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A chronicle of the city

From our mushroom-shaped water tower to the city’s ever-present magpies, few images of Red Deer have escaped the keen eye of local artist Dennis Moffat.
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Red Deer Museum and Archives executive director Lorna Johnson straightens a print in the gallery as the museum gets ready to unveil its Dennis Moffat Retrospective exhibit. The show opens on Friday.

From our mushroom-shaped water tower to the city’s ever-present magpies, few images of Red Deer have escaped the keen eye of local artist Dennis Moffat.

Seventy-six-year-old Moffat has been creating silk-screen prints of the Red Deer area for about as long as he’s been running the city’s outdoor public market — 40 years.

“I sort of like to think of myself as the chronicler of Red Deer, because this city has been so good to me and I love this city so much,” said Moffat, who believes every image he creates is another reminder of one of Red Deer’s unique features.

His crisp, graphic images of the City Hall, train station, schools and other public landmarks have become ubiquitous retirement gifts in some circles, as well as omnipresent wall displays in municipal offices and local business.

But it’s easy, from the sheer accessibility of Moffat’s prolific artwork, to overlook the fact that his eye-catching prints have given this prairie city an iconic look, through the use of a few bold colours and simple shapes.

A career retrospective, opening on Friday at the Red Deer and District Museum, shows a cross-section of the many themes that have inspired Moffat to create about 800 different images over the years. While only a smattering of his voluminous output since 1972 is being exhibited, all of Moffat’s main topics of interest can be seen, from his Red Deer prints, to his Western and Northern images, his animals and birds, to athletes, flowers, and travel images.

The former teacher and city councillor gets emotional at the prospect of seeing four decades of his print-making on the gallery walls. “It’s a real honour and a thrill for the museum to give me this exposition. . . .

“When they told me they were going to do this three years ago, I said, ‘Am I even going to be here in three years?’ Yet here it is, and it’s so exciting. I haven’t been this excited since the birth of my first child,” said Moffat, who believes his work represents what is — as well as what was.

The first print he ever made is of back-lit tree branches outside his window. “I only missed three days of school in my whole teaching career, but that was drawn during one of my sick days,” he recalled.

Moffat noted those particular trees were felled when the lot next door to his house in Woodlea was subdivided.

Also gone is the grain elevator that once stood near the downtown train station and was incorporated into another of Moffat’s prints — as well as the downtown drug store he has depicted. Its landmark building has since become a jewelry store.

Moffat points out several prints directly linked to his personal memories of Red Deer’s past, including poppies that belonged to a neighbour who passed away.

Most of his images are timeless: Northern Inukshuks, Canada geese, a blue heron in flight and his signature magpies — birds he admires, despite local detractors. (To those who deride magpies for eating other birds’ eggs, Moffat said, “So what? I ask them, ‘What did you have for breakfast?’ ”)

He’s also made prints of cowboys, clowns and athletes. The latter are particularly tricky to depict because they must look dynamic, said Moffat. “I have to fight against making them took wooden.”

One of his Edmonton Oilers has Wayne Gretzky’s arms, Jari Kurri’s legs and Mark Messier’s size, said Moffat, who purposely didn’t put a number on the player to make the image more durable.

A print of a Red Deer Rebels player was one of his many commissions. The artist admitted non-commissioned art affords him more freedom, but commissions often make him rise up to the challenge.

For instance, Moffat incorporated images of the two Partners for Progress — the Joffre petrochemical plant and Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School — and still managed to get an interesting composition.

Moffat said the two hours a day he spends at his print-making studio in the Old Courthouse “is about as happy as I get.”

He enjoys going through the planning process and achieving the image he had in his mind’s eye. “You never know if it’s going to turn out the way you hope. When it does, it gives you an ecstatic feeling,” said Moffat, who considers his wife Barbara his toughest critic. “If she likes it, you know it’s good.”

He summarizes his artistic vision as: “Record what you see, see everything and appreciate what you see.”

Because his philosophy is that everyone should be able to afford original art, he’s been selling his prints for $50 each for many years.

The exhibit continues to July 4, with an official opening reception held from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday, May 7.

lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com