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Sign up now for guitar, bass, drums, and piano OAKVILLES MUSIC STORE w w w . o a kv ill eb ea ve r.c o m O A KV IL LE B EA V ER W e dn es da y, Se pt em be r 1 , 2 01 0 2 8 By Carlie Oreskovich SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER John van der Hart is a bit of a rebel. After a long period of time of not touching his paints, he recently went back to work, busi- ly making self portraits, rather than the landscapes he traditionally painted. However, a look at his portraits displayed on his front yard along Eighth Line south of Dundas Street there are a number of paint- ings of John van der Hart, not just of his face, but also his body, his butt and his entire bare body from head to toe and everything in between. John van der Hart is definitely a rebel, a 78-year-old rebel. And the fact that his sur- name means 'of the heart' may not be far off the mark in describing a person who is both passionate and obsessive, if not a little bit of an exhibitionist. His neighbours don't seem to mind at all, seeming to have adopted him as the neighbourhood character, adding colour to a rather staid suburban landscape. Since he has displayed his nudes, there has only been one 'almost official' complaint received by a Town official. The complaint concerned the possibility of children view- ing the 78-year-olds artwork. After being informed of the complaint, van der Hart originally indicated he would move the art 10 feet back from the roadway. But he later decided not to move his work and, instead, added the word VERBOTEN to raise the spectre of Second World War Nazi censorship. His neighbours, however, seem to be more tolerant and accepting. Gavin Wills has been living across from van der Hart's property for five years. He says he has no problem with the current lawn exhibition. Well its art. It's self expression, he said, noting that some may find van der Hart's work inspirational. Wills has a seven-year-old boy whom he expects has seen the paintings from the house, but he sees no way or reason to pre- vent that. They are not pornographic. It's art. It's self expression. If the kid has any questions I'll answer them. Van der Hart said his work has already generated a lot of interest in the neighbour- hood. Many people stop as they are driving by. Some take photographs. Others roll down their car window and ask him ques- tions. Many who are walking by will stop and talk. He is never at a loss for words and is willing to talk. Van der Hart was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands and became a military pilot in 1952. He saw no war action and after three years started his own aviation compa- ny towing banners and crop dusting. Crashes were common, with banners some times dragging the plane down or hooking on a fence or pole. It sure brings you down quickly, van der Hart said. His worst crash occurred when he put a Tiger Moth plane into a spin, putting him in the hospital for three months. That was the time I thought I was going to die for sure, he said. He came out of it with head injuries and a broken back. That didn't stop him, though, and he continued to fly until the business went to his wife in a divorce settlement. Leaving his former wife and two children he went to the Middle East where he started a new family, with a common law wife and a poultry farm, providing chickens to a hotel, which also prepared meals for airlines. His daughter was born there and after three years he decided to come to Canada. I found it so gorgeous here. Compared to Saudi Arabia, it was so green and lush. It was while he travelled through Ontario that he first started to paint, attempting to capture the impressive scenes that moved him. After living on Munn's Avenue his family settled into a cottage on the Eighth Line. At that time the Eighth Line was a two-lane rural road north of the Upper Middle. There was only a handful of houses along the road and the van der Hart house, a cottage built in the 30s, was deep within the lot, next to a farmhouse and barn and surrounded by fields. It was here that van der Hart estab- lished his passion for selling landscape art as a business, labeling his operation as Art in the Country and placing his signs on all the nearby roads. He says the location was ideal. He could walk to get to landscape sites and as a sailor he wasn't far from the lake. He built a two- storey gallery to show his work at the front of the house and invited many to his open houses. He decided, after enjoying the view from his roof, that he wanted to build an ele- vated studio so he could paint in private and look over the entire area. He went to Dofasco and spoke with the president, offering to trade a painting for a 40-foot long, eight-foot diameter pipe he saw. The president accepted his offer and Dofasco workers delivered the pipe. Van der Hart cut out a doorway and welded in 40 steps (after learning how to weld) and built an 18-foot square studio with a 7-foot high ceiling on top of the pipe. Attaching an engine underneath, he could rotate the room so that he could have different views or follow the sun. It was a great place. I had phenomenal views over the lake. I could get a sense of the distance and could see the sun from sunrise to sunset. He would be up in his tower every day, in his own world, surrounded by lights that pulsated with the rhythm of the music. People were not invited up there, partly because he did not want to have the compa- ny and he was told that it was not safe. Unfortunately, an overnight fire burned the studio, and when he wanted to rebuild it, he was told he would have to provide the town with detailed architectural drawings, a cost he was not willing to bear. So the tower stands as a stark landmark silo among acres of standard, cookie-cutter- like houses that began sprouting after 2000. As expected, developers knocked on his door several times. They even sent a special real estate guy. But I didn't want to see him. Didn't ask a price. Why should I? I can never replace this, he said. He no longer has to attract art buyers with signs, customers are all around me. Artscene Long-time artist tries something new, self nudes VERBOTEN: Painter John van der Hart has a display of his nude self portrait paintings in his front yard. A woman commented that the painting (pictured) was a bad influence on children. He has since covered the nudity with a sign saying Verboten, which means forbidden. ERIC RIEHL / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER I dont know where it is going to take me. I dont know. I just do it. John van der Hart, Artist See Nude page 29