A new art exhibit is on display at The Gardens on Tenth in Altona.
Several pieces by the late Alexander Robertson currently grace the walls of senior living facility’s gallery space.
Robertson’s wife, Tracy Robertson, is thrilled to continue to share her husband’s work. It’s a way, she says, of keeping his memory alive.
Photo by Ashleigh Viveiros/Voice
The artwork of the late Alexander Robertson (right) is on display in the gallery in The Gardens on Tenth in Altona this month
“He loved this kind of thing. He was always a people person. He loved talking to people about his art … I’m trying to look for ways to do continue to do that.”
Alexander, known as “Sandy” to his loved ones, died in 2020. He spent the final years of his life in Altona with Tracy.
He grew up in Saint John, New Brunswick, where he made a name for himself as an accomplished artist and gallery owner.
He produced hundreds of original paintings and thousands of prints in his life, and they continue to be sold worldwide.
Upon moving to Altona, he opened the Alexander Robertson Art Gallery. It was a frequent stop on the Pembina Valley Studio Tour, which Tracy shares was an event her husband loved to be a part of.
“It was so nice to have people coming to the house, to the studio,” she says. “He loved interacting with everyone.”
Alexander never limited himself to any one medium or style—his pieces run the gamut from realism to pointillism to impressionism, from folk art to abstract pieces.
“He was not afraid to paint on a large hardboard background or use bold colours, patterns, with an imaginative twist,” shares Tracy. “Always challenging himself on the next project.”
The paintings on display this month at The Gardens very much reflect the variety that exists in his portfolio.
“There’s such a range,” reflects Tracy. “He was starting to want to do bigger and bigger paintings, as big as he could get. And he always wanted to try different styles, too.
“He was an architectural draftsman, so he had this down,” she says, pointing to a nearby painting of a cityscape. “But he was also constantly being inspired by nature, anything to do with nature. We would be driving and he’d say, ‘I have to stop and get this picture.’
“So I wanted to get a little bit of everything into this show.”
When she thinks of her husband painting, she remembers the sounds of soothing music coming from his studio.
“He was always so focused, but he had to have music on in the background,” she says. “He was a musician, too, and so he would play guitar sometimes. He said it helped him to think of different things. That was his creative brain.”
And he almost always had three different paintings on the go at any one time, to give him the chance to let one breath while he worked on the others. Upon his death, three paintings remained unfinished.
His finished pieces are very much part of his legacy, and Tracy hopes people enjoy seeing them.
“I want them to know the person that I knew,” she says. “In a small way, through his art, I think you can kind of capture that, capture the essence of who he was.
“He was just completely driven by his art,” Tracy continues, adding that the business side of being an artist was never a focus for him. “The big thing for him was not so much selling the artwork—he wanted people to appreciate it. That was enough accolades for him.
