The act of creation always inspired Margaret Dallaire
By Kristian Partington
There are gifted people for whom talent is an innate treasure brought to the surface at a young age and naturally honed over a lifetime – singers whose first words flowed in melody or athletes who could skate before they could run.
Margaret Dallaire was joined by her six daughters for the unveiling of
her work as the feature artist at Winston Park's Arts and Culture Gallery.
Margaret Dallaire was six when she first saw her aunt Marie-Louise draw the figure of a lady upon a chalkboard. It was like magic before her eyes and young Margaret was amazed. “I had never seen anyone draw before,” she remembers, and from that moment on, Margaret was an artist capturing the world around her through sketches and eventually upon canvas in watercolours and oil paints.
For Margaret, art was never more than a simple passion shared with loved ones. Her skill was, at times, commissioned, but generally the final pieces she created would ultimately become gifts. Though her talent was unmistakable, with seven children to raise the option of taking the skill beyond anything but a hobby never materialized.
Her landscapes and portraits now adorn the walls of her children, who still delight at the memory of sitting with their mother, learning to read as she drew pictures to coincide with the words they struggled to sound out.
“Her doodles were better than most people’s best attempts at drawing,” recalls her eldest daughter, Jeannine.
Art eventually took a backseat to the reality of life as her family grew, but it always remained a part of Margaret’s identity. “I didn’t totally abandon it,” she says today from her home at the Village of Winston Park, where she’s lived for the past four years. When her children found their independence, Margaret rediscovered her passion, eventually taking her husband along with her in his retirement to art classes where he could explore his vision of the world around him.
“The fact that I could create something,” is what Margaret says has always fascinated her throughout the years when she considers her love of art. She’s proud to now share some of her work with visitors and residents at Winston Park as the feature artist in the village’s gallery, and her family was honoured to share some of their favourite pieces. They grew up surrounded by these images of inspiration, and now others at Winston Park are offered the same gift.
During a Gala celebration at the end of January, Winston Park unveiled Margaret’s works as the village gallery’s feature artist.
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