As Shirley McIvor started having health issues, she shifted her conversations with her daughter to an idea of creating an art show together. The theme: A mother and daughter's memories of their life in Nipawin. That was three years ago. The plan was to hold the art show in June.
'My mom passed away in November 2024,' her daughter, Vicki Chapman-Mager, said. The Saskatoon-based artist decided to honour both the commitment she made to her mother, as well as her life, through what she calls a visual memoir of Nipawin.
'I didn't realize how significant this was for me, because when it started it was for her,' Chapman-Mager said. 'My mom lived in Nipawin all of her life, and I left right away, but we've always had a really good relationship.'
She said their discussions about the art show brought up great conversations about her mother's past, her friends, her community, and her values. The plan for the show is to do everything 'as much as mom would have wished.'
'She taught me about community and family, being charitable and paying it forward, and showing respect to your roots.'
The show, called Roots n' Wings, will be held at the Nipawin Public Library from June 1 to 29, but Chapman-Mager said she'll be set up by May 30. It will also include four feature artists.
She joked that her mother wasn't an artist, but noted 'I recall her having paper cut out dolls.' Chapman-Mager's first art piece was sold at the country fair in Nipawin back when she was 14. That evolved into doing custom tires, billboards for the curling club, and a mock-up of Verklund Motors.
'I think the more isolated (my mother) got with her health issues, the more she lived her life vicariously through me, and we went on lots of adventures.' She talked about packing the dogs, the kids and 'granny' into a car and driving out to visit relatives.
'I would take her to an Ethiopian restaurant where you're supposed to eat with your hands and she'd go home and talk to her friends for three months about this. It was a way of keeping her spark.'
Chapman-Mager's home in Saskatoon is covered wall-to-wall in her artwork as she preps for the upcoming show. Creating the paintings has helped her grieve. She says 'it just felt like my mom was the last root.'
Each piece has a story: one about driving a grain truck when she was still too young to see over the dash, another about her family farm at Cherry Ridge and the house parties that were held every weekend.
The art show will raise money for the Royal Purple Elks club, a volunteer organization that was very important to McIvor. When asked if this is what her mother envisioned, Chapman-Mager said 'oh, absolutely. She's so proud of me.'
