The moment Langley-born Maidie Hilmo saw Carle Hessay’s work, she was in awe.
An art lover from a young age, she met Hessay when waitressing after school. He was a regular to the Long’s Cafe (later the Golden Pagoda), and he invited her to visit his studio.
“I was overawed, especially by Home in the West,” she recalled. “When he saw my reaction, he took it off the wall and gave it to me, just like that!”
Hilmo said that, aside from her parents who were also good friends with him, Hessay was the most important influence in her life.
“It was through his eyes, as it were, that I learned ‘to see,’” the now Victoria resident said.
Since he gave her her first painting that day in the 1960s, she became an avid collector of his artwork with her paycheques from waitressing throughout her high school and university years.
“These have since been combined with the ones I inherited from him. Now, I want to pass on his legacy so that his work can be seen by new generations as the major contribution to Canadian and world art that it is. There is no question in my mind about that,” Hilmo said.
Hilmo has loaned some of her collected paintings to the Langley Community Music School for the special video exhibit to pay tribute to Hessay this Saturday, Nov. 25.
The video ‘Carle Hessay, As I Knew Him’, produced by Chen Wang, features LCMS founder Leonard A. Woods speaking on Hessay’s work and contextualizing it with other artists work.
An additional video ‘Carle Hessay as We Knew Him’ will also be played, showing various interviews discussing the close connections between music and art referring to Hessay’s painting Forgotten Logging Camp – donated by Hilmo in 2005.
“He was a gregarious man who loved meeting people… He was extremely knowledgeable about human history, both ancient and current, having himself experienced many of the vicissitudes and upheavals of the 20th century. That side of things tended to be expressed in his paintings,” Hilmo explained of Hessay’s character.
Her favourite part of Hessay’s work is his exploration of painting techniques, and the “strength and confidence in his work.”
“What he has to say… is manifested in the amazing scope of his paintings on so many subjects, ranging from landscapes to urban scenes, and including ethnic, mythological, futurist themes.”
Hilmo is donating Hessay’s piece Magenta Fire to LCMS for the tribute as well.
Student compositions of the 2023 Leonard Woods Memorial Scholarship will be performed by the school’s ensemble the Rose Gellert String Quartet.
The event is free and open to the public. It runs from 1 to 2 p.m.
Following the video exhibit will be the Canadian Music Festival at 2:30 p.m. hosted by the composer-in-residence Marcel Bergmann.
LCMS is located at 4899 207th St.
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