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 Overview
Media Production
Collection Management
Conservation
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News
June 2007
The Canadiana Fund adds donation of art from the Estate of Toni Onley for Canada’s official residences, including the Prime Minister’s residence, and the Governor General’s residence.
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July 2007
Outdoor conservation team attempts rescue of totems damaged during windstorm in January. Sculptural elements are extracted successfully, but more extensive damage to support columns is discovered.
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August 2007
Jay begins conducting video making workshop for federal maximum security inmates, creating documentary of mural painting.
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One of the first programs in the business plan that I had put forward was the creation of a ongoing round table discussion from a group of Toni’s peers. Initially, one of Toni’s friends noted that Toni’s third wife Yukiko was present, as was Lynn, there was no representation from James. When it was suggested that as Toni had overproduced, and was oversaturated in the west coast market, the best course of action was to lock the collection down for ten years, and let the supply dwindle in the secondary market, Lynn took exception to these comments and expressed her displeasure vehemently. I felt embarrassed. Soon after, a note was forwarded to Dennis from these persons excepting themselves from any further involvement. Informally, I continued to seek and receive guidance and the wisdom of Toni’s old friends.
During this period, I commissioned the creation of corporate id for the Archives, including stationary, magazine advertising, and began hosting events to continue keeping the profile of the artist on the radar. I contracted an insurance broker, and Dennis Robinson and I managed to obtain a policy for the collection through Lloyds of London.
In the initial stages of the establishment of the archives, I contracted Andrew Todd Conservators to help us with the best means of storing and sorting through the some ten thousand pieces of work in the collection. We began a program of treatments for the paintings that had suffered the most damage. Some of the damage had occurred while the paint was still wet, some of the damage likely occurred due to improper storage.
I discovered that there were discrepancies amongst the vendors of the art. The vast majority of the works were Toni’s standard quarter sheet water colours. He wrote that he could paint six of these per day. While Toni was alive these retailed for $2500. I encouraged the vendors to sell these for $3000. At the same time I also attempted to persuade them to lower their commission to forty percent, down from the standard of fifty percent. All of the vendors, except the Winchester agreed.
During this period, while reading Toni’s autobiography, I became interested in the mural that had been commissioned by the Board of Directors for the Vancouver Playhouse in 1961. Onley had been paid $4000 for this work, and the resulting press accused Toni of perpetrating a communist conspiracy to "uglify" the world. During our initial inspection we discovered that the work had become saturated with tobacco smoke, and had some mysterious splatter damage but was essentially sound. I began a campaign of writing letters and making phone calls, and whether or not any of that activity was useful, the Playhouse management agreed to a conservation treatment.
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THE ONLEY MURAL AT THE VANCOUVER PLAYHOUSE
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During this period we had hundreds of visitors to the Toni Onley Archives, many came to share their own memories of Toni, some to learn about his legacy, and a few expressed interest in purchasing works.
In January of 2006, my contract with the Estate was renewed. Amongst the priorities was the cleaning of Toni’s house and preparing it for the market. I contracted glaziers, cleaners, painters, pool maintenance firms, and most importantly an exterminator.
As the plan was to sell Toni’s house, I felt it would be a loss if the painting wall from his studio simply vanished. We carefully removed it and took it to the Archives while we looked for a home. The day after I moved the wall in, I had to cut away the bottom six inches of the wall as it had become soaked with rat urine. The wall behind the painting wall was a nest. The deodorized wall now has a home in the Toni Onley Summer School of the Arts, in Wells BC.
While the renovations and cleaning of the residence were underway, I had begun creating a digital inventory of the collection, which I hoped could be tool for scholars and art enthusiasts. This data base itemizes the majority of the individual images in the collection, and may be contributed to over the years. It is mounted on an open source data base software and can be accessed by any interested party.
In the spring of 2006 I collated selections for the Greater Victoria Art Gallery’s summer exhibition - Toni Onley Flight Paths, curated by Lisa Baldiserra. Her curatorial emphasis was on the work generated in the 1960's, the pure minimalist works, and the resulting show was informative and revealing.
In the summer of 2006 I launched an exhibition and sale of Toni’s work and prints at the Kelowna Art Gallery. The Estate had hit a cash crunch, and I was lending them money to pay the rent and the insurance on the collection. In our three days in Kelowna I saw a lot of people wanting appraissals for their Onley paintings, prints, and posters, but only enough sales activity to cover the costs of rentals and advertising.
The Estate continued the program of donation to the UBC Special Collections and Rare Books Library with more of Toni’s records, and journals. As well, donations to the UBC/VGH foundation, a group that Toni had donated vigourously to during his life time, and the South Okanagan Art Gallery were recipients of donations of art works, in exchange for much needed tax credits.
Considering how proud Toni seemed of his Order of Canada, it seemed appropriate to make a considerable donation to the Canadiana Fund, the body which places art into the Official Residences of Canada; including the Prime Ministers residence, and the Governor General’s Mansion. A feature article in the Globe and Mail outlines the gift.
Summary:
At the conclusion of my contract, the actual contents of the Archives had increased by approximately three hundred pieces, due to vigilant monitoring of inventory that had been consigned to vendors.
Works in the Public Domain had benefitted from conservation treatments.
Several Legacy projects will ensure Toni’s impact will be extended beyond the commercial realm.
The Executor was able to realize best market value for the property on Yuculta, pay off Toni’s bank loans, and a significant portion of the Estates Tax Bill was finally paid.
In retrospect, I have to agree with Toni’s peers that the best avenue for maintaining value would be to lock the collection down for a decade. His voracious marketing in the BC marketplace has supersaturated the art market for years to come, and given the size of the existing collection, scarcity will not fuel demand in the immediate future.
I would have liked to have seen a scholarship created at Emily Carr College of Art and Design.
I would like to know more about the incredible sale of Onley Works immediately after his death by the Winchester Gallery.
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