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On the Canvas: London gallery gets assist from Brian McFarlane for hockey-themed show

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You likely remember Brian McFarlane as the commentator for 28 years on Hockey Night in Canada.

You’ve probably read some of his words from the 100 books he’s authored about hockey history.

Saturday, Londoners have a chance to meet Brian McFarlane the artist.

The Hockey Hall of Fame inductee will be at Michael Gibson Gallery for the opening reception of The Hockey Show, an exhibit of hockey-related works by 20 artists that continues until Jan. 4.

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The Hockey Show includes paintings by Londoners Jason McLean, the late Greg Curnoe and other renowned artists, but also by McFarlane, who resumed his boyhood passion for art while spending his winters in Florida with his wife Joan.

“I have no idea,” said McFarlane when asked where this surprising talent originated.

“Well, actually, I do. When I was a kid growing up in Ottawa, I started taking an interest in art and started taking classes after school for 50 cents a class. I still have the first painting I ever made in that class: bread and fruit on a plate. But I gave it up for 50 years, although I’d dabble a little every decade or so.”

Now 88, McFarlane had to give up hockey four years ago due to a bad hip and back.

“I played three mornings a week in Florida,” said McFarlane. “I miss the hockey, but with my hip and facing back surgery, I had to give it up.”

McFarlane was a colour commentator on Toronto Maple Leaf Games through the 1960s, including the last Leafs Stanley Cup win in 1967, and 1970s until the early 1980s when he was banned from Maple Leaf Gardens by the team’s ornery owner, Harold Ballard, for commenting on how badly the team had treated its star, Darryl Sittler.

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Before becoming a broadcaster, McFarlane was a star player at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., where he still holds the record for scoring 101 goals over four years and is an inductee to the university’s hall of fame.

Other artists with works in the show include Bob Bozak, Paul Butler, Fred Chartrand, Scott Conarroe, Peter Doig, Mauro Fiorese, Simon Hughes, Larry Humber, Anthony Jenkins, Janet Morton, Graeme Patterson, Liz Pead, Roch Smith, Robyn Thomas, Diana Thorneycroft and the Turofsky Brothers.

“I have wanted to curate a hockey show for some time,” said gallery owner Gibson, who noted a larger puck-themed show was held at Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in 2008.

“It could be argued that hockey is the glue that holds Canada together. Hockey Night in Canada is such an institution coast to coast and has impacted multiple generations of families, small towns and cities. Londoners are either Red Wings or Toronto Maple Leafs fans, which makes us unique.”

Gibson said connecting art with hockey “is perhaps an art in itself.”

“I took to skiing more than hockey, so I never considered myself a hockey guy,” said Gibson. “Maybe this qualifies me to be objective and to have an open mind to what is hockey art. I have curated this exhibition by connecting to the world of artists who are interested in images of hockey. Most also play hockey.”

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Gibson said the Hockey Show “is very much the clash of kitsch to contemporary art.”  Included will be historic black-and-white photos of goalie Terry Sawchuk, landscapes made with hockey equipment, altered hockey cards, painted hockey memorabilia, amateur frozen pond hockey paintings and a hockey print by Peter Doig, McFarlane’s neighbour when he lived in Grafton, Ont.

It’s clear where McFarlane found his appreciation for writing. He is the son of Leslie McFarlane, author of the first 21 volumes of the famous Hardy Boys series. His father also wrote for film and television and wrote and directed documentaries, including one, Herring Hunt, nominated for an Academy Award for Live Action Short Film.

Brian McFarlane has sold more than 1.3 million books since his first, 50 Years of Hockey, was published in 1968. He’s now writing his memoirs.

There have been too many incredible moments in hockey for McFarlane to mention, but among them were playing against 12-year-old Wayne Gretzky as a member of the NHL Old Timers, the only non-pro on the team, and skating with Cyclone Taylor, one of the games first scoring stars and a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, four years before his death in 1979.

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McFarlane has also played with or against Bobby Hull, Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay and Rocket Richard.

Now, much to his surprise, he’s selling art.

“I’m selling my stuff,” said McFarlane, almost incredulously. “One day, I had a publisher and his wife over and she bought four of my landscapes before she left.”

McFarlane said about half his artwork is related to hockey, such as landscapes featuring hockey players on a pond.

“I feel relaxed when I paint,” said McFarlane. “I’m left-handed and I have a tremor in my left hand so I have to hold it with my right hand when I paint. It (his artistic talent) is coming along, but I know I’m running out of time. But, hey, that’s life.”

Jbelanger@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/JoeBatLFPress

IF YOU GO:

What: The Hockey Show, an exhibition of art featuring works by 20 artists

When: Opening reception Saturday, 2 p.m.; show continues until Jan. 4

Where: Michael Gibson Gallery, 157 Carling St.

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