted to find the family in the 1940's or 50's at the store.  I was thrilled to find a 1950 insurance map of the area at the Quebec National Archives website.  It is an amazing site with a wealth of information.

The image above shows the buildings surrounded by McCord, Ottawa and Eleanor Streets.  On the bottom right, the pink square ("SP") is 1231 Ottawa Street (at Eleanor).  I noticed it has the corner of the building lobbed off which made me think it must have been a store at one time.  You can see 265 McCord Street is on the left, with a "D" on it for Dwelling.  Insurance maps are great, because by studying them you can imagine the visual.  You can see where fire hydrants were!  It also reveals what materials the buildings were made from and for what purpose they were built.  The row houses on McCord were brick but some of the sheds behind were tin.

Also on the Quebec Archive site is year after year of Lovell's Directory.  I gasped out loud when I saw what they had.  For the years 1842 thru 1999, one can search Montrealers by name or address.  I looked for 1231 Ottawa Street in the year 1950.  Guess who lived there?  Mrs. Claire Guy (widow of Arm).  I figured that was short for Armand.

I now had two first names to run with!  Was Claire Gramma?  or was she Lise's Mother?  I knew it would be easier to find Armand Guy than it had been to find my ancestor John Murphy (one of my previous researching endeavours).

I consulted my favourite...Ancestry.com.  It has the Drouin Collection of Roman Catholic births, deaths and marriages.  These are the "notebooks" of parish priests.  I knew the Guy family was Catholic, or Kathleen wouldn't have befriended her at St. Ann's school!  Within minutes I had  a record before me.  I deciphered the handwriting and the French to figure it was definitely the correct Lise Guy.  She was born in the same year as Kathleen, and in the area.  I found the names of her parents, and because her father's name was so unique Onesime Louis Armand Charles Guy, I was then able to trace his parents.  It was his mother who was named Clairina St. Onge (Claire in the directory).  She was the Gramma. 

In only two hours I had uncovered so much.  I felt that I knew enough about them to start "fleshing out" the collage.  I decided to put Armand, the grandfather in the setting as well.  The 1911 Census gave me an occupation for him- a "peinture" (painter) working for a "decorateur".  How fascinating!  I am used to searching for people who are listed as "labourers".  I placed the grandfather Armand in the back of the shop seated, reading the paper.  The store has many colours and a number of different wall papers.

But, who was the REALLY old little lady behind the candy counter?  (She was very small and apparently did not need to bend over to get the candy from the lower shelves.)   I found Armand Guy, born 1888 (Claire's husband) and his family in the 1901 Census.  Armand's father is Onesime Guy married to Delina.  They were both born in 1850.  Onesime died in 1931 at the age of 82.  I haven't yet found any death information on Delina.  Is it possible that in 1950, Delina was the lady behind the counter and she was one hundred years old?

I also found Onesime's father Michel(1871 Census).  He was born in 1820 and in the Lovell's Directory it is interesting that he is a carpenter.  This is for me the "bag of candy".  You see,  Michel Guy was a carpenter, father of Onesime Guy who was a joiner(cabinet maker) and father of Armand Guy who was a painter/decorator.  It is such a pattern.

I feel I can now safely extrapolate.  I also found some great photo reference from a number of sites-stores from the 1930's to 1950's.  The collage by the way is almost complete.  I have an arm, two feet and a shelf yet to go.  The image has grown before my eyes filled with a recurring checkerboard and other enigmatic devices.

Back to work! 

 

"New Blue Coat"

My latest collage illustrates the memory of the eldest Murphy girl.  She and her father visited 265 McCord Street in the spring of 1948, hoping to find a new apartment for the family-there were eleven children with one on the way.  Mary Elizabeth was proud of the new blue coat she had been given for Easter.  While her father locked up, she stood outside, listening to the sound of children, coming from the windows above.  Everything seemed fine until cold brown liquid came pouring out of the sky onto her beautiful new coat.  The woman living on the floor above had emptied her teapot.  Her father cursed Madame "P" and so began the animosity between them.
Mr. Murphy decided to take the apartment and move his family to Griffintown from Verdun.  After more than sixty years, Mary Elizabeth speaks about the ruined coat as though it happened yesterday.

Juried Art Salon

My first collage for Murphys in Griffintown-"Counting" was selected for the Kingston Arts Council Juried Art Salon!  The opening was last week.  I was honoured to be included with so many amazing artists.  Each year the calibre of talent seems to increase!

Recently I've been busy working with Catherine Styles and The Grow Project in town.  It's a program for Grade 5 students to design, paint, garden and give.  Fabulous experiences, much work!

My current collage is growing in leaps it seems.  "New Blue Coat" is a  memory of the eldest Murphy girl (seven girls, five boys in all).  I knew when I heard the story I would have to construct it.  It takes place outside their residence, at 265 McCord Street.  I held the National Archive photos of the neighbourhood an inch from my myopic eyeballs to get the answers I needed-are there shutters on the windows? is there a basement? how many steps up? I feel more relaxed with this work...the building is not as omnipotent as St. Ann's church.  The story is unfolding and I have been taking photos of the collage in progess for a slide show.  More to follow.

The youngest Murphy girls-McCord Street,1954?

Just found this youtube video, a National Film Board documentary from 1947 "Montreal by Night".  Lots of great visual reference.
I can't wait to find more.

The Tuesdays



"The Tuesdays" collage on board, 2011

 In the early 1940s, Robert Murphy walked with his sons Bobby and John to St. Ann's Church, Griffintown, from their home in Verdun.  They made this "pilgrimage" each week to experience the Marian devotional commonly known as "The Tuesdays".  My Uncle Bobby reminisced about this when I met with him in June 2010.

Can you imagine walking 5 km for a Tuesday service?  Apparently this devotional to Our Lady of Perpetual Help was very popular for Roman Catholics all over Montreal. 



St. Ann's Church circa 1911
 (note the missing "hat")



This collage was pivotal for me and the exhibition.  It became so important to get the main character-St. Ann's Church-just right.  I wanted to portray it accurately but not have it look stiff.  It needed to be welcoming yet powerful.  I wanted anyone who had ever laid eyes on it to instantly say "Oh look-St. Ann's!" I also focused on the atmosphere of the parishioners, crowding into the vestibule-hoping not to be late.  

My grandfather was very devout and had a strong connection with this church: in 1920 he took his first vows there towards becoming a Redemptorist priest.  I always wondered why he chose to live in Griffintown.  No doubt the rent was inexpensive-but I felt it had to be more than that.  I contacted the archivist at Redemptorist.ca and was given the information pertaining to Robert Murphy's time as a novitiate.  I knew from my research into his childhood in St. John, New Brunswick that his faith was important to him.  He and his family moved to St. Peter's parish in Portland(suburb of St. John) when he was ten years old.  This was a thriving Redemptorist parish closely involved with the neighbourhood that surrounded it.  In many ways, St. Peter's parish of 1910 mirrored St. Ann's parish of the 1950s.  They were both tight knit, Irish, Roman Catholic neighbourhoods in a large port city.  The Redemptorist Fathers provided schools, day cares, extra curricular activities and both had very devoted nuns working with them.

Is it any wonder Robert Murphy was drawn to Griffintown and St. Ann's?  He knew what growing up would be like for his children if they "belonged to" St. Ann's-a parish that had so much to offer.

I was shocked when I heard that St. Ann's had been torn down in 1970.  I sensed a feeling of loss when I walked over its foundation last summer.  I wanted so badly to walk in!  To find out what made it so special....I guess in the end it wasn't the building.  It was the people.

I Never Met My Grandfather



Mary Jane Cunningham
and Robert Alphonsus Murphy

 Central to the theme of the "Murphys in Griffintown" exhibition are my grandparents, Robert A. and Mary Jane.  I never realized how little I knew about them until I had to illustrate their lives.  It wasn't the likeness, but the atmosphere around them. 

The experience is unlike my work in commercial illustration, where you get an article or an ad idea to work from.  After interviewing one of the Murphys (my aunts and uncles), I had to write the article too.  The more they told me about St. Ann's Boys School, or the store on the corner- Beauchamps......I realized I couldn't "fake it".  I was out of my element.  I couldn't envision something I didn't know.

I began by studying maps and photos-then reading.  I had heard so many stories from my relatives about Mary Jane Cunningham and how she "came over" from County Down Ireland,etc.  I already felt I knew her.  The problem was my grandfather and how little I knew about him. 

Robert Murphy was adopted at a very early age and not much was known about his childhood.  My mother and I had done some geneological research in the 1970s without much luck (pre internet!).  So I was almost a complete novice when I dug into the glut of information available online.  My search lasted almost a year before I felt secure in my depiction.  By then, I had enough information to write a book!  (Not happening.)

I am now an arm's-length expert on the area once known as "Lower Cove" in St. John, New Brunswick-my grandfather's birthplace.  I have discovered his birth records and true parentage.  I guess it might seem like extreme research for a work of art...it was so much fun though!  I must admit during many late nights while searching online through the pages of a census or directory...I felt his presence. 

What's happening now?

My next art exhibition:  Murphys in Griffintown, has become quite a large research project, hence the blog!

The collages are based on interviews with the Murphy siblings, but doesn't include any actual photos of them.  I've chosen to stay true to the look of the period (1949-1956) and their memories but not their actual likenesses.

Having grown up listening to stories of McCord Street, and St. Ann's Church, I am overjoyed to be finding out so much about them.  I plan to write about my adventures with exhibition spaces, historical references, and COLLAGE.