Senior artist in Fergus is taking the birdhouse world by storm

FERGUSĚý – Eighty-one-year-old Fergus artist Graeme Chalmers is taking the art world by storm with his eccentric birdhouse creations made from reclaimed materials.

Chalmers was born in Auckland, Aotearoa/ New Zealand and attended school, art school and teachers’ college there. He began his teaching career teaching art in Auckland before moving on to complete his MA and PhD in the United States and finally coming to Canada in 1972 to teach at the University of British Columbia.Ěý

Chalmers retired from his teaching career in 2008 and moved to Fergus with his wife Millie Cumming, where his whimsical birdhouses first took flight.Ěý

“That’s where the other story starts,” said Chalmers. “You know, research was sort of over, I wasn’t writing. I mean, I published a lot, three books and tons of journal articles and things. So, I put all that aside and decided I’m going to go back to art making.”Ěý

Chalmers spent his first year of retirement refurbishing the old house he and his wife had moved into in Fergus. After that, the experienced artist turned his attentions towards painting.

“Then I started painting, looking at landscape, mostly stuff about farms, old farmhouses, silos, planted fields, churches that were being closed, and I started to do things like put people in the windows that looked as if they were thinking about their future on the farm,” he said.Ěý

“I made use of some filtering symbols like flying deep, which sort of showed people flying away from the farms. And that sort of sustained me for a while. Then I thought, I’ve done all that. Let’s just have some fun with related things.”

After coming to yet another standstill Chalmers made the decision to accompany his wife to the thrift store to help her find pieces for her own art, where he finally found what he was looking for.Ěý

Ěý“My wife was very heavily into quilting and fiber arts … and she was going to thrift stores a lot to find fabric and materials for her work, and I tagged along too, and looked around at what was available at the store,” said Chalmers.

“I wasn’t that interested and thought of a lot of other things that they had. But then I started to sort of think about things like, chess pieces and spoon racks and all sorts of things that would be interesting to make things with. And so that’s when I started making bird houses, the sort of compilation of some of those sorts of things. And that really got me going with going back to sort of making things like I used to when I was little, hammering pieces of wood together, glue pieces of wood together, painting them bright colors.”

Both Chalmers and Cumming have displayed and sold their art in markets, exhibitions, and art showcases.

“I was selling things in craft markets. I had a couple of little displays in … Elora and in the Elora Centre forĚýthe Arts when they had such things going on in the yard at the summer, participated in the museum’s Christmas market and that sort of thing,” said Chalmers.

Chalmers featured his art in his first “proper exhibit” during the pandemic in Kitchener, however with the heavy restrictions in place Chalmers said the exhibit was of little success. After his disappointing first exhibit the 81-year-old artist decided to seek out more opportunities.

“It sort of happened by chance. Millie had built a really quite significant piece of fiber art in a show at the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre, about a year and a bit ago, and I went to the opening and sat down at a table, and coming and sat next to It was the director of the museum, and I started to talk to her, and she was asking questions about what was I doing. So, I told her about what I was doing, and she said, well, send me a proposal. I sent a proposal for this exhibition. She took a few days to look at it, then sent back a draft contract, and that’s sort of how it all happened,” said Chalmers.

“It turned out to be an exceptionally great place for an exhibition. They treated me very well. So, I’m still going to make more,” he added.Ěý

One of Chalmers’ birdhouses featured in his exhibit at the Bruce County Museuem and Cultural Centre in Southampton. Submitted Photos

When asked how he comes up with the designs for his birdhouses Chalmers told the Advertiser he “lets the pieces inspire him”.

“I usually start by just pulling stuff out of my, I would call it a stash, pulling things out, just playing with them, seeing how they fit together, and they sort of start an idea,” said Chalmers.Ěý

“I know that I usually start perhaps with what goes on the top, like the spindles, or sometimes if it’s got a curved pot, like a dome on a cathedral or something, I often use a wooden salad bowl turned upside down, and then sort of build up from there and down from there. But it’s really the pieces that inspire me.”

When it comes to the extravagant colour scheme of the birdhouses, Chalmers says he hopes his use of colour brings people to a “happy place” where they can forget about their “angst” and “problems”.Ěý

“I think they (those viewing the art) will enjoy the colors, the shape. They’ll feel that it it’s a happy place, that it’ll sort of maybe get rid of any sort of angst or problems that they’re having that day, and sort of be able to put it aside just sort of enjoy what’s on the wall,” said Chalmers. “These sorts of brightly-coloured folk art pieces don’t really have a message other than take a look and feel enlightened.”

Chalmers told the Advertiser he has never regretted choosing art, and he encourages young artists to “just give it a go.”

“[Art] made my 81 years much more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise. I mean, I wont give you a tremendously sort of philosophical reason for that, but I mean, I’ve never regretted choosing art, I basically chose it when I was 18,” said Chalmers.Ěý

“I’ve got tons of books about birdhouses that I’ve gathered over the years, and I ignore them, except for the pages at the back that say, how high should you make the hole for the bird and how deep should the box be, Or should there be a little ladder inside it, that’s the only thing that I used in those books. The rest, they’re boring things that you know people would copy. I think the best advice for young artists is, just get into it. Just give it a go.”Ěý

Anyone interested in viewing Chalmers art can visit the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre in Southampton. The birdhouses will be on display until April. 1.