The various works of Ponoka artist Charlie Donald will be sold during Lacombe Days, with all proceeds going to the Lacombe Art Endowment Fund, fuelling a student art award in Donald’s name.
The late Central Alberta artist passed away earlier this year and his family has since donated more than 1,000 pieces of art to be sold during Lacombe Days to raise profits for the endowment fund.
“He was just a really interesting man. He was never married and loved to teach kids art and painting and those kinds of things. So far, we have an inventory of almost 1,200 pieces and we still have two more boxes to go through,” said Maureen MacKenzie, community services executive assistant for the City of Lacombe. She added the works vary from watercolour and acrylic paintings, to sandstone sculptures to pen and ink drawings.
“It’s phenomenal, almost overwhelming. This is just a tremendous amount of artwork.”
During Lacombe Days, interested buyers can stop by the Lacombe Memorial Centre foyer to purchase some of Donald’s work. His pieces will be available on Friday from noon until 8 p.m., on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from noon until 3 p.m.
The works range in price, size and style. The prices range from $25 to approximately $100.
“He was quite well-known. He used to take painting lessons from (local watercolourist) Sonia Zacharias, and took lessons at Red Deer College. He exhibited in Lacombe and Calgary and other various places.”
Through the City of Lacombe Art Endowment Fund, a student art award has been created in Donald’s name, and will be awarded to a student for the first time in 2015.
Each year, artwork is juried and prizes are given out at the Art Exhibition and Sale that occurs in April. This year, along with the Dustin Piers Memorial Student Art Award and two general art scholarships of $250, the Charlie Donald Student Art Award will be handed out to a lucky local artist for the first time.
“Each year, during the Art Exhibit and Sale event in Lacombe in April, we encourage students from the Wolf Creek School Division to submit their art, along with some other submissions from children outside of the division. The artwork is juried and then they are awarded $250 art scholarships.
“Charlie Donald was a visual artist and quite a character. He was an avid painter, getting up at nearly 5:30 a.m. every morning and painting until noon or one in the afternoon. He painted thousands of paintings.”
Some of Donald’s watercolour paintings are also being sold at the Lacombe Farmers’ Market.