Art Beat
TIM HUNT’S
MAIN STREET
SKETCHES
Tim Hunt explores his community outfitted with a small sketchbook, pen, and watercolour kit. In our regular feature, he shares the pages from his sketchbook and tells the stories behind his work.
TIM HUNT
In 1915, the convent for the Sisters of the Sacred Heart was built to replace the previous structure that had been destroyed by fire only three years after it was built. Over the next century, the convent underwent several renovations, at one time boarding 200 students. The Sisters maintained a vegetable garden, chicken coop and, according to history.ottawaeast.ca, a wandering “milk cow that regularly escaped the fence to prowl Ottawa East.”
Fast forward 110 years and the building is once again under construction, this time to be converted to 284 apartment units.
In this drawing I chose to include the adjacent modern building, the little car, and looming crane as a counterpoint to the fenced-in, ageing brick shell. As Greystone Village nears completion, I look forward to seeing the character of the established buildings integrated with the new, keeping the “old” in Old Ottawa East.
