BY WENDY ELLIOTT
Kings County Advertiser/Register
The Acadia University Art Gallery is presenting a selection of work by the late folk artist, Francis DaSilva.
At the opening July 17, Bertina Evers, who arranged for the exhibition through the Hantsport Memorial Community Centre, said DaSilva’s imaginative work should be viewed by another generation of area residents.
In the early 1960s, Hantsport resident Brian Alexander went to an estate yard sale looking for picture frames. He came home with 22 unframed oil paintings by DaSilva.
According to Alexander, for years no one appreciated DaSilva’s talent. It was Eric Nichol, a Hantsport resident working in Halifax, who talked Art Gallery of Nova Scotia expects into looking seriously at the work.
Then, Wolfville artist Alex Colville and museum curator Marie Elwood joined the lobby group. Eventually, museum director Bernie Riordan took the works on loan into the gallery collection.
The lively and colourful DaSilva exhibition is on view until Sept. 1. The Town of Hantsport, R&G’s Family Restaurant, Cochrane's Pharmasave and the Valley Credit Union support this exhibition.
welliott@kentvilleadvertiser.ca
