In 1972, I got a phone call from a woman named Jean Johnson, I had no idea who she was, she requested a studio visit.  I didn’t know what that meant either.  Then she explained that she and Dale Dunning, a sculptor, would like to look at the kind of work I was making.  At the time I lived in a small room in a house in Chinatown that was my entire living and working quarter.  I also had a full time job so they had to come in the evening.  The story goes like this: Dale was scheduled to have a solo exhibition at Merton Gallery, where Jean was the director, but he did not have enough work to fill the gallery.  Meanwhile Jean has seen a work of mine at the exhibition titled “Make” at the Ontario Science Centre, which was a juried show, organized by the Ontario Guild of Crafts, now Craft Ontario.  At the end of the visit, I was offered to have a two-person show with Dale Dunning at the Merton Gallery.  That is how I began with my career as an artist.

Looking back, it was amazing that Jean could pick me out from hundreds of artists around her at the time.  Jean’s incredible innovation in selecting artists, before and after me, for Merton Gallery, and later at the Harbourfront Centre was unbelievably fresh and exciting.

Luckily for me Jean and I became very good friends since that first meeting.  She loved new ideas and risky ventures.  To me she was not only supportive, encouraging, advising me in my development and giving me survival skills as an artist.  We found time to do things together often.  There were a few summers when I was invited to a school house she rented in the country, we took long walks, cooked up a storm, did sketches, drawings and watercolours.  Her technique in drawing and watercolour was far better than mine, yet she often praised my doodlings. Over the years we had many dinners and parties together and help each other on gardening matters.

Every time I met Jean she always asked, “What’s new with you?”  Coming from Jean, it was a question that you could never take lightly. However, whatever answer I gave, she always expressed excitement and gave encouragement.  That kind of support has pushed me to areas I have never expected.  The last time I saw Jean in the hospital, guess what she said to me, “What’s new with you?”   Thank you Jean.

 – shared by Kai on the occasion of “A Tribute to Jean ”
 July 22nd, 2014 – Lakeside Terrace, Bill Boyle Artport, Harbourfront Centre