Our region's history has a golden period that included a bevy of local artists.
Among them were the likes of Isabel VanZant, George Luesby, Dorothy Clark McClure and many more.
This column will focus on one of these artists from the golden age of local heritage art, the pride of Aurora, Dorothy Clark McClure.
I both knew and admired her work, along with my that of my uncle, George Luesby, whose work captured our communities at about the same place and time.
In a previous article, I wrote of C.W. Jefferies, the father of Canadian heritage art and it reminded me of all those artists out there that defined our local history with their unique artistry for so many years. I am fortunate to have a small collection of their works and, during those times when I hit a roadblock while writing, I can look up at my walls at their work and my mind seems to return back to the past and my task at hand.
McClure was known as Aurora’s "keeper of its historical past."
Armed with a sketch pad, she set about capturing the area’s heritage buildings, preserving them before the inevitable encroachment of modern development.
For much of her life, McClure had painted, her first painting having been created in 1954 in Muskoka.
This Guelph-born free spirit worked throughout North America, according to many articles, and was honoured locally and provincially as an inspirational teacher, talented artist, and conservationist.
McClure was named Aurora’s citizen of the year in 2007.
In a 1978 article, McClure spoke of her passion for our local history, a defining element in her decision to adopt a style that incorporated the depiction of historical buildings.
In 1967, she mounted a one-person show highlighting the heritage buildings of the area. That show would bring her ever-increasing recognition for her work, both locally and nationally.
As was the case with my uncle, the more she captured our heritage, the more upset she became with what she saw happening with local buildings virtually disappearing overnight. It turned her into an historical advocate.
She would subsequently become a very active member of the Aurora Historical Society. She learned that we were all, in one way or another, working toward the same end goal, but we all bring our own tools to the table.
McClure studied at the Central Technical School in Toronto to be a commercial artist. Upon her graduation in 1956, she turned her talents to commercial art as art director at the American Paper Box Company and at Liberty Magazine in Toronto before switching to fine art.
In 1967, she turned full time to fine arts and purchased the Red House in Aurora, re-purposing the heritage building into a studio and home. She was passionate about heritage preservation and Aurora historian John McIntyre recalled, "Dorothy always felt like she was just a few steps ahead of the bulldozer and often that was in fact the case because I think people value their heritage buildings much more today than they did back in 1968. Dorothy was making people aware of just what they were losing."
I remember going out with my uncle while he sketched local buildings, sitting for what seemed to me, forever, on a little bench.
McClure said in an interview that she would often spend two hours or more on-site, studying the subject building, sketching, and drawing key diagrams. She then would return to her studio for another three hours while finishing the finer details of the work.
I first came to know McClure’s work when I was gifted a series of sepia postcards and enclosure cards in what they called then called a Canadiana motif. I was hooked and when I grew older, I attempted to acquire more of her work for my collection.
She created her own company in 1969 after she welcomed her third child and never looked back. One of the things that I admire about McClure is the way her art is so accessible to everyone, whether it be a print or a simple note card.
Like my uncle, she took on many projects for local municipalities. You may have seen her works featuring local municipalities, including Schomberg, Aurora and Newmarket.
She also began teaching a five-week art course on landscape and heritage properties in June 1978 at Seneca College’s King campus. To her credit, McClure reached out to the community teaching at both the elementary and college levels locally.
In 1981, she travelled to Nova Scotia and the South Shore, producing her first set of full colour prints that would win an international award of excellence in the United States.
Her son, now an art teacher, would recall “...some of my earliest memories are of traipsing out to various locations, sitting on stools, waiting for mom to draw or paint the landscape, or the building, or whatever it was. There was no real family vacation that didn't include a watercolour pad or a set of art tools and there always had to be a stop somewhere."
Now that is dedication to her craft.
I know exactly how he feels. Some of my fondest memories of my uncle consist of standing quietly beside him as he sketched our town.
McClure's interests evolved as the years passed. In later years she was fascinated with spiritual and intuitional art, and she is quoted as saying, "There is more to art than making money. Creating art helps you find your spiritual instincts."
McClure was a greatly respected citizen and is remembered as "one of York Region's most respected artists. She was honoured locally and provincially as an inspirational teacher, talented artist and diligent conservationist."
She was awarded a Bicentennial medal from the Province of Ontario and a Certificate of Achievement from the Ontario Heritage Trust.
McClure remains one of York Region’s most prolific artists.
Sadly she passed in 2012 at the age of 77, having remained a longtime Aurora resident.
At a memorial exhibition of her work in Aurora after her passing, her daughter would say that her mother didn’t make a lot of money as an artist, but she had a career and the Red House Studio, which she was very proud of, a life well lived.
We should be very grateful for people like McClure who cared so much about our disappearing heritage and used their considerable talents to preserve a huge chunk of it.
Sources: Newmarket Topic – Artist Goes Back in Time; Newmarket Era/Aurora Banner, Son celebrates a 'life well lived; The Auroran, Oct. 13, 2013, Remembering Dorothy Clark McClure;York Scene, Artists and Artisans of the Past; The Auroran - Clark McClure Remembered by Family and Friends at New Show; Recollections of George W. Luesby.
Newmarket resident Richard MacLeod, the History Hound, has been a local historian for more than 40 years. He writes a weekly feature about our town's history in partnership with NewmarketToday, conducts heritage lectures and walking tours of local interest, and leads local oral history interviews.
