A talented Calgary artist has come up with a colourful new way for people to connect with the city’s heritage.
It’s a project inspired by her daily outings with her four-legged friend.
Jackie Ramsay has been busy creating paintings of 100 historic houses she’s come across in the Crescent Heights neighbourhood. Ramsay spotted the houses while out walking with her dog near their home in the area.
“(My dog’s name) is Rennie. Short for the artist Renoir,” Ramsay said.
Their walks together gave Ramsay a fresh perspective on the neigbhbourhood she’s lived in for almost four decades.
“When I’d be waiting for the dog to either sniff or do whatever, I’d look up,” Ramsay said. “I just started to notice how beautiful some of these homes were.”
That prompted her to start doing her paintings of the 100 houses. Most of the houses featured in the collection are around 100 years old.
“This is my little way of hanging onto the history of a community that I really love,” Ramsay said.
“(These days) you’re never going to get the kind of detail, the kind of workmanship that people did back them.”
Ramsay is showcasing her paintings in an exhibit called ‘100 Storeys’,
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“It’s sort of a play on words – there are 100 houses and most of them are single-storey houses. There’s a story behind every home that I painted,” Ramsay said.
The Crescent Heights Community Association (CHCA) invited Ramsay to display her work.
The free exhibit runs from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 4 at the CHCA hall in northwest Calgary.
It’s part of the ‘A Heritage Celebration’ event that the CHCA is hosting that day.
Ramsay says she’s glad to have the opportunity to showcase her paintings of the historic houses.
“It was definitely a labour of love,” Ramsay said. “I want people to stop for a moment and just appreciate the beauty and the character of older Calgary.”
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