The spring exhibit at the gallery at Altona’s Gardens on Tenth features an artist who is well-remembered and loved in the area. Many homes and offices still have Dorothy Siemens’ work gracing their walls.
Siemens grew up on her parents’ farm just north of Horndean. Her love of art began at a young age. Her daughter Lisa recalls a story about when Dorothy was little, and she bought her mother a box of crayons for her birthday.
“Needless to say, her mother let her use them. She wanted to have crayons at home, not just at school.”
This love of colour and creating would last her whole life.
“My mom also sewed clothes, and embroidered pillowcases made from flour sacks. She had a doll made from flour sacks. They repurposed everything back in those days. That’s where so much creativity was born.”
In 1955, Dorothy married Ray Siemens of Altona. For the next 30 years, she lived on the Siemens farm, raising five children.
“She was so busy, but still managed to find time for art,” shares Lisa. “Colouring books were a big thing, and she was great at colouring. She helped me make my own Valentines Day cards, and I was so impressed. She had an eye for fabrics. And colours. My mother saw the beauty in everything.”
Her husband travelled a lot with his role as president of what was then called Co-op Vegetable Oils.
“When the kids got older, I encouraged her to paint,” Ray recalls. “She should have her own interests. I had a busy life, and I wanted her to have something, too.”
Lisa adds, “She needed something, outside of being a mother and farmer’s wife. My mom was very smart. She went to business college in Winnipeg when she was 17. There was always music playing. She was a woman of many interests. She could write, as well, and was an amazing listener and observer. She encouraged us to follow our dreams, and then, she began to follow her own.”
With her family’s encouragement, Dorothy took art lessons. She studied pottery with Alvin Pauls in Winnipeg, and painting with several local instructors. She became highly involved in the Altona Arts Council, mentoring other artists, and organizing art shows.
“At one point, she started taking art lessons at a retreat once a month in Gimli,” says Lisa. “She had art books she’d bring back with things she had done there. There would be artists from all over. Friends remember dropping by and seeing my mom sitting happily in front of her easel.”
Whether painting, crocheting, rug making or knitting, Dorothy was always busy, always making the world more beautiful.
In 1988, Dorothy and Ray moved to Peachland, BC. After this move, Dorothy continued to paint, and also spent many years crocheting and knitting afghans and sweaters sewing clothing for her grandchildren. Piecing together quilts, decorating, and redecorating her house.
She also did some beautiful landscaping on their property.
After she passed away in BC in 2015, Ray moved to the Gardens on Tenth. Seeing a photo exhibit there made him want to display Dorothy’s work as well.
“I had some of her pieces in my apartment, and I thought they should be seen and enjoyed by others,” he says.
This quickly turned into an exhibit, with a number of people from the area contributing pieces they have owned and enjoyed for years to the show. “There have been so many positive comments.”
This display of Dorothy’s work consists of prairie and mountain landscapes as well as one hand stitched quilt.
One painting is Ray’s favourite. It features a row of Hutterite women sitting on a curb, waiting for a parade to begin.
“She saw the charm and beauty in that moment, so she sketched and painted them. It told a story,” he recalls. It was, he adds, just like Dorothy.
Looking at the various works, in oil and acrylic, from dilapidated old farm buildings and grain elevators, to rippling streams, and lonely creeks, Lisa says, “It’s so great to see all of them together like this. It’s timeless, just like our memories.”
