Part Five

It’s almost 10 years since my dear friend, composer Ann Southam went ‘over the horizon’ on November 25, 2010, age 73.  In honour of the upcoming tenth anniversary of her passing, I'm publishing this In Memoriam & Recollections essay.  The essay explores our close friendship, the early days with her music, the vital role she played at the beginning of my career, and the fledgling art scene we experienced in Toronto in the early 1960's.
Henri van Bentum

Part Five

More Travels Around Ontario with Ann

In the mid-to-late 1960's, the Toronto Board of Education Art Department, headed by Louis Shore, asked me to give talks on modern art in various locations around Ontario. (I had already given such a talk at the University Women’s Club in Toronto back in 1963.)

So, yes, I accepted Louis Shore’s offer, and would receive a $25 honorarium plus expenses to take the train. When Ann heard about the train, she said ‘No way’. Wherever and whenever the talk was scheduled to take place, she drove me there.

And so I gave several illustrated talks on modern art (using slides) in places like Stratford, Peterborough and London. The trip to London was in a snowstorm.

Ann drove me there too. Ann always sat on the floor in front of me, while I gave the talk.

Leaving 579 Jarvis Street

The weak response to my show of February 1967 (despite a very good review by Kay Kritzwiser in the Globe and Mail) prompted Jack Wildridge to say he wanted me to take back thirty-two paintings. He kept two.

Partial view, solo exhibition of works by Henri van Bentum,

Roberts Gallery, 1967

Since all these new canvasses had white untouched areas, they were fragile to handle.

On a cold, miserable March day I did not know what to do with them all. So to prevent the paintings being damaged, I burnt 24 of them in our fireplace at 579 Jarvis Street.

I only told Ann about this much later. She said it was a very dumb thing to have done. In retrospect I agree!

On top of all this, issues with the landlord made Kaye and I decide to move out, and we relocated to a rental apartment near High Park.

Travels

Extensive wandering and travelling around the world created a gap in the occasions when I would see Ann.

So over the years from 1973 onward, we simply went our own ways. I eventually moved out West with my new partner and wife, Natasha, first to Banff, then Vancouver, then Victoria.

Natasha van Bentum, photo taken 

when we lived in Banff

(Interestingly, long before I met Natasha, she had been a student at Toronto Dance Theatre and was exposed to Ann’s music.)

Sometimes, when Ann would come out West, we would meet, or when Natasha and I visited Toronto. We followed her music and would listen to any concerts on CBC featuring her compositions.

Mandala #26 of #100 Set, Organiverse series,

Henri van Bentum   8.5 cm diameter, pointillism

Not long before she died Ann had an opportunity to view my Organiverse portfolio, which she loved.

Poster for January 2012 concert here in Victoria, BC

In January 2012, contemporary pianist Eve Egoyan performed a special concert of Ann’s music here in Victoria. Ann had written many of her later works especially for Eve, such as “Simple Lines of Inquiry". I refer to Eve Egoyan as "an ambassador of Ann Southam's music".

"Soundspinning", Christina Petrowska Quilico

A close friend of Ann's for nearly 30 years was Christina Petrowska Quilico. Soundspinning is Christina's seventh recording featuring Ann's music. Earlier titles include Glass Houses Revisited and Portrait: Ann Southam (including the complete Rivers). 

After Christina performed Glass Houses Revisited for Ann shortly before Ann’s passing, Ann emailed her, “It was wonderful to see you yesterday and I’m still blown away by the way you play Glass Houses." Also a wonderful ambassador of Ann's music, Christina has helped make her works known throughout the world. (Here is a link to an article Christina wrote in memory of Ann in "The Whole Note", March 2011.  See page 56.)

Ann's passing on November 25, 2010, still leaves a deep sorrow. 

We learned of her death at first by reading a brief article in the Globe and Mail written by Tamara Bernstein. Not long after, Tamara later wrote a beautiful full-page obituary on Ann. (See Part Six of this blog.) Thank you, Tamara.

Without Ann, my career may not have gone the way it did, together with the support of Barbara Macdonald, Wilf Goodman, Kaye, and now my partner of many years, Natasha.

My connection with Ann began when she was 22 and I was 30. Although we never lived together, our friendship was not platonic.

Ann Southam and Barbara Macdonald were the very first people to recognize my new abstract thinking and witness it in my work. 

She was one of a kind. Shortly before her death, Ann received the Order of Canada.

April 2011 Program cover,

Celebrating a Lifetime of Music

In the program put together for the Tribute to Ann, held in April 2011, I wrote:

"A wise person once said that at times, for some the greatest distance in the Universe, is between the head and heart. Not so with Ann. To me, she was all HEART.

Now, deep in the winter of my life, I still have fond memories of her beginnings from 1960 when we first met, and onward.

Life gives us challenges, obstacles and trials. Taking on a challenge can be rewarding. But when strong obstacles or hindrances are encountered, it helps to have a friend.

Ann Southam was such a friend. Her belief, enthusiasm and patronage made it possible for me to continue on the path of evolution in my work.

Ann herself took on challenges in the creative realm of music, overcoming her own obstacles by doing so.

Ann Southam went 'over the horizon', but will live on through her music."

Thank you Ann, for your friendship, music and endless generosity.

Henri van Bentum, painting a "Spatial Rhythm" watercolour

And let us not forget, "Jeepers", and "What a hoot!" ". . . (Ann) was also a transformational philanthropist, a proud feminist and a woman who inspired devotion in friends and colleagues, all of whom will miss her piercing intelligence, warmth and wit - not to mention her exclamations of "holy patoot!" "jeepers!" and "what a hoot!" (Tamara Bernstein, from her obituary on Ann Southam, see Part Six)

Postscript:   In her will, Ann Southam left a generous $14M bequest to the Canadian Women's Foundation. This was put into an endowment, permitting the Foundation to double its efforts. 



Next: Part Six - Obituary written by Tamara Bernstein

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