Artist recreates piece of Port au Port history

Each time Stephenville artist Lloyd Pretty is commissioned to create a work of art, he learns a little more about the region in which he lives.

Research is a large part of what any artist must undertake in practicing their medium. Mr. Pretty says sometimes the research itself can be more difficult than creating the art.

Last year, Mr. Pretty was hired by Abbott and Haliburton of Port au Port to create a painting of the original store and surrounding area as it may have been in the past.

The firm celebrates its 125th anniversary this year.

He immediately began to look for photos and found this task harder than anticipated.

"Christa [Abbott] gave me one and I found another one. They were terrible and really didn't show much of what the area looked like in the past."

In order to create his painting, Mr. Pretty interviewed several of the area's senior citizens, asking detailed questions of what the beach and isthmus may have looked like in their youth.

Once he had an idea of how it may have looked, he spent time walking on the beaches, along the way discovering what were probably foundations of old buildings, long gone.

"Based on that I built a perception of what it looked like," he said. "There was a lot of written material I found about the gravels area, in particular, which was also helpful."

Around the turn of the century, he learned, there were several other companies located near Abbott and Haliburton.

"One was from St. John's and one was from Sandy Point, which was the big place at the time. The first Abbott and Haliburton business was actually located on Sandy Point," he said.

The year he chose to focus the painting on is around 1929. He says he chose this because it showed the store and beaches in a state of transition.

"There was also a customs office there, but I couldn't find any photos. What I read says it was located at the gravels... so I didn't know where to put it. It was gone by the 1930s."

While he may have left out the customs office thus far, he has painted a vivid depiction of the original Abbott and Hailiburton premises where they once stood along the sea's shore.

The original store was flooded in 1952 by what he says he read to be a Tsunami. The store was then rebuilt on the hill overlooking the beach where it stands today.

Mr. Pretty said working on a project with such historical significance is very satisfying.

"It was a very interesting project for me, and I enjoyed it very much," he said.

"It was a very, very interesting place, he says of the beaches around the store during the 1800s to mid-1930s. It was like its own little community, there was so much going on there back then."

Mr. Pretty's painting will be finished in a few weeks time and then debuted by Abbott and Haliburton during its anniversary celebrations.