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BLOORE o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-12-16 published
David PARTRIDGE, Painter And Sculptor (1919-2006)
With a 'virtuosity of hammering,' his hard-edged, tactile and sculptural Naillies transformed nails and wood into art forms that are both evocative and spiritual, writes Sandra MARTIN
By Sandra MARTIN, Page S11
What came first, the nail or the hammer? That is the question people ponder about artist David PARTRIDGE. Although he began his artistic career as a painter and a printmaker, he is best known for his Naillies. To create them, he would begin with a piece of plywood, although he was known to use doors, beams and other surfaces, which he sometimes covered in buffed or abraded aluminum. Then he would hammer in nails of all sorts (aluminum, copper and steel) and lengths, beginning with the shortest to create a "relief sculpture." According to his fancy, he polished or trimmed the hammered nail heads, wrapped the Naillie in duct tape to give the surface more texture and lacquered or painted portions of the finished work.
The Naillies were quite spectacular, said artist Tony URQUHART, who was mentored by Mr. PARTRIDGE in the 1950s. Although a very different type of artist, Mr. URQUHART also creates sculptural collages or "boxes" out of wood, nails and many other things. "They were things that had never been done before and they were made at a very high level." And they also reflected many of the artistic and social concerns of the time.
Besides the visual, tactile and auditory sensations of the works, Mr. URQUHART was really impressed by "the virtuosity of his hammering." By that, he meant Mr. PARTRIDGE's workmanship in getting the nails in straight and figuring out how deep to hammer them. "I couldn't do that," he said. "If you X-rayed one of my boxes. I would be embarrassed because the nails go in at different angles and now I pre-drill them. But with the Naillies, one nail out of line and …"
Mr. PARTRIDGE was an intensely creative person who seemed to make art instinctively and organically rather than consciously and deliberately. His daughter, Kate, says his life was a series of creative cycles interspersed with down or resting phases until something dramatic happened in his life or his environment, and that would spark another creative synergy.
He is curiously not well known, said artist Ron BLOORE, who had known Mr. PARTRIDGE as an artist and a friend since the late 1950s. "That guy had a real collection of weird wild nails." The works, especially the later ones, sometimes got to be quasi-religious or spiritual, he said, because they explored "a visionary experience."
David Gerry PARTRIDGE was the youngest child of Albert Gerry and Edith (née HARPHAM) PARTRIDGE. His favourite toy as a child was a hammer, which he used to drag around with him and hit things although not always from a creative impulse. One of his grandfathers was a roofer, and the other was an undertaker, so that's where he may have inherited his affinity for hammering nails, his wife suggested this week. His other great love was flying, a passion that can be dated to seeing his first airplane in the 1920s on a family visit to Florida.
His father was a senior executive with Goodyear Tire, and so David, his mother and his older sisters, Elspeth and Emily, moved across the Atlantic in 1928 when Mr. PARTRIDGE was transferred to England. During the seven years that his father served as president of the British firm, David went to Mostyn House School in Cheshire, then Radley College in Oxfordshire. When they moved to Canada in 1935 so that Albert PARTRIDGE could head the Canadian operations of Goodyear, David was sent to Trinity College School in Port Hope.
That's where he met Edward CAYLEY, who always called him Birdy and considered him his closest friend for the next 76 years. "We were opposites. He was stubborn and impatient, but for some reason we got on," said Mr. CAYLEY, noting that his friend had a great sense of humour. "He was always restless, and that's where the creativity came in."
After Trinity College School, Mr. PARTRIDGE went to Trinity College at the University of Toronto, concentrating on English, history and geology, and graduated in 1941. He immediately enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force, where he scored so highly on his training courses that he was made a flight instructor and spent the war, much to his chagrin, on this side of the Atlantic.
On June 14, 1943, he married Helen Rosemary ANNESLEY (always known as Tibs), who was serving as a Women's Royal Naval Service. The couple had known each other slightly at university until their final year, when his mother spotted Ms. ANNESLEY at a reception for visiting parents and told her son that he should "marry that girl."
The year after they had both graduated, they began seeing each other socially, and became even closer when both of them were posted to Ottawa, she with the Royal Canadian Navy and he with the air force. By then, his mother was dead and it was her mother who was issuing the directives that Mr. PARTRIDGE should "marry that girl."
After the war, the PARTRIDGEs moved to St. Catharines, Ontario, where he taught art first at Appleby College and then at Ridley College. Their two children -- Katharine (always called Kate), a psychologist, and John, a reporter at The Globe and Mail -- were born there in 1945 and 1947. This was the period in which he was finding himself as a water colourist and a printmaker.
He won a British Council scholarship to study at the Slade School at the University of London, so the whole family lived in Hampstead for the academic year 1950-51. Afterward, Mr. PARTRIDGE enthused about working with artists Tom Monnington and Edward Ardizzone, the "wonderful introduction into etching and engraving" he received from John Buckland-Wright, and the stimulation of being in contact with Graham Sutherland and John Piper, among other Slade professors.
After returning to Canada, he taught high school art at St. Catharines Collegiate and Vocational Institute, co-founded the St. Catharines Art Association and the St. Catharines Public Library Art Gallery (and was its first curator) and taught summer school at Queen's, the same place he had himself studied a decade earlier.
The PARTRIDGEs, who were both anglophiles, lived in Sussex with their children from 1956 to 1958 and for a longer stint beginning in 1960. All the while, he was showing in group and solo exhibitions in Canada and abroad. In February and March of 1958, he was studying etching and engraving with William Hayter at Atelier 17 in Paris when he had a creative breakthrough.
"I was fascinated by the irregular surfaces of deep-etched copper and zinc plates, irrespective of their purpose in printing. They became low-relief sculptures, which seemed to my ex-pilot's eyes like aerial views of topography," is the way he described the process later. One Saturday, he was gallery-hopping and came across an exhibition by Hungarian sculptor Zoltan Kemeny that he described as "bas-reliefs using all manner of metal bits and pieces, welded into an even more exciting aerial vision than the etched plates had provided."
The eureka moment came in Ottawa (where the family was then living) the following winter when he came across a piece of plywood left over from a renovation. "Nails were at hand and a hammer! I descended to the basement and made my first nail sculpture." The Naillies, as Mr. PARTRIDGE called them, were born. Wood, the most basic building material, became a platform for work that undulated with rhythm, light and texture. Hard-edged, tactile and sculptural, Naillies transcended their utilitarian origins and transformed nails and wood into something evocative and spiritual. Naillies seemed too skinny a word for a new art form, so at a dinner party with Alan Jarvis of the National Gallery and his wife, Mrs. PARTRIDGE came up with the term "configurations."
He had his first solo exhibition of paintings, drawings and configurations at the Robertson Galleries in Ottawa in October of 1960, the same year he gave up full-time teaching and moved his family back to England. They stayed until 1974. Since then, Naillies have been acquired by the National Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Tate Gallery, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Gallery of New South Wales and many other institutions. He also won commissions, such as Metropolis, a huge mural for the new city hall in Toronto and the Royal Canadian Air Force Memorial in Westminster Cathedral in London.
After returning from England, they settled in Toronto, spending summers at a cottage near Stony Lake, Ontario, that they bought from Mrs. PARTRIDGE's family. By 1980, Mr. PARTRIDGE, who had some spare cash after having sold a big Naillie, indulged his unquenchable love of flying by buying himself a do-it-yourself kit for an ultra-light plane. He partially constructed it at his studio on Queen Street and then hauled it up to the cottage, where he attached floats and set off across the lake, never having flown that kind of plane before.
He took some great photographs, said Mrs. PARTRIDGE, by tying a string around his big toe and attaching it to a camera "so he could fly with both hands, which he needed to do, and his big toe would pull on the thread and snap a photograph." Once again, he was interested in aerial views of the landscape, the same topographical impressions that he created in his Naillies.
About this time, Mr. PARTRIDGE reconnected with his old friend Ed CAYLEY, who had also been living abroad, by phoning to ask: "Do you still like movies?" The two men resumed a ritual weekly trip to the movies that had begun in their undergraduate days at the University of Toronto. After Mr. PARTRIDGE had a stroke a little more than three years ago that seriously hampered his mobility, Mr. CAYLEY brought lunch and a DVD to watch with his old friend at home.
David Gerry PARTRIDGE was born on October 5, 1919, in Akron, Ohio. He died of heart disease on December 11, 2006, after a stroke and a heart attack. He was 87. He is survived by his wife, Tibs, his daughter Kate, his son John and their spouses. There will be a public graveside service today at 10 a.m. at Saint_James-the-Less Cemetery in Toronto.

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BLOSS o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2006-02-26 published
BLOSS- JONES, Dorothy Vera▼ (née PIDDUCK)
Died peacefully at the South Muskoka Memorial Hospital in Bracebridge on Friday, February 24th, 2006. She was dear mother of Launi and her husband Arthur CLARKE of Bracebridge. Loving grandmother of Brent and his wife Stefanie CLARKE of Kitchener and Karen and her husband Mark QUEMBY of Bracebridge. Dear great-grandmother of Aleah, Simone and Sabrina CLARKE and Conor and Alexandra QUEMBY. The family will receive Friends at the Reynolds Funeral Home "Turner Chapel" in Bracebridge 1-877-806-2257 on Tuesday from 10: 00 to 11:00 a.m. The service will be held in the Chapel on Tuesday, February 28th, 2006 at 11: 00 a.m., followed by cremation. Donations may be made to the Salvation Army or the South Muskoka Hospital Foundation.

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BLOSS o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2006-03-03 published
BLOSS, Lucy Veronica▲
Passed away at St. Michael's Hospital on Thursday, March 2, 2006, in her 80th year. Beloved wife of the late William. Loving mother of John and Frances. Friends may call at the at the Giffen-Mack "Danforth" Funeral Home and Cremation Centre, 2570 Danforth Ave. (at Main St. subway), 416-698-3121 on Sunday from 2-4 p.m. Funeral service will be held at the Chapel of St. James-The-Less, 635 Parliament St. (south of Bloor St. E.) on Monday at 2: 00 p.m. with visitation 1 hour prior. Cremation to follow.

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BLOUIN o@ca.on.grey_county.owen_sound.the_sun_times 2006-04-03 published
THORNTON, Georgina " Gena" Rae (née HAWKINS)
Gena THORNTON, beloved wife of W. Clifford THORNTON of Meaford, passed away peacefully in Meaford on Saturday, April 1, 2006. Daughter of the late Rae and Phyllis HAWKINS of Hamilton, and daughter-in-law of the late William F. and Joyce THORNTON of Meaford and formerly of Hamilton. Loving mother of Brian and his wife Sandy of Erin and Jennifer and her husband Shawn KEILY of Meaford. Sadly missed Grandma of Rachel and Erin THORNTON and Cameron and Nicholas KEILY. Predeceased by a sister, Joan BLOUIN. Fondly remembered as a dear sister-in-law and aunt. Funeral Services will be conducted at Christ Church Anglican in Meaford on Tuesday, April 4th at 11: 00 a.m. with interment and committal to follow at Lakeview Cemetery. Family will receive Friends at Ferguson Funeral Home, 48 Boucher St. E., in Meaford on Monday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. As your expression of sympathy, donations to the Meaford General Hospital Foundation or the Canadian Cancer Society would be appreciated.

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BLOUIN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-10-07 published
BLOUIN, Jules " Buck" (April 15, 1928-September 27th, 2006)
Jules passed away at the Elizabeth Bruyère Health Centre, Ottawa Palliative Care Unit after an extended battle with cancer. His long struggle with cancer was a brave and valiant one. He leaves to mourn his brother Emile (Ann), Jacques (Dorothy), Raymond and sisters Lois MULLEN and Cecile VALLIEAR. Jules spent 32 years serving with the Ontario Provincial Police across many detachments in Ontario retiring in 1988. As per Jule's request, cremation has taken place.

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BLOW o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2006-07-05 published
HARWOOD, Patricia Nelda Gladys (née WATTS)
Of Trenton, on Sunday, July 2, 2006, surrounded by her loving family, in her 68th year. Dearly loved wife of Richard HARWOOD, and loved mother of Bill and his wife Debbie HARWOOD of Saint Thomas, Lynn and her husband Scott LUNN of Angus, Dennis and his wife Mariann HARWOOD of Quebec, Cathy and her husband Greg FARISH of New Goer, and Debbie and her husband Guy PARENT of Ottawa. Dear sister of June and her late husband Bruce HEFFERMAN of North Bay, Lloyd and his wife Faith WATTS of Banff, Gary and his wife Marilyn WATTS of Saint Thomas, Durrell WATTS of Saint Thomas, Joe and his wife Jeannine HARWOOD of Timmins, Bonnie and her husband Roddy HARWOOD of Timmins, Grace and her husband Ken BLOW of Timmins, and sadly missed best friend of Deanna FASCIANO. Loved grandmother of Craig, Jamie, Chris and Nichole HARWOOD, Todd, Andrea, and Kaitlin LUNN, Jessica and Joseph HARWOOD, Bradley and Lauren FARISH, and Gabrielle and Jocelynne PARENT. Also survived by a number of nieces and nephews. Pat was born on September 10th, 1938 in Timmins, Ontario, the daughter of the late William and Alice WATTS. Resting at Williams Funeral Home, 45 Elgin Street, Saint Thomas until Thursday morning and then to Saint Anne's Church where Mass of the Christian Burial will take place at 11: 00 a.m. Interment to follow in Holy Angels' Cemetery. Visitation Wednesday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Prayers will be recited at the Funeral Home Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. Remembrances may be made to The Brain Tumour Research Foundation.

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BLOW o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2006-04-20 published
BLOW, Beulah Royetta (née GEER)
(Retired from York Central Hospital)
Quietly at York Central Hospital on Tuesday, April 18, 2006. Beulah, dear wife of the late Arthur BLOW. Loving mother of David and his wife Sheree. Devoted grandmother to Justin, Laurie and Gloria. Dear sister to Marshall Keith and Doris COOK. Friends may visit at The Marshall Funeral Home, 10366 Yonge Street, Richmond Hill (4th traffic light north of Major Mackenzie Dr.) on Friday, April 21st from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. Funeral Service will be held on Saturday at 10: 30 a.m. Private cremation. InBeulah's memory, donations may be made to The York Central Hospital Foundation.

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BLOWER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2006-03-27 published
BLOWER, Albert Sydney " Abe"
Peacefully at the Village of Erin Meadows on Friday, March 24, 2006. Abe beloved husband of Grace. Loving father of Sharon and her husband Bill, Jo-Ann and her husband Daniel. Fondly remembered grandfather of Kylie, Jeremy, Nathan, Jennifer, Christopher and James. Dear brother of Helen PETERS and the late Cyril BLOWER. Mr. BLOWER is resting at the funeral home of Skinner and Middlebrook Ltd., 128 Lakeshore Rd. E. (1 block west of Hurontario St.), Mississauga on Tuesday from 7-9 p.m. Funeral service in the chapel Wednesday, March 29, 2006 at 1: 30 p.m. Interment to follow. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to the Alzheimer Society, Canadian Cancer Society or the Heart and Stroke Foundation would be greatly appreciated by his family.

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BLOWERS o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2006-03-13 published
BLOWERS, Olive (Kay)
Peacefully, on Saturday, March 11, 2006. Beloved wife of Maurice (Mike.) Loving mother of Sandra (Bob) KLASSEN and Heather (Andy) MARSHALL. Grandmother to Hollie (Joseph,) Angela (C.J.,) Geoff (Kim), Amanda (Jim), and Stewart. Great-grandmother to Colin, Samantha, Kelsey, and Caleb. Sister of Irene and Ruby and brothers Geoff and Bernard from England, sister-in-law to Alice, Kathleen and Jack (Irene). Friends will be received at the Roadhouse and Rose Funeral Home, 157 Main St. S., Newmarket, on Tuesday, March 14th from 7-9 p.m. Funeral Service will be held in the Chapel on Wednesday, March 15th at 1: 00 p.m. Donations may be made to the Canadian Cancer Society.

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BLOXAM o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2006-03-18 published
BROWN, Thomas Allen
(Former manager at Stroud I.G.A.)
Unexpectedly at Southlake Regional Health Centre on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 in his 59th year. Dear husband of Eileen. Loving father of Tina (David BLOXAM) of Keswick, Keith (Karen) MARTIN of Sharon, Gerry (Holly) MARTIN of Barrie and Nicola (Corey GERO) of Keswick. Cherished grandfather of Taylor, Evan, Josh, MacKenzie, Riley, Jake, Nicholas, Emily and Quintin. Dear son of Sybil and the late Ernest BROWN of Orillia and brother of Edward, Ruth (Karl) and Margaret (Thomas). Tom will be greatly missed by many Friends and relatives. Visitation from M.W. Becker Funeral Home, 490 The Queensway S., Keswick 1-888-884-4486 on Sunday 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Funeral service from the chapel on Monday, March 20, 2006 at 2: 00 p.m. Interment Queensville Cemetery. Flowers gratefully declined. Donations made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation would be appreciated

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BLOY o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2006-02-16 published
McRAE, Marjory (née JOHNSON)
Passed away at Headwaters Health Care Centre, Orangeville on February 12, 2006; Marjory JOHNSON, in her 84th year; daughter of Agnes (née WALSH) and Frederick James JOHNSON of Capreol, Ontario. She was born October 21, 1922; loved mother of Philip James JOHNSON of Hamilton, Karen COX of Burlington and Beverly SCHELL and her husband Clarence of Grand Valley; Marjory's greatest joy were her three granddaughters, Karen PARKER of Guelph, Tracy PARKER of Toronto and Ashley COX of Burlington. She is survived by her sisters Isabelle ALBERICO (née JOHNSON,) living in Phoenix, Arizona (husband Lew, deceased,) Elsie WHELAN (née JOHNSON,) living in Belair, Florida (husband Bill, deceased), predeceased by her siblings Chester JOHNSON (resided in Toronto,) Betty ANDERSON (née JOHNSON) and husband Keith, North Bay, Agnes BLOY (née JOHNSON, resided in Toronto with husband Bob,) Jim JOHNSON (resided in Toronto with wife Peggy), Madge JOHNSON, Edyth Mae JOHNSON, Wilfred JOHNSON (resided in Thunder Bay with wife Grace.) Marjory resided in Etobicoke for the past 40 years. Although divorced many years ago from her husband Frank McRAE, they shared a life of love and children. She will be sadly missed by her other relatives and Friends. A Celebration of Marjory's life will be held at "The Church of Atonement" Jubilee Centre, 256 Sheldon Avenue, in Etobicoke, Toronto, Ontario on Saturday, February 18th at 11: 00 a.m. followed by a reception downstairs. Spring Interment in Capreol Cemetery. As expressions of sympathy, donations to Headwaters Health Care Centre, Palliative Care Room would be appreciated.

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