The Maritime Museum of British Columbia is delighted to announce that woodblock artist, author, and educator Graham Scholes has made a major donation to the museum’s art collection: a full set of his celebrated 41 lighthouse prints of lighthouses along the West coast of British Columbia.
“A complete body of Scholes’ woodblock prints is held in the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria’s collection, positioned in Canadian art history with the greats of West Coast art,“ said Heather Feeney, Collections and Exhibit Manager, “The Maritime Museum of BC is honoured to now be among the Victoria institutions with Scholes’ works held for the enjoyment and study of future generations.”
The series of 41 prints highlight lighthouses on the British Columbia coastline, and a selection of these prints was on display at the Maritime Museum of BC in 2022 for the Let There Be Light with Woodblock Prints exhibit. Scholes’ donation will join the approximately 500 artworks currently held in the Museum collection, including prints by Harry Heine and John Horton.
About Graham Scholes
Graham Scholes was born in 1933 in Toronto, and has lived in Sidney/Victoria, British Columbia since 1987. He has conducted workshops and seminars across Canada, teaching watercolours, and published several books. Since 1994, he has created woodblock images using hand-made Hosho paper in the Mokuhanga medium of woodblock prints.
About the Prints
After visiting lighthouses on the British Columbia coast with the cooperation of the Canadian Coast Guard, he gathered information and imagery for the innovative prints of the lighthouses. He recognized that the lighthouse structures belong to history, and the landscape and settings around the lights belong to his creative expression. The lighthouse series overtook his life; Scholes humorously stated that he spent “8 days a week, 8 hours a day, 10 years” to complete, design, and print the 41 lighthouse prints. Now, at 90, he might slow down but not retire, as his work keeps him young: “Artists don’t retire, they draw to conclusion.”
Scholes was interviewed by staff at the Maritime Museum of BC for the ongoing Maritime Moments Youtube series about his career and his lighthouse series of prints. You can find the first video of Scholes’ interviews here.