A Gimli man is making waves in the Manitoba art scene.
Don Fletcher owns Bond Invention House on Gimli’s Centre Street. He moved to town during the pandemic when looking for a quieter, more scenic place to put down roots.
For more than 45 years, Fletcher’s been dabbling in almost every art medium imaginable. He started as a young boy building models, then moved into building furniture, then art deco furniture, and on and on all while running a construction company.
Fletcher said his construction company took on a lot of odd jobs other companies didn’t want. They were doing lots of restaurants and salons, which gave him the creative space he craved in the professional world.
“I get bored really quick,” he said. “So, I was onto the next medium.”
The next mediums for Fletcher were woodworking, traditional art, metal forging, rod ironwork, and pottery. He’s never done paintings and likely never will — they just aren’t this thing.
“Then, I just lost my edge on my art for years,” he said.
Until he met a woman at Crock A Doodle, a paint your own pottery studio, and he got back into the world of art, and hasn’t left since.
Today, Fletcher works mostly with glass fusing, a process of joining compatible sheets of glass together in a kiln. Glass fusing allows the artist to create almost anything — hanging art, standing art, and functional art.
Fletcher has pieces of each. He’s created beautiful bowls that look glass blown. He’s built figurines of funky cows, toucans, and owls. He’s created mask upon mask of every colour imaginable and is now working on retro TVs. And his pieces have sold across the globe, sitting in homes overseas for guests to see.
“Everything is always different,” he said. “I’m always thinking outside the box.”
And that thinking’s got him noticed. From Dec. 1, 2023 to March 1, 2024, his exhibit “Bright n Shiny Objects” will be on display at the Centennial Concert Hall in Winnipeg. His exhibit will cover 90 linear feet of wall, and will include pieces of all kinds of his, each of them for sale.
“It took me by surprise,” he said. “I’m still in shock. When I look at the poster, I’m like ‘holy, I’ve kind of made it.’ If you’ve got your dream, you’ve got to go after it.”
While he prepares for the exhibit, Fletcher is also writing an autobiographical book, which he’s hoping to have finished this coming spring. It’ll include tales of his live, including the time he swam with beluga whales with Forest Whitaker, was Tarzan for the Pan Am Games, and the addictions he’s overcome. Fletcher said there are already three movie producers who want the rights to his story, so soon after the book’s release, a movie about his life could be on the horizon.
Until then, though, Fletcher’s focusing on his exhibit. He’s hoping he’ll be able to display his work in the Winnipeg Art Gallery, in Toronto, and maybe even New York City in the years to come.
It might have taken Fletcher 40 years to achieve his dreams, but he’s reached them nonetheless.
“You can make your life happen no matter where you grow up,” he said.
For those wanting to see Fletcher’s work now, his gallery is called Bond Invention House Inc. and is located at #4 – 40 Centre Street in Gimli.
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