DONKIN, N.S. — Finding the right words to express the many feelings brought to the surface by the unprecedented acts of violence that occurred last month in Portapique was difficult for Donkin native Beth Martin.
Instead of struggling to find those words, the artist, who is now living in Edmonton, picked up a paintbrush and expressed her feelings for her home province through a painting she hopes can provide some comfort to the many people impacted by the mass shooting that left 22 dead.
“I was devastated and heartbroken hearing about the tragedy but I wanted to paint something that reflected hope and comfort and peace and the unity of a province coming together,” she said during a phone interview from Alberta.
“It’s not just Nova Scotia, Canada-wide people were coming together and I kind of wanted to reflect that in the work.”
Martin has been an artist since she can first remember holding a pencil in her hand. As a child, her parents enrolled her in private art lessons and she began studying under Cape Breton artist Marie Moore when she was 12.
After high school, she obtained a bachelor of fine arts degree from Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B., and then a master of arts from Oxford in Cambridge, England.
A career in the military the past three years has taken her away from her home province to Alberta but her thoughts are never far from home and the life she had in her seaside community of Donkin.
That’s why the recent tragedies in Portapique have touched her heart and sparked her imagination in a manner in which she hopes can help those impacted.
Her creation called "Nova Scotia Strong" was first unveiled to an online audience in a Colchester support group. Through a time-lapse video, Martin showed the print’s creation from a blank piece of paper through to an end product that pays tribute to the people who died, the RCMP and many of the colours and themes of Nova Scotia.
The video was liked and shared by thousands and hundreds of people immediately began to request a copy.
“I decided to share that because it was very much about the process of creating the work and dealing with how I was feeling about back home.”
She has made 1,000 signed print copies. The first 22 will be given to the families of the victims, and all profits from the sale of the remaining 978 will be donated to the families.
Many of the prints have already been sent across the country and as much as $30,000 can be raised if all of the prints are purchased.
Her cousin, an RCMP officer, told her about a trust fund officers are creating for the children of those who died in Portapique. She plans to donate painting sale profits to that fund.
Go online to http://www.bethmartin.ca or Facebook — http://www.facebook.com/bethmartinartwork — for more information.
