Surrey Art Gallery Association Talk 'A passion postponed' Ron Unruh

A passion postponed

Ron Unruh, a pastor-turned-painter, will speak at the Surrey Art Gallery on Feb. 4.

Surrey Leader Newpaper

As a child Ron Unruh was consumed with drawing, and as a youth he planned a visual art career. But a divine interruption summoned him to a life of service to others, and brushes and palette were set aside.

Surrey Art Gallery Association presents an illustrated talk by this Surrey-based visual artist titled Recovering a Postponed Passion on Feb. 4.

Unruh is a contemporary realist painter who paints scenes of the coastal region of British Columbia where he resides. With his residence/studio in Cloverdale, he is near White Rock and Crescent Beach waters and within sight of the North Shore Mountains and the snow peaked range of the Rockies so they become subjects of his work.

His Miata MX5 navigates through the agricultural lands of the Lower Mainland where heritage farms have changed hands and fields display the turbaned heads or bamboo hats of their current owners. He is fascinated by these images and seeks to record them. Unruh has travelled Canada from coast to coast and enjoyed numerous international trips.

Unruh has shown his work at the Cloverdale Blueberry Festival and in the constituency suites of MP Suhk Dhaliwal and MLA Stephanie Cadieux, under the auspices of the Arts Council of Surrey. He has also displayed in the Watershed Arts Café in Walnut Grove and recently held a show in his residence/studio, and almost half of the twenty-seven paintings on display found new owners. His work can be viewed at http://ronunruhgallery.webs.com.

The Feb. 4 talk is from 7:30-9 p.m. and there will be time for questions and conversation during and following the talk. Everyone is welcome and admission is free. Surrey Art Gallery is located at 13750 88 Ave.Call 604-501-5566 or check www.arts.surrey.ca for further information.

2010 A NEW YEAR IN SO MANY WAYS

It is January 1, 2010
Christine and I have been out for a morning walk on a wet not so cool morning. Coffee is ready for sipping. Christine has already exchanged all the Christmas dishes for our customary day ware. It's a new month and a new year.

I walked past a house one block away that we seriously considered purchasing a week ago. It is a rancher and less square footage than our two story beauty, but someone beat us to it. Christine and I both wanted it but the morning we were to place an offer we learned it had sold. Mentally I had already trimmed the roses, removed old garden ties, put down fresh garden soil, put in a new kitchen, new hardwood floors, new baseboard and crown moulding, a new roof and new windows. Well that's gone but we have determined that we will nonetheless sell our home this spring. It won't be easy for us to leave here after twenty years but it what we will do it in 2010.

I will turn 68 years of age next September 2010. Swell! I am feeling those years and I suppose that gets me down a little. I haven't made the adjustment to being the patriarch, the geezer.

In 2010 we will do a Caribbean Cruise and a Habitat for Humanity week in Hawaii.

I hope to sell more paintings and to establish myself better as a credible artist.

Perhaps my children's novel will find its way to the printer in 2010.

I have been an advocate for a young couple whose three children were taken from them by BC's Ministry of Children in 2007. I am seriously trusting that a Court Case in January 2010 will restore their family to wholeness.

For so many years I was a dedicated reader of scriptures and a practitioner of what they contain and a communicator of its truths. The principles inherent in following Christ are still of importance to me but retirement has made laziness easy. I concede that and I want to make some changes. I can. That is what resolution is. A personal commitment to change a pattern of behaviour. I know that prayer and study should be dialed up a lot in 2010.

For someone who acknowledges that there is much that is out of my control and for someone who wants to see changes and improvements for my family members and friends, there is a lot about which I need to talk to the only one who can affect change in a supernatural fashion.

Hopefully for me 2010 will be far more than merely the enjoyment of the Winter Olympics in my province and will be a year upon which I can look back with satisfaction and thanksgiving.

Grandchildren Sleepover and Painting Lesson

This is Boxing Day evening sleep over for five grandchildren with Nana and Papa.
One of the activities was a painting lesson with Papa(Grandpa)- me. All five around the kitchen island with watercolour paper in front of them. We each drew pictures with graphite first and then painted them in.


It takes a Grandma to set this up and pull it off. I would never have the nerve or the patience. But to my amazement, three boy cousins in one bedroom and two female cousins in another large bed and bedroom, went to sleep without hesitation and slept through the night. This morning two boys woke early and I cuddled them in a blanket to watch cartoons, then we had cereal and waited for the others. Grandma sewed the pajamas for all of them.

A Family Shot twelve years apart. A few Additions and Subtractions.

These two photos are not only representative of how time passes but what transpires during the passage of time. And they are also a testament to what truly matters in life and particularly during the Christmas season. The Loving relationships between people and within family mean so much.

Here is a twelve year old picture of Christine and me and our children, Cari and her husband Tim, and Jeff and his girlfriend Gina. With us are my parents, Ed and Tina Unruh, both of whom have passed away since then. They were however, well enough to be at both of our children's weddings.

12 Days Before or After Christmas? and spiritual significance?

Twelve Days of Christmas

What is often not understood is that The Twelve Days Of Christmas which we now customarily celebrate as preceding Christmas day, really begin on Christmas day December 25 and proceed until January 5 the day before the twelfth day, the Feast of the Epiphany on 6 January. For instance, the BC Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport this year promoted the Twelve Days of Christmas from December 13 to December 24 in Robson Square with ice skating at GE, hot chocolate, visits from Santa Claus, entertainment and children’s craft activities.

In actual fact the Twelve Days of Christmas are the festive days beginning on Christmas Day (25 December). This period has been known as Christmastide. The Twelfth night marked the end of the Christmas season. In Tudor England, Twelfth Night itself was forever solidified in popular culture when William Shakespeare used it as setting for one of his most famous stage plays, titled Twelfth Night.

Although the song by this name ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ was first published in England in 1780, the textual evidence may indicate the song is of French origin and this popular Christmas carol contains increasingly grandiose gifts which ‘my true love sent to me’ over a twelve day span of Christmastide: 12 Drummers Drumming, 11 Pipers Piping, 10 Lords a-Leaping, 9 Ladies Dancing, 8 Maids a-Milking, 7 Swans a-Swimming, 6 Geese a-Laying, 5 Gold Rings, 4 Colly Birds (often given as "Calling Birds"), 3 French Hens, 2 Turtle Doves, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

The song itself has often been viewed as a nonsense song for children. In fact, there have been numerous parodies of the song through the years. Interestingly, as early as the 16th century there were implications of spirituality for the song, that is that there were hidden references to basic Christian tenets of faith. The latter notion suggests that this is a mnemonic device to teach the catechism to youngsters so each gift refers to some aspect of Christian faith. The "true love" mentioned in the song is not an earthly suitor, but refers to God Himself. The "me" who receives the presents refers to every baptized person who is part of the Christian Faith. The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus the Christ, and Three French Hens are the Three Theological Virtues: 1) Faith, 2) Hope, and 3) Love (1 Corinthians 13:13) and Nine Ladies Dancing are the nine Fruit of the Holy Spirit: 1) love, 2) joy, 3) peace, 4) patience, 5) kindness, 6) generosity, 7) faithfulness, 8) gentleness, and 9) self-control.(Galatians 5:22). I am sorry but this effort strikes me as improbable, even comedic. Some church historians affirm this account as basically accurate, while others point out apparent historical and logical discrepancies. There is no substantive evidence available either way.

George Frederick Handel’s famed oratorio called 'Messiah'

MESSIAH

Early each December in our home, our cherished CD’s of George Frederick Handel’s famed oratorio called Messiah are dropped into the CD player and we begin to listen to the words of scripture set to some of the finest music ever composed.

I credit two friends of ours with beginning that tradition for us thirty years ago. For a stretch of nine years, a couple of elderly women in my Toronto church spoiled Christine and me each December. Their Christmas gift to us was to take us to Ed’s downtown restaurant just across from the Roy Thompson Hall where following dinner we would enjoy the magnificent sounds of the Toronto Symphony and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir as they performed Handel’s Messiah.

Handel’s Messiah is a choral oratorio, not an opera, determined by the fact that the choir plays the major role. Handel’s Messiah is by far the most popular of all choral literature and while I know oratorio is not everyone’s choice of music you have all been exposed to some music from the Messiah, even if only a perverted Hallelujah chorus used offensively in Bugs Bunny cartoons or toilet tissue advertisements. The music is exquisite but the best part is the text. It’s Biblical. For the child of God the text is enough to make one shake and tremble in admiration of God.

Handel’s Messiah is a reflective commentary on God’s Promise, His Incarnation, His Passion and His Resurrection. With most sacred oratorios, while the themes may be biblical, they do not use Biblical texts. The Messiah does, skillfully, brilliantly, movingly. Today I will read you the text of the first part and preach on a small section of the scripture I quote. There are three parts. I was guest preacher this past Sunday morning at Aldergrove Baptist Church and I chose to preach from Isaiah 40:1-5 which contains the opening words of Part One. The text of Messiah is taken from the King James version of the Bible.


"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it."

I told the folk there that if they like what they hear they can invite me back around Easter and I can read to them the second part from Handel’s Messiah and preach a message from the text it uses. “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” Then if they are up to it, they can invite me as summer begins and I will read to them the text from the third part which is such an encouraging and triumphant reminder of our hope. “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.” For now is Christ is risen from the dead, the first-fruits of them that sleep.” How’s that for inviting oneself.

Listen to conductor Trevor Pinnock introduce "Comfort, Comfort ye My People," and then tenor Kurt Streit singing this 3:37 min section.

Photo credit for Roy Thompson Hall: Cliff Spice

Christmas is Upon Us

It's the 6th of December 2009 and the Christmas season is here. Today at church Christine and I were part of an ensemble that sang several selections from Handel's Messiah and that was a delight for us, and it sounded like others were thrilled to listen. Annually in our home the Messiah oratorio has been part of our celebration of the season. Christmas is a season of lights. Our pastor spoke about darkness and light. World news is frequently characterized by dark news bites much as it was in Jesus' day. He arrived as the light of the world. He pierces the darkness. Since then, all who follow him are instructed to serve as light and to insure that the light is not concealed in any way. Christine and I enjoyed a dinner at the Lampliter restaurant in Fort Langley and then in the afternoon, my two sons, one blood and the other in law, assisted me, virtually did it for me, that is, helped me set up our Christmas Tree. We purchased this 14 foot tree last Saturday an an dinner/auction for a Christian school. This is a tall and heavy tree and now it is in our living room with lights up and down and ornaments to come. Tomorrow we have friends coming over for a dinner. After the tree set up, we stopped at Tim Horton's donut place with Jeff and Gina and two of our grandkids for a snack because they had been to downtown Cloverdale to watch the Santa Claus parade. The season is rich with experiences. I speak to a bunch of seniors this Wednesday at a Christmas lunch gathering. Of course I don't yet admit too loudly that I also am a senior. I am in denial.

Ready to Fly

A friend and I were in Arizona and we drove to the Grand Canyon where we climbed aboard a helicopter for an aerial flight over the Canyon, and my first ride in a helicopter. Sitting in this glass bubble cockpit, the landscape came at me from underneath and every side surpassing an IMAX rush. The copter company’s slogan was ‘Ready to Fly.’


My mother, not consciously, but effectively, was ready to fly ever since she was a young girl. In her case, it took an entire lifetime to finally experience that for which her training had prepared her. She was 88 years old when she went to heaven. But she was ready to fly much sooner.


On this date, November 6th, 2007, Mom dismissed gravity and her spirit soared. For the past several years of her life she had steadily lost so much of the vibrancy and power that had marked her identity through all the years that her three boys and eventually their spouses knew her.

As a very young woman she was a strikingly lovely prairie woman who bedazzled a debonair and balding young man with a pencil thin mustache who was known in his home town of Hepburn as the whistler. Hepburn was a predominantly German Mennonite community and Mom committed herself by faith to Christ as a young girl. She stepped outside the norm in marrying Dad who while born to church going parents had himself not yet made a faith commitment but was otherwise a really good guy. Soon after their first son was born, (me), her husband enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force as WWII raged overseas. When the war was over Ed and Tina started a coffee shop on Hepburn’s main street. Soon after however, they moved to St. Catharines, Ontario in hopes of a better standard of living and a brand new beginning. Dad got a job at Thompson Products, then the Ontario Paper Mill and finally Anthes Imperial. He was always a factory labourer, always proud of the quality of his work and the reputation he established with his foreman and peers. Mom was in love with him all of her life, confident in him, safe in his care. Then when he was in his mid-thirties he too placed his faith exclusively in Jesus Christ, and now Mom had a spiritual partner as well. She was a woman with an entrepreneurial spirit, whether it was cleaning houses for someone else, sewing garments, or starting a successful catering business. She was married to a one woman man who encouraged her in every ambitious pursuit. She assembled a cook book entitled “My Heritage” with illustrations by my brother Neale and me. She was a leader of women, a helper, a confidant, a reluctant speaker, and a woman totally amazed that God could and would use her, and use her three sons in Christian work, and give her three daughters in law whom she loved like daughters. Gradually in her late eighties, her recollections clouded, and her communication diminished and her enjoyment of life here disappeared. And finally, although she had never wanted Dad to be the one left behind, she was ready to fly. There was lift off. She was 88. At the age of 92 Dad stood by her side and in the company of us all he said, “Good night sweetheart. I’ll be seeing you soon.” Dad only hung around for six months before he too became airborne. That’s easy to understand.

My Friend Bob

We are heading home from Phoenix to Seattle to Bellingham. This is a great day.
For the past ten days I have been in Bob's company to provide service to him, as his chauffeur, gofer and you name it. Best of all, we are friends. He has been here for surgery, his thirtieth surgery, a consequence of an horrific vehicle accident in June 2006. In that accident an out of control car struck his rental van. His wife Donna, and his mother Lillian died because of that crash. His daughter Kim and his son in law Brent were severely injured as he himself was. The young couple's several months old son was spared injury.

I helped to officiate the memorial service for the two women more than a month after the accident - sufficient time for the three adults to be well enough to be wheeled into church. Three wheel chairs occupied by surviving members of a loved family moved the congregants to erupt in a spontaneous and heart-felt standing O salted with tears.

These have been difficult years with many challenges for Bob and for me to share these days with him has been my privilege. I love this man of God. We have talked and prayed and laughed much.

What a Great Day! I Held an Art Show

I held my first real art show Sunday afternoon from 2-5 PM and perhaps 30-40 people came and stayed, looked around and by the conclusion I had moved 10 paintings out of 27 shown. What a wonderful surprise to Christine and me. I sold Greek scenes, French scenes and local agricultural scenes and even three archived watercolours, one of the White Mountains painted in 1988 and two of Muskoka painted in 1991. We had refreshments available. I wore my beret all afternoon. As I greeted people at the door and they saw me in the hat they laughed. Classical music played in the background. Christine set it up very attractively.

I had a handout page with the titles and an indication that if a visitor asked to reserve a painting of interest, a red dot would be placed on the piece. Yesterday we delivered sold items to their new owners, with a card on the back that tells the story behind the painting and has my signature. Now, Christine who was a bit reluctant thinks I should do this every month. Ha,Ha, Ha! I would turn into a painting factory. I returned four large paintings to their show place in Stephanie Cadiex's MLA office where they will hang until the end of November. On November 8th I install many of my remaining paintings in the Watershed Arts Café until the end of November. Perhaps I may hold another show in April or May, that is, if we still have the house which we are still pondering about, selling and downsizing. This coming Sunday I travel with Bob Dobson to Phoenix where he will have his 34th (or some number like that) surgery on his leg and I can keep him company and act as his chauffeur for ten days. We may even slip up to the Grand Canyon. I have never scene that.

And that afternoon event followed my morning of preaching two times at our church, and for the first time in years, Christine and Cari sang a duet as they once did, and it was during Communion which I had the opportunity to lead twice yesterday, that they sang “How Beautiful” – glorious words at the Lord’s Table.

How Beautiful the hands that served
The Wine and the Bread and the sons of the earth
How beautiful the feet that walked
The long dusty road and the hill to the cross
How Beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ

How Beautiful the heart that bled
That took all my sins and bore it instead
How beautiful the tender eyes
That choose to forgive and never despise
How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ

And as He lay down His life
We offer this sacrifice
That we will live just as He died
Willing to pay the price
Willing to pay the price

How Beautiful the radiant bride
Who waits for her Groom with His light in her eyes
How Beautiful when humble hearts give
The fruit of pure love so that others may live
How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ

How beautiful the feet that bring
The sound of good news and the love of the King
How Beautiful the hands that serve
The wine and the bread and the sons of the Earth
How Beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ