Steven Rhude - Paintings/Drawings

You have to wonder how many times "They stand at the ships railings in woolen coats to watch cathedrals of ice moving south..." Hard Light, Michael Crummy Cathedral of Ice, oil on canvas, 17" x 23", Steven Rhude You: You read books about the rock, you go there, you picture this and that, imagine the worst and the best, you observe water and ice, barrens and cities. You interview, draw, debate, discuss, ruminate, and in the end go back to the people that initiated your passion. You do not know it from the inside, yet you know the measure of it from the outside, it's all you have. He looks at you beneath brows like straw. He asks you... no, he tells you one day, 'to make sure you never let it become a hobby'. You make a promise you will keep. Steven Rhude, Wolfville, NS

  Study of a Fish Plant Worker, oil on canvas, 20" x 23", Steven Rhude, at  www.emmabutler.com Her job duty was evident and simple, to cut, clean and trim fish or seafood prior to marketing or further processing. Specifically, she was to cut fish, separate fillets, and remove scrap parts using a knife. Also, there was the issue of checking fillets to determine optimal size of fillet sections, cut those sections according to specifications and place in a container to be weighed. Her wages range from thirteen to eighteen dollars per hour. He had seen fish plant workers from Canso to Newfoundland, their shift work day and night. He recalled his routine trips to the Co-op for groceries. He could see the fish plant from the parking lot - see the workers in their rubber boots out on break getting some sun or a smoke - see the life on their aprons and facial expressions - but that was a long time ago when National Sea Products employed around six hundred people at the plant, before...