Longtime St. Albert artist Bruce Allen leaves VASA studio after decades.
After decades of painting, mentoring young artists and filling St. Albert and Edmonton spaces with his urban landscapes, Bruce Allen is closing the door on his studio.
Allen, 77, will leave his studio at the Visual Arts Studio Association (VASA) of St. Albert at the end of August. He plans to continue painting watercolours at home.
“My biggest passion is oil painting, it’s just a bit too labour intensive,” he said. “So I gave all my oil paints away to my nephew.”
Despite giving up the medium he loves most, Allen says his favourite part of creating art has always been the very beginning.
“The first part, the sketching,” he said. “And then putting that back into a work of art.”
Allen’s first experiments came while painting model cars, eventually leading him from watercolour into oils.
“I’ve always dabbled in art ever since I was a wee young’un,” he said.
He moved to Alberta in 1976 to work as an architect, a career that would later influence the subjects he returned to with a paintbrush.
Allen is drawn to neighbourhoods, houses and the details that can easily be overlooked.
His work has appeared in public and corporate collections across Alberta, including the Royal Alexandra Hospital, City of St. Albert offices, and the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, where six large oil paintings were installed in 2013 following a juried selection process.
But Allen’s legacy in St. Albert extends beyond the paintings on walls.
He was a founding member of VASA alongside Pat Wagensveld and has served on its board several times. He also served as president of the St. Albert Painters’ Guild in 2000 and 2001.
For years, he opened his studio to students, providing instruction, supplies and space to paint. He also became someone fellow artists could turn to for advice.
“He’s been a great mentor to many, many people,” said VASA member Janet Bo-Lassen.
Allen remembers the first time he opened the doors to VASA’s original studio space at Grandin Mall.
“I remember that morning, pushing back the door, and it click, click, clicking back into the pocket,” he said. “And that was it.”
Despite the number of paintings he has sold over the years, Allen said he has lost track of many of his works.
“All my favourite pieces got sold,” he said. “Which is a good thing and a bad thing.”
As he prepares to leave his studio, Allen said there are things he will miss.
“I’ll miss just sitting down around the table here,” he said, referring to the conversations and friendships that developed at the studio.
He expects to return to VASA from time to time for coffee, conversation and perhaps a discussion about his other passion: the Toronto Blue Jays.
For Allen, retirement marks the end of one chapter, but not necessarily the end of his relationship with art.
“The journey’s just about over,” he joked during the interview.
Bo-Lassen offered a different perspective.
“It’s just a new chapter in your life,” she said.
“Exactly,” Allen replied. “A new chapter.”