A Longview painter’s poignant depiction of soldiers walking into the sunset in a field of poppies is stirring up emotions around the world.
Deanna Lavoie’s six-by-five-foot acrylic First World War commemorative painting The Journey to Remembrance is gaining attention on Facebook and was selected to hang in the Jubilee Auditorium for the Calgary Remembrance Day ceremony on Nov. 11.
It was also at the Poppy Campaign Fund kickoff ceremony in Calgary Oct. 29 with various dignitaries in attendance including Lt. Governor of Alberta Lois Mitchell and Minister of Affairs Kent Hehr.
“The response has been incredible from people who have veterans in their families to teachers saying, ‘I want to use this to show my kids leading up to Remembrance Day,’” said Lavoie. “It was pretty overwhelming how it really touched some of these people. To have people that are emotional over something I did, there is no words to describe the feeling.”
Lavoie has been creating art since she could hold a pencil. She graduated with honours and received a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Alberta College of Art and Design and has since become known for her portraits, wildlife and nature scenes in watercolours and acrylics.
Lavoie’s work was chosen for the Calgary Stampede Western Art Auction in 2015, where her acrylic painting That Time of Day was a finalist. Her work has also been exhibited in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Lavoie said she knew very little about the First World War until meeting her husband Murray Sinton, who served in the New Zealand navy, as did his father and grandfather - the latter who spent four years in the First World War and lived to be 101.
“In New Zealand and Australia the war is part of their make-up every day,” she said.
In honour of her husband’s family, Lavoie created a piece called Minute of Silence featuring four cement headstone panels with images and information about her husband’s grandfather James Sinton, a tribute to soldiers who never returned from war and Turkish army officer Mustafa Ataturk.
The piece, which represents the unification of Australia, New Zealand and Turkey after the war, was a finalist in the 2013 Gallipoli Art Prize in Australia, said Lavoie.
Last year, Lavoie’s husband suggested she do a First World War commemorative piece for Canada and in January she got started on the five-by-six-foot painting.
The painting depicts three soldiers as ghost-like silhouettes walking off into the sunset through a field of red poppies.
“They are the spirit of our tribute to them, the spirit of our remembering them and what they stand for,” she said. “They stand for us showing gratitude for all of these things that we often take for granted.”
In the distance, the poppies lose their bright colours, which Lavoie said represents the passage of 100 years after the war.
The eye is quickly drawn to the bright sun beaming through clouds, offering a sense of hope and peace, said Lavoie.
The original sky painted by Lavoie was dark and ominous, but part way through the project she decided to paint over it.
“It was a dark time, it was a horrible time, but I didn’t want to get that deep into how they felt,” she said. “It seemed like we needed some hope and peace because we are talking about remembrance, we are not talking about that awfulness.”
The sky also represents the Ode of Remembrance poem, which reads, “At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them,” said Lavoie.
Rather than using a line from the poem, Lavoie decided to move away from the feeling of sadness and loss and instead encourage her viewers to look at the journey of the soldiers and themselves.
“I thought, let’s think about our own personal journeys,” she said. “It’s about my journey, my family’s, my community’s, my country’s and the world during that dark time.”
Lavoie is in the process of making connections to get The Journey to Remembrance into the Calgary Military Museum.
She wants to find a benefactor to purchase the painting and have it hung in a public facility.
“I don’t want it in some private office where nobody sees it,” she said. “I want that painting to be public so it inspires others to remember what they went through, not just on Remembrance Day.”
Lavoie is selling the painting for $25,000. To learn more about Lavoie or to contact her visit deannalavoie.com
