Harvey Bodach has had an eventful 2021.
The Thornbury artist, who was elected a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists in February, also had one of his art pieces win a second-place prize in the federation’s Animalis Exhibition, which ran from Nov. 1 to 14 in Granville Island, B.C.
“I was very pleased,” said Bodach in an interview with CollingwoodToday.ca.
Bodach’s piece is titled Custom Bank Barn Timbers with a Nesting Barn Owl, and is done with acrylics on masonite board.
Bodach taught visual art and multimedia at the secondary level in Peel Region until his retirement in 2019. However, when he came home at the end of a day of teaching, he said he would spend time putting paintbrush to canvas, painting mostly wildlife and landscapes.
“At age 10 I drew my first drawing, which was a Batmobile,” said Bodach. “That sticks in my mind. I haven’t given it up since then.”
Since his retirement from teaching, he shifted into making art full-time while moving to Thornbury.
“I’ve experimented with various styles like realism, high realism or surrealism. I primarily settled into landscape and wildlife. That is my steadfast focus right now,” he said.
Bodach estimates he works on eight-to-10 art pieces at one time. He says he took reference photos for the barn-owl piece about eight to 10 years ago in his in-laws’ barn, although his reference photos were just of the barn and didn’t have an owl in them.
“The picture in the painting... it was a matter of putting together my knowledge of farm animals and the relationship they can have with the farmer,” he said. “As barns are being torn down in Ontario, barn owls are endangered at the present time as a result of that.”
In late October, Harvey Bodach submitted his first painting to the Federation of Canadian Artists “Animalis” Exhibition. Of the 196 artists with submissions, his barn-owl painting was one of 76 accepted.
The Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) is a registered charity founded in 1941 by professional Canadian working artists including Group of Seven members Lawren Harris, Arthur Lismer, and A.Y. Jackson.
“To be chosen by the Federation of Canadian Artists which has a rich history of hosting artists like the Group of Seven is a great honour for me,” said Bodach.
More of Bodach’s work can be found on his website here.
