Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

"BRING ME A CHICKEN"

Date

1995

Materials

CANVAS, WOOD, PAPER

No. Pieces

1

Height

4.0

Length

80.0

Width

73.0

Description

HAS A WOOD FRAME; NAIVE STYLE OF PAINTING. PICTURES TWO YOUNG GIRLS IN FRONT OF A WOOD BUILDING. ONE GIRL IS HOLDING THE LEGS OF A CHICKEN, THAT IS LYING ON A STUMP. THE OTHER GIRL IS HOLDING AN AXE. PAINTING HAS A BROWN PAPER BACKING WITH A LABEL ON IT THAT READS "BRING ME A CHICKEN $225.00/95 HELEN FLAIG". THERE IS ALSO A WIRE ON THE BACK FOR HANGING.

Subjects

ART

Historical Association

FINE ARTS

History

PAINTED BY DONOR, HELEN FLAIG (1929 - 2015), AS PART OF HER "CHILDHOOD IN THE 30S" SERIES. PAINTING WAS INSPIRED BY ARTIST'S MEMORY OF LIFE ON THE PRAIRIES. "KILLING A CHICKEN. LUCKILY, MY BROTHER CAME ALONG AND DID THIS JOB. THE FIRST TIME MY MOTHER - A CITY GIRL - CLEANED A CHICKEN, SHE FAINTED BUT SOON FIGURED THINGS OUT". FLAIG'S FATHER, LEWIS ALEXANDER HUMMASON, LEFT ONTARIO IN 1905 TO TAKE HIS SICK BROTHER'S PLACE TO GO HOMESTEADING IN SASKATCHEWAN. HER MOTHER, ESTELLA MARY STUBBS, WAS 8 YEARS YOUNGER THEN HER FATHER; SHE HAD COME WEST WITH HER PARENTS AND HER SISTER TO CALGARY; ESTELLA'S FATHER WAS A CARPENTER. ESTELLA BECAME A SCHOOL TEACHER AND IN THAT ROLE SHE TOOK A POSITION IN LOCKWOOD, SK. THE GREAT FLU CLOSED THE SCHOOL AND SHE BECAME A NURSE. FLAIG'S FATHER BECAME A HANDY MAN HELPING THE SICK, AND IN THIS WAY MET HIS WIFE. THERE WERE 8 CHILDREN IN DONOR'S FAMILY, HELEN WAS THE SEVENTH, BORN ON THE FARM IN LOCKWOOD IN 1929. HELEN'S YOUNGER SISTER BLANCHE DIED WHEN SHE WAS NEARLY NINE - THE PAINTINGS IN THIS SERIES REFERENCE THE TIMES WHEN SHE AND BLANCHE PLAYED TOGETHER. SHE STARTED THE "CHILDHOOD IN THE 30S" PAINTINGS IN 1994 AS A WAY TO BRING SOME CHEER INTO HER OLDER SISTER FERN'S LIFE, WHO WAS IN A COMA AT THE TIME. HELEN'S HUSBAND LLOYD FLAIG WAS RAISED IN ALBERTA. SHE AND LLOYD MET IN 1949 WHILE WORKING AT THE PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL IN NORTH BATTLEFORD, SK. THEY MOVED TO CALGARY WHERE LLOYD DECIDED TO BECOME A SCHOOL TEACHER AND HIS FIRST POSITION WAS IN LETHBRIDGE IN 1955. HELEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN INTERESTED IN DRAWING AND JOINED THE LETHBRIDGE SKETCH CLUB IN 1955. HELEN STARTED POTTERY CLASSES IN 1964 WITH THE OLDMAN RIVER POTTERS GUILD AND CONTINUED WITH THEM TO THE PRESENT DAY. SHE AND LLOYD MOVED TO THEIR ACREAGE IN 1974, BUT SHE HAS CONTINUED TO TAKE COURSES, ESPECIALLY FIGURATIVE WORK AT BOWMAN ART'S CENTER, THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE, AND AT RED DEER COLLEGE. *UPDATE* IN 2014 COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT JANE EDMUNDSON CONDUCTED A SURVEY OF ART OBJECTS. SHE FOUND THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTION OF HELEN FLAIG'S 'CHILDHOOD IN THE 1930S' SERIES IN THE BROCHURE PRODUCED BY THE RED DEER AND DISTRICT MUSEUM FOR THE 1997 EXHIBITION OF FLAIG'S WORK, WRITTEN BY EXHIBITS COORDINATOR DIANA ANDERSON: "THIS SERIES OF 20 PAINTINGS RETURNS HELEN TO HER CHILDHOOD DAYS OF GROWING UP ON A FARM IN RURAL SASKATCHEWAN... HELEN CHOOSES THE THINGS THAT MEANT SOMETHING TO HER. SHE STARTED WITH GRASSES AND VEGETABLES AND HER OWN CHILDREN, ORDINARY THINGS THAT SURROUNDED HER... HELEN IS INTERSTED IN THE MOOD OF THE PAINTINGS MORE THAN THE ACCURACY OF THE IMAGE. HER PERSONAL VISION AND FRESHNESS OF CONCEPT GIVE THIS SERIES ITS VISUAL IMPACT THROUGH THE USE OF NAIVE PAINTING... NAIVE PAINTING CAN BE DESCRIBED AS A TYPE OF PAINTING THAT IS UNSOPHISTICATED, CHILDLIKE, SIMPLE OR UNWORLDLY... IN HELEN'S CASE, THIS IS IMPLY A STYLE THAT SHE CHOSE TO BETTER EXPRESS HER SUBJECT MATTER, AS IT CAPTURES MOST CLOSELY THE FLAVOUR SHE WANTED TO GIVE OF THE 1930S... THE PAINTINGS SHOW AN OPEN, HONEST APPROACH TO THE SUBJECT AND EACH PAINTING HOLDS SPECIAL MEANING FOR HELEN." FOR A COPY OF THE BROCHURE AND FURTHER BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ON THE ARTIST, SEE PERMANENT FILE P20020006001. *UPDATE* ON MARCH 5, 2019, COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED DON FLAIG REGARDING HIS DONATION OF ARTWORKS COLLECTED BY HIS PARENTS, HELEN AND LLOYD FLAIG. IN HIS INTERVIEW, DON FLAIG SPOKE ABOUT HIS MOTHER'S, HELEN FLAIG'S, ART PRACTICE. ON HIS MOTHER’S PAINTINGS AND PRACTICE, DON FLAIG ELABORATED, “I LEARNED LATER, THAT [MY MOTHER’S LOVE OF ART] WAS BORN OUT OF HER DESIRE TO BRING ART TO HER SISTER, FERN, WHO HAD A BRAIN ANEURYSM WHEN SHE WAS ABOUT FIFTEEN YEARS OLD. [FERN] SPENT MANY YEARS IN HOSPITAL IN LABRECQUE, IN SASKATCHEWAN, BUT [MOM] NEVER GOT THERE; NEVER GOT THE PAINTINGS OUT THERE. THE ART WORK IS, IN SOME WAYS, CRUDE. THERE ARE NO SHADOWS; THE PEOPLE ARE KIND OF LUMPY; THE COLORS ARE BRIGHT, AND ALL THESE SCENES REPRESENT SOMETHING OF HER LIFE AS A YOUNG GIRL ON A FARM, IN SASKATCHEWAN, AND HOW HARD IT MUST HAVE BEEN. THERE IS A LOT OF FEELING IN EACH ONE OF HER PAINTINGS. MANY OF THEM WE’LL NEVER KNOW THE STORIES, BUT THEY’RE ALL COUCHED IN STORIES. I HAD NO IDEA EITHER, UNTIL JUST NOW, HOW PROLIFIC SHE WAS; HOW MANY PAINTINGS SHE MUST HAVE DONE. I THINK IT WAS A CATHARSIS FOR HER, BUT ALSO REPRESENTATIVE OF THEIR LIVES, GROWING UP ON A FARM IN SASKATCHEWAN—THE ISOLATION, THE COLD, THE STRIFE AMONGST THE FAMILY, THE DIFFICULTY OF HER PARENTS HOLDING A MARRIAGE TOGETHER, AND THEIR DESPERATION, WITH SEVEN KIDS, TO GET OFF THE FARM AND GET OUT OF THERE, AND MAKE SOMETHING. IT’S A HERITAGE – HER PAINTINGS, AS ARE THESE HERE. YOU JUST LOOK AT THEM AND WONDER HOW IT IS THAT AN ARTIST CAN VISUALIZE THIS, AND PUT SO MUCH FEELING INTO EACH PIECE. THE LIGHT, THE FACIAL EXPRESSION, THE SUGGESTION OF A LINE, SOMETHING SIMPLE…SOMEBODY JUST [DAUBED] THE PAINT ON THERE, GLOBS THE YELLOW OF THE TREES. THERE’S SOMETHING THERE THAT—IT’S A HERITAGE. I [HEARD IN A MOVIE] ART IS THE TRUTH THAT WE HAVE EXISTED. THESE PEOPLE EXISTED. MOM, THE LIFE THEY HAD, WILL BE FORGOTTEN, BUT IT WAS THERE. NOW, AS OUR SUCCEEDING GENERATIONS, WE HAVE THE LIFE WE HAVE BECAUSE OF WHAT THEY WENT THROUGH. THE RICHNESS OF THEIR LIFE, WE CAN NEVER REPAY IT, BUT WE CAN HOPE TO PROFIT FROM IT.” FLAIG ELABORATED ON HIS PARENTS’ AVID INTEREST IN LOCAL ART, NOTING, “I KNOW [MY PARENTS] WOULD GO OUT, AND DO THE ART ELSEWHERE, OR SOME AT HOME. IT JUST SEEMED NATURAL THAT THEY WOULD DEAL WITH THEIR ARTIST FRIENDS…MOM AND DAD ALWAYS HAD ART IN THE HOUSE. THEY WERE ALWAYS DOING ART. I REMEMBER DAD DOING LARGE PLASTER SCULPTURES, IN THE BASEMENT, IN THE CITY, AND MOM WAS ALWAYS PAINTING AND THROWING POTS, AND DOING SOMETHING FUNNY OUT IN THE BACK YARD, ART-WISE…I HAVE A LARGE NUMBER OF MY MOTHER’S PAINTINGS, BUT THERE ARE LOTS OF THOSE AROUND THE CITY, AND HER WORK IS WELL PRESERVED.” FOR MORE INFORMATION INCLUDING THE FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION, PLEASE SEE THE PERMANENT FILE P20190006001-GA.

Catalogue Number

P20020006009

Acquisition Date

2002-07

Collection

Museum

Less detail