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C8 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, February 23, 2000 Arts & Entertainment Oakville Beaver Entertainment Editor: Card Baldwin 845-3824 (Extension 254) Fax: 337-5567 Local man spent years as an impoverished artist, sketching and painting European scenes By Kathy Yanchus SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER oren C habot has turned his life's direc tion 180° on a couple o f occasions once to denounce his life as an artist, the other to return to his easel after abandoning the w orld o f science. F o r o ver a decade, the 45-year-old has lived the life o f an im poverished artist, criss-crossing E urope and the states o f the union sketching and painting the streets and landm arks o f som e o f the w orld's m ost fam ous and historically-rich cities. H e has slept in hostels and on trains, liv ing frugally on a few thousand dollars a year, his p ouch o f supplies his only baggage. A long the way, there have been adventures, like the knife fight in Spain. B ut did he consider aborting the adventurous, independent life o f a nom adic artist in favour o f roots and a steady pay ch eque? N ot a chance. "I'm 45 years old. I hav en 't got a single penny in an RSP, no savings stashed aw ay," says C habot, a recent arrival in O akville. "I 'm not planning to get a house. A t one tim e I w ant ed a castle w ith a m oat around it...I w ouldn't really recom m end m y life to anybody." It's hard to im agine C habot ever donning w hite lab coat and living the sterile life o f a genetic engineer. B ut that's exactly w hat he did after destroying his art work. "I th o u g ht it w ould be really irrational and im practical to be an artist, so in m elodram atic fashion, I burned m y art," he explains. G raduate studies follow ed in history, bio chem istry, E nglish and m icro-biology. "G enetic engineering seem ed to be the m ost interesting field o f science at that tim e. G ene splicing w as som e o f the research I w as w ork ing on," he says. "I left because it scared me. Even 20 years ago, they w ere talking about cloning people. I w as horrified at the im m orali ty o f scientists, and I w ent back to art. T he deci sion w as d one very quickly. I had to m ake a liv ing som ehow , so I opened an art gallery." A rt and history have alw ays been C habot's passions. A s a youngster, C h ab o t's uncle show ered him w ith history books, filled w ith luscious illustrations, feeding his thirst for know ledge. "T hese are my first m em ories o f books. I rem em ber thinking, `I w ish I could draw like th at.' H istory has alw ays been a passion for m e," he says. "H istory and art go hand in hand." C habot operated T he C habot A rt G allery in E dm onton for five years until the interruption in his traveling becam e too m uch to bear, and he succum bed to his nom adic yearnings, selling his sketches and paintings upon his return to C ana da. "I ju s t d id n 't w orry about money. I w as m ak ing $ 4 ,0 0 0 a year. Y ou'd be surprised at the cheap air fares you can get. I'd stay in Y M C A s. I once g o t a flight across the A tlantic fo r $80 but it w as in a tw o propeller aircraft and w e had to stop at B affin Island and G reenland. If y o u 're not overly fond o f steak, you can survive very frugally." A E urailpass to o k him from country to coun try and w as "extrem ely econom ical." "I could sleep on the trains. It's an adventur ous, in dependent sort o f life. If you spend all L your life w orrying about money, you've m issed a lot," he says. To this day, his fam ily encourages him to get a `rea l' jo b , but, autom atically opposed to logi cal thought, C habot ignores them. "I know dozens o f grads, BFA grads, w ho are w orking in art supply stores. If I thought logi cally, I w ould fail," he quips. T hose w ho genuinely m ake their living from their art are few; the num bers are num bing, adm its Chabot. O f the 10,000 w ho claim ed to be full-tim e artists in A lberta alone, six were actually m ak ing a living at it, according to R evenue Canada, says Chabot. "I w as one o f those six." T he frustration o f not getting ahead did give C habot thoughts about quitting again until one fateful w eekend 12 years ago when he show ed up in Toronto for the O utdoor A rt Exhibit. "I thought I ow ed it to m yself to try one m ore tim e. I m ade m ore there in one w eekend than I had for a year-and-a-half in Edm onton. People have this idea that if y o u 're one o f the best in Toronto, you m ust be one o f the best in Canada. T hat w eekend turned everything around for me, not ju st in term s o f self confidence, but galleries opened up there. I also got into prints then." F ive years ago, life again changed direction for C habot w hen he m arried a m arketer who w as searching for an artist not only to prom ote but one to paint a portrait o f Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti, w ho was on a cross-C anada tour. A s his w ork becam e increasingly in dem and throughout this country and the U .S., Chabot and his wife Carol, w ho continues to m arket her husband's w ork through her sm all com pany E uropa Fine A rts Inc., left their w estern hom e to be closer to T oronto and the hub o f the C anadi an art w orld. "I also m issed the history. It's around every co m er here, even in the nam ing o f the streets," says Chabot. O ils and w atercolors are his m edia, and aside from num erous trade show s and m yriad gallery interests, C habot continually adds to his inven tory o f E uropean, O akville and Toronto scenes, paints portraits, accepts com m issions and w ould love to open an art school. C orporations and charities are am ong his favorite clients - both the city o f Edm onton and Calgary still purchase his w ork as corporate · gifts. H is studio is filled with w onderful, m as Photo by Christine Smyth terful E uropean depictions, a canal scene from O akville artist Loren C habot is surrounded by som e o f h is paintin gs, w hich in clu d e portraits Bruges, the cobblestone streets o f Brussels and as w ell as scenes o f Europe, O ak ville and Toronto. C h ab ot's future p lans in clu d e illustrating a R othenburg, French, Spanish and Irish castles 2001 calendar w ith the proceeds going to su pp ort the H alton D .A .R .E . (D ru g A b u se R esistance and the Parthenon in A thens. His portraits, E ducation) program . including one o f C h ief D an G eorge, are stun ning. attend trade show s. even appreciate the C anada g eese." Settling into O akville, w ith a young fam ily W hile C arol prom otes, d irectin g her prolific `T h e art w orld in the U. S. is m uch more in tow - the C habots have tw o sons, one 11 organized than C anadians know. T here are husband into "the corporate, m ore stable mar years old and the other 11 m onths - w as not k et," C habot paints. 30,000 art galleries in the U. S. and a circuit o f easy, but already the couple has latched onto "W e're going in different directions. W e're art shows. It was one o f the m ost im portant dis tw o projects involving local universities, and going to pursue som e other avenues. Loren coveries o f m y life," he explained. they hope to target a couple o f charities w ith d o esn 't like to be told w hat to do...L oren is the M ore E uropean travel is also in the near w hich to work. m ost interesting person I've m et," she says w ith future, but for now the C habots are enjoying A nd C habot is planning on illustrating a a laugh, adding that "I'm a C apricorn and I their new hom e, blocks aw ay from Lake 2001 calendar to benefit the Halton D.A.R.E. Ontario. need that financial stability." (D rug A buse R esistance E ducation) program . To view C h ab o t's w ork or for further infor "We love it here," com m ents C arol, who says N ow is a quiet tim e, but com e spring, C habot even the harshest O ntario w inter co uldn't co m m ation, co n tact C arol or L oren C habot at 815will travel to A tlanta, Louisville and D allas to pare with E dm onton's frigid tem peratures. "We 0362. It's About A Love of Food, Theatre, Earth and <Sky... .. .enjoy the music of Amy j Sky with our ' Paradiso/Oakville Centre Dinner/Show Special Best Selection of HUGE YARN 30% - 60% off a great selection of stock PLUS incredible clearance yarns from our suppliers around the world U ntil March 5 G IB B A R D F U R N I T U R E A m y Sky Tuesday, March 7 at 8:00 p.m. Solid Cherry & Solid Mahogany MENU H ouse S a la d O B B u tte rn u t S q u a sh Soup FOLLOWED BY CHOICE O F ... 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