In St. Walburg, a lifetime of hidden art finds a home in a century-old church

Susan Velder’s art is scattered across Canada.

She sculpted Queen Elizabeth II on her beloved horse, Burmese, a bronze that stands outside the Saskatchewan Legislature in Regina. Inside, her bust of Tommy Douglas is on display. In Whitehorse, Yukon, a seven-and-a-half-foot firefighter stands in front of the City Hall.

Back to her hometown of St. Walburg, travellers are greeted by her statue of painter Count Berthold Von Imhoff on horseback.

Yet despite her work in such prominent places, Velder’s name is not widely known. For decades, the 85-year-old’s modest house was crammed with clay portrait heads in the garage, boxes of watercolours, and sketches stacked high in corners.

“You know, what I’ve been saying is that it’s an answer to prayer,” Velder said, referring to the new gallery.

“Because my house here, this little house, which is my parents’ house. It was full of junk art stuff. And so when those girls said that they were opening this art gallery … I just said to people, ‘It’s an answer to prayers,’ because now I’ll get rid of all that stuff in my house and get it down there.”

A new gallery in an old church

That gallery now sits inside St. Walburg’s 104-year-old United Church, which held its first service in 1921 and closed its doors after one last service this April.

“Those girls” Velder referred to are local residents Bonnie Davis-Schmitz and Deb Kerr-Goodfellow, who purchased the church and began turning it into an art space.

“We started about a year ago. Susan Velder was looking for a place to archive her artwork,” Davis-Schmitz said. “Eventually it became like, well, why wouldn’t we show the work rather than just archive it?” Davis-Schmitz said.

“The church had their last service April 24 of this year, and we took possession of it in May, and did lots of cleaning and working and organizing and opened our gallery for a sneak peek for sponsors gathering and a sneak peek in July and open the doors to the public July 31.”

At first, they thought Velder’s art would be on permanent loan. Instead, she decided to give her life’s work to the gallery.

Inside, sunlight filters through glass onto bronzes, clay sculptures, watercolours and acrylics. Only a handful are on display, with hundreds more still in storage.

“She hasn’t done a show since she moved back to St. Walburg in ’86 … she had cases of art that were just stacked and stored,” she said.

From Calgary to St. Walburg

Velder first left home in 1970 to study at the Alberta College of Art in Calgary.

“I went to Calgary in 1970 and I started going to art school in 1973 and I went to art school from ’73 to ’77,” she said. “Those were very good years, because I learned a lot about art.”

Her original plan was to balance teaching with painting on the side, but she quickly discovered that wasn’t possible.

“I found out when I became a teacher that … I sure didn’t have any spare time. So I wasn’t doing any art, and that’s when I decided, well, if I want to do art, I’ll have to quit teaching and study art seriously.”

She spent several years teaching at the University of Calgary and the Alberta Vocational Center — now known as Bow Valley College — before returning home in 1986 to be closer to her parents.That decision shaped the rest of her career.

“For a while, I thought I was doing work that was quite abstract and I really liked that … I started studying ancient symbols,” Velder said.

“But when I moved back to St. Walburg, I realized I had to do commercial art, and people wanted realistic stuff. … What you want to do is, what will make your clients happy … and that’s what I found myself doing.”

She opened her own shop in town after she returned and kept it running until 2014.

A poor marketer

Despite her major commissions, Velder admits she never found success marketing her art.

“Many art people are very good at showing their work and selling it, and I’ve never been good at that. It’s these commissions … that has helped me keep afloat.”

Instead, she supplemented her career by teaching small community classes in sculpture, drawing and painting.

She also raised a family.

“I had one daughter, and she had five children, and those five children have given me 18 great grandchildren … they’re precious. That’s the most precious part of my life, I think, much more so than the art,” Velder said.

A community effort

For Kerr-Goodfellow, co-founding the gallery is about ensuring Velder’s work finally gets the recognition it deserves.

“I feel very privileged, like Susan is just such a wonderful person, and I’m actually surprised that her work has been so unsung,” she said. “She’s done so many really fabulous statement pieces … she’s just a real beacon for St. Walburg.”

The gallery has had “huge support from the community,” with people volunteering and local organizations donating money to help get the building open. They are also planning ahead, with a Pumpkin Fest scheduled for the fall and a Christmas event to follow.

The space is also used by the food bank, and the gallery is offering classes and renting out the hall as revenue streams to support itself as a non-profit organization.

“We’re not about making millions, we’re about showing art,” Kerr-Goodfellow said.

For Velder, the transformation of the church has given her a peace of mind.

“I’m 85 years old, and I’m really pleased that my art is taken care of.”

“Whether it gets burnt or whatever happens to it doesn’t matter to me. I mean, I hope it doesn’t,” she joked. “But it’s not my worry anymore, and that I like.”

What was once a small-town church is now a gallery, giving new life to a lifetime of art that had sat unseen in her home.

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com