The resplendent paintings of Barbara Clark-Fleming
Canadian folk artist found in galleries, museums and private collections
Ontario-based folk artist Barbara Clark-Fleming.
Growing up on a farm near Hickson in southwestern Ontario, Barbara Clark-Fleming traces her love of the farm animals which dominate her paintings to that childhood environment.
“I was the youngest of three girls and kind of became my father’s son. I spent a lot of time outdoors and in the barn with Dad caring for the cows, horses, chickens, cats and dogs.” Horses were particularly beloved.
It’s no wonder that the 80 year-old-resident of Muir, a hamlet just outside Woodstock, incorporates many farm livestock into her work since they inspire her. An artist for more than 40 years, she estimates she’s produced over 1,000 paintings since her first effort in the late 1970s.
She’s comfortable with the label “folk artist”—like Nova Scotia’s Maud Lewis and American icon Grandma Moses. But she aligns her work more with Moses’ style than with Lewis. “The figures in Maud’s work are bigger and bolder than mine. Like Grandma Moses my scenes have a lot in them and I like to add little extras like squirrels and birds and butterflies.”
Clark-Fleming also retains a superior sense of size and perspective than Lewis. No seagulls as gigantic as small dogs hovering over fishing boats in this folk artist’s vision. And where Lewis employed only primary colours—red, green, yellow and blue, Clark-Fleming uses shading and shadow.
Her large 60 cm by 50 cm acrylic on board “Winter Fun” is typical of her artistic vision and painterly style. Moses-like, she presents humans and animals bound together in leisure time, taking sleigh rides and skating on the frozen pond. It’s a busy piece with 18 humans and a variety of farm and wild animals. As usual, sturdy farm horses are lovingly represented. “I love Clydesdales,” she offers.
“Winter Fun” by Barbara Clark-Fleming
Like Lewis, her paintings are resplendent in colour. “Winter Fun” comes alive with a cornucopia of the red, blue, rust, yellow, purple and turquoise of the barns and houses. “I guess the scene could be in Newfoundland too, where all the houses are so brightly-coloured,” she suggests.
With no formal art training, Clark-Fleming set out on the painting path in the late 1970s because she wanted to preserve an image of the home farm. “There were no pictures of the house and the barn and I didn’t want to forget it. So, I decided to paint it.”
On a whim, she decided to enter a painting of a farm scene with cows predominant in the Oxford County Juried Art Show. “And I got an Award of Merit,” she says. “So, I thought ‘I must be pretty good.’ It inspired me to keep painting.”
“J. Litchen Store” by Barbara Clark-Fleming. 1990.
Her next show was a juried one at the Paris, Ontario Fairgrounds. There too she picked up several other Awards of Merit. She also found an agent.
Joy Moos, an antiques and collectibles dealer in Montreal and later Florida had attended the show and was taken by Clark-Fleming’s work. She bought all 14 of her paintings. Moos apparently said she “liked the patchwork quality” and the way the artist “fit the round edges of the fields and barns together.”
Moos wanted to sell all Clark-Fleming’s work and give her a monthly salary. “She also didn’t want me to sell to anyone but her. I didn’t like that so we parted ways,” recalls the artist. But not before Moos had sold a number of her paintings to appreciative buyers.
At a later juried show, the artist attracted the attention of antiques dealer Phillip Ross of Port Dover. He too bought a number of her works and sold them from his store. One buyer was ‘mega folk art collector’ Susan Murray.
After her husband Stan became ill and needed home care, Clark-Fleming left her job as a counsellor at a Woodstock residence for intellectually disabled adults. With much more time to paint, both her output and her artistic skills grew. “I got better at perspective.”
There was no end of inspiration for subjects. Drives across southwestern Ontario, always taking back country roads, would invariably see her with a camera at the ready, stopping to capture inspiring scenes. Many would eventually find their way onto canvas.
The whimsical 2013 work “Cows on Hill” is inspired by a scene outside Millbank, Ontario. It features two cows having a feed, perched high on a haystack. “That’s the way they really were so I took a picture and turned it into a painting.”
“Cows on Hill” by Barbara Clark-Fleming.
“Guarding Chickens”, “Amish Village,” “Kids Having Fun” “West Montrose Kissing Bridge” and “Maple Sugar Time” are also inspired by real scenes.
Not that she’s bound by what the camera sees. “I just use the photographs for inspiration, then I add things I want.” A favourite is stone houses, but if moved she might also add some vibrant colour to the stone face.
Clark-Fleming’s paintings have found their way into a number of art galleries and museums across North America. They include the Beaverbrook Museum in Fredericton, the Art Gallery of Greater Vancouver, and the Folk Art Museum in Manhattan. Private collectors include NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, comedian Martin Short and politician Tony Clement.
Barbara Clark-Fleming holds a carving of a bull by artist Roger Raymond of Quebec. This piece is included as lot 515 in Miller & Miller’s October 24th sale of Canadiana & Historic Objects.
Clark-Fleming’s works have also proved popular at Ontario-wide antique and craft shows. At the 1995 Muskoka Antique Show, all 15 of her paintings sold on the first day.
Now approaching her 81st birthday, she estimates she paints two paintings a month. During our recent visit she was completing a study of a handsome stone house. No doubt birds and beasts would be added before she was finished.
Calling the hobby that became a passion “the ideal job,” Clark-Fleming is equally proud of the artistic skills in her family. It seems the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. Both her daughter and several grandchildren are artistic and share space on the walls alongside her own works.
By Nancy Silcox
Nancy Silcox, of New Hamburg, is a former teacher and university counsellor. Her journalistic favourites include history, biography and Canadian art. Folk art, especially the work of Nova Scotian Maud Lewis, is a passion.
Miller & Miller Auctions is thrilled to present three Barbara Clark-Fleming paintings in its upcoming sale of Canadiana & Historic Objects. Click to view:
Auction Title: Canadiana & Historic Objects
Auction Date: October 24, 2020.
Online Bidding: October 5-24, 2020.
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