Snaking up the long, wooded driveway off a country road near Ottawa, the Ruhland property looks like an unassuming homestead. The old farmhouse and barn are mostly unadorned, and few trees or plants break up the lawns that connect the buildings.
Inside the home, a rich array of colours and textures await. Herman’s huge, bright paintings and collages cover many walls, and sculptures, ornaments and wall hangings – some his own creations and others collected on travels - fill in the gaps.
Outside, the back patio is lush with mossy rocks and waterfalls designed by Herman, who has a background in horticulture and landscaping. There’s no question his stone arrangements are another form of art.
A Japanese Zen garden is off to the left, and heaps of what others might call junk wait beside a fence to be turned into large-scale sculptures. Examples dot the property and lean against the house on the back porch.
Following the grassy path into the woods beyond, a visitor will be surprised to find an enchanting gnome garden leading through the forest and faeries dancing in the tree branches, and Herman’s brother Frits diligently working to perfect his miniature world while visiting from Holland.
This is their story...
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DALE WINDLE | DIRECTOR & EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Dale is an accomplished professional with 30+ years' experience in business; managing companies, finances, and business development. Dale has a keen interest in film making and in 2010 started Aventus Films. He has applied his entrepreneurial vision, energetic enthusiasm and business management skills to the film industry, fulfilling a lifelong dream to be a master story teller with film.
Dale went to visit the Ruhland farm once with his family and was immediately captivated with these two lovely people, creating art their way, in seclusion.
HERMAN RUHLAND | Art, Painting and Sculpture
Herman was born and educated in the Netherlands and was always interested in art. While drafted in the armed forces in the Netherlands, he attended evening art classes where he met artists who convinced him to paint and read up about art. In 1959 Herman and his wife Margaret moved to Canada, and he started a garden-design company in 1961 in the Ottawa area. Herman studied art at the Ottawa School of Art and now creates abstracted paintings and sculptures using different media and found objects. Herman’s artistic practice has evolved into reworking and assembling found objects and unusual materials. The viewer ‘s challenge is to recognize the message. Herman lives on a farm near Ottawa.
FRITS RUHLAND | Faeries and Gnomes
The youngest of a very large family , born near Amsterdam, grew up in the turbulent years of the 70's; Amsterdam's gathering place of youth of all different nationalities and adhering to the so called alternative culture (music, street_performances ,etc.) Frits makes Ottawa his home for the summer months, lives in the Netherlands during the rest of the year.
He collects vintage ceramics and gnomes, loves the Fauna, Flora and ancient rocks to be found at the farm, so influencing artistic output, as can be seen by his extensive and surreal stone constructions and magical tree decorations in the woods at his cottage near Ottawa. Frits will bring these tree hangings and art formations to the July show His painted small figures that hang in trees are a total delight.