The Artist
"I paint on a fairly large scale. I felt that this would be really challenging, and it was. I don't like to turn down challenges"

"Chemainus - the War Years" was Susan Tooke Crichton's first mural project. A lot of research went into determining the fine detail evident in the final wall painting, down to the correct insignia on the uniforms and the varied dress of the civilians on the railway platform. This detail is the signature of Crichton's work.

In 1980, Crichton immigrated to Canada from the Eastern United States. She had taken a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University, had done graduate work in Media Studies at the New School for Social Research in New York City, and had taught art in New Jersey for eight years prior to leaving her native country.

Crichton has now established herself as an artist in Halifax, Nova Scotia, painting predominantly in acrylics. A typical work, strongly grounded in realism and minutely detailed, will take her perhaps four months to complete. In recognition of her skill and attention to detail, she was chosen by the Nova Scotia Art Gallery to exhibit her work in a first province-wide survey of contemporary art. Other murals now figure in her body of work, and she continues to paint on a smaller scale as well.

The Art
Patriotic feelings ran high as many men from Chemainus and area scrambled to join up soon after war was declared. By the end of September 1914, the mill had closed due to the war's impact on shipping, convincing many more volunteers to enlist.

A reserved excitement, mixed with apprehension and a certain sadness, marks the faces of the young soldiers arrested in time in this grouping. They are members of the 67th Battalion out of Victoria, awaiting the train which for many would mark the last journey they would make from this community.

Their connection to the land they had laboured so hard to tame was severed. They left behind the fields and forests, the homesteads and the growing village, the families and elders who would have to carry on. By the end of 1915, more than fifteen percent of the local population had gone off to this bloody war, a significant number never to return.