A day staff at the Allen Sapp Gallery has long dreaded has come to pass.
The artist the gallery is named for, Allen Sapp, died last Tuesday at the age of 87.
It’s a loss that has hit the gallery, located at 1 Railway Avenue in North Battleford, hard.
“It’s always been the unknown,” said gallery curator/manager Leah Garven, “what it was going to be like and how it was going to feel once Allen is gone.”
The main adjustment for the gallery will be simply getting used to the loss of Sapp personally.
He was a familiar presence at the gallery over the years. Garven said Sapp used to come by the gallery up to four times a week to visit.
Sapp was also available at the gallery for school groups and he would actively take part in teaching youth about reserve life and about his artwork.
“He’s been such an active part of the gallery’s daily routine,” Garven noted, although his active involvement has declined in recent years.
Sapp’s presence meant the Allen Sapp Gallery was able to bill itself in its promotional material as the only gallery in Canada dedicated to a living artist.
“It’s been sort of an aspect that all of us have been dreading — the previous workers, previous employees — about the day Allen wouldn’t be around with us,” said Garven.
She notes it is going to change how they tour, their website and other aspects.
But the gallery will go on, and new exhibits have been in the works even before Sapp’s passing.
Garven pointed to a new donation of about 400 items of Canadian art from the Gonor family that includes 55 of Sapp’s paintings. That promises to be the next big project for the gallery this year.
They have taken comfort in the outpouring of public recognition of Sapp in the days following his death, with officials such as Premier Brad Wall publicly expressing their condolences.
“It’s certainly been heartwarming for those of us that know and love Allen,” said Garven.
“To be reminded of that national level of importance and recognition is very uplifting, well deserved. Allen deserves that.”
Garven says Sapp’s legacy is “an incredible resource for future generations in understanding how Saskatchewan came to be.”
Sapp achieved renown around the world for his paintings depicting life on Red Pheasant First Nation. Garven said Sapp captured a significant period of time in the history of the province.
“He documented a time in history of great change for Saskatchewan, and a time of hardship during the 1930s and ‘40s. And that’s been where the broad appeal has been for his work, regardless of culture. Many people identified to those images that he painted. They remembered growing up that way or their parents growing up that way.”
Sapp was raised by his maternal grandparents during a time of great transition, Garven noted.
“They were the last generation to live the old way. They made that transition from a traditional lifestyle to an agricultural one, and he recorded that. And at the same time they taught him his traditions and cultural values. It’s been cultural values that are evident in his artwork, community working together, generosity, family kinship, all of those things that are important to all of us for survival. And it’s those qualities, they exist in his work, people can see that. He so beautifully put those nuances onto canvas.”
