Each of us has had people come into our lives that effect us in profound ways. Way back, in the fall of 1982 I participated in an art show in Vancouver. The show wasn’t very successful, based on how much art I sold, but it was still remarkable. A gentleman, named Karl Schutz, came by my display and liked my work. But instead of purchasing one of my drawings or prints, he instead asked me if I was able to paint a historical mural. I told him YES! - although I had never done such a thing. The next summer I travelled to Chemainus, on Vancouver Island to paint the mural. The money I was offered for the commission wasn’t spectacular but this was during the recession of the early eighties. Since all expenses were covered for my family and me I convinced Janis we would count it as a working holiday. Before that week was out Karl convinced me to paint a second mural (for even less money than the first).
I fell in love with the little community of Chemainus, and the people there. Over the next months I kept in touch with Karl, and designed a new town square. He then asked if I could take on the project of building it. After much discussion Janis & I decided to move our young family to the town to build ‘Heritage Square’ and an art gallery of our own. My salary for the square was just enough to keep the wolf from the door and in the evenings and weekends we worked hard to renovate a run-down commercial building that would house the new Showcase Gallery. My reasoning was that since people were visiting the little island town to see the murals they would also frequent our gallery and perhaps buy some of my art. It worked.
Chemainus, and we as a family, prospered over the next years. Hundreds of thousands of people visited Chemainus each year. I ended up painting seven historical murals in that little town and over the next decade, those Chemainus murals inspired more than a hundred and twenty historical mural commissions for me, all across Canada and the USA.
Karl wasn’t content with just murals. when we lived in the Chemainus I was enlisted to help with countless other projects which he initiated as well. With Karl’s encouragement and support I created more than a hundred dimensional signs for the local businesses and public facilities and designed/built more than fourteen major commercial buildings and projects. We always were working on some kind of voluntary community project in those years.
Through that time Karl encouraged and mentored me. On occasion he provided necessary political cover when I didn’t follow the ‘rules’. He taught me that official forgiveness is sometimes much easier (and quicker) than official permission. Using his considerable influence Karl always promoted my projects in a big way. Although we did not always agree I learned a tremendous amount from this man. Our daily contact diminished in the late nineties as I often worked on out of town projects, and became infrequent when we left Chemainus in 2000. In the summer of 2007 I returned to Chemainus to paint a tribute mural, to honour my friend Karl Schutz. Since then we have only spoken occasionally although I know he closely followed our family’s exploits through this journal on a daily basis.
I learned today of Karl’s passing at the age of 92. I’m told that right to the end Karl continued to dream up new projects and creative ways to promote the town he loved so much.
The sad news of Karl sparked countless memories of our wonderful adventures and so many fun projects. Karl made a massively positive impact on the little town of Chemainus. His influence spread to many, many other communities around the world through public art. Karl made a huge difference in my life as well. The world is a little more colourful because he made it so. Rest In peace my friend!
