Rowand's Folly

Rowand’s Folly depicts the extravagantly large home built in the 1840’s by Hudson’s Bay Company Chief Factor John Rowand. The textures and shapes of the painting draw inspiration from an excerpt from The Last Crossing by Canadian author Guy Vanderhaeghe, which describes the interior of the grandiose house John Rowand had built:

“The interior of the log house is as barbarically grandiose as the exterior. A huge banquet hall dominates the second floor, ceilings and walls covered in painted board, fantastic curlicues, and ornamental scrolls which, I am told, never fail to impress visiting native dignitaries with their gaudy splendor. What is true of the natives is also true of myself. If the doors of the banquet hall stand open, I cannot pass without first standing to gape.”

The painting is part of a suite by Clay Ellis that captures stories surrounding the North Saskatchewan River. The three murals for Edmonton’s Shaw Conference Centre were created in collaboration with the Art Gallery of Alberta and the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation.