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Founder's portrait graces mill

Artist commissioned to paint Métis leader

By: Kevin Rollason

Posted: 06/12/2011 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

JOHN.WOODS@FREEPRESS.MB.CA Enlarge Image

Nancy Fluto (right) and Cuthbert Grant relative Sandra Horyski stand beside Grant's newly completed portrait in Grant's Old Mill Saturday.

Cuthbert Grant is finally back inside his old mill on Sturgeon Creek.

A painting of Grant was unveiled on Saturday at Grant's Old Mill by the same artist who painted the murals outside the Manitoba Hydro building on Main Street in West Kildonan.

"He deserves to be recognized for his contributions," said Sandra Horyski, who said she was Grant's niece a few generations removed.

"His mill was the only water mill in Western Canada at the time. And he was a leader of the Métis people. This is the only official portrait of him."

The painting shows Grant standing inside his mill leaning against the equipment used to produce flour from grain.

Grant, the son of a Scottish dad and a Métis mom, was born in 1793.

He was a Métis leader at the Battle of Seven Oaks in 1816, and later, after being cleared of murder charges, constructed a water mill on Sturgeon Creek in 1829.

But Nancy Fluto, president of the St. James-Assiniboia Pioneer Association, which commissioned the painting, said after three years of the mill being wrecked by floods, Grant moved his mill to Grantown, now called St. Francois Xavier, and powered it by a windmill instead of water. He died in 1854.

Fluto said the replica mill, built in 1975, was built using the same methods Grant would have used in the early 1800s and it is located within about 100 metres of where it is believed the original mill was.

She said there is only one other painting known to be done of Grant and the artist used that as a starting point for her painting.

Jill Sellers said her painting, which took four months to complete, "reflects Grant's personality."

"He is relaxed, but proud and wealthy," she said.

St. James-Brooklands Coun. Scott Fielding said it was "a very special day" while Kirkfield Park NDP MLA Sharon Blady said, "Cuthbert Grant was an influential Métis figure and I'm sure the addition of Grant's portrait to the mill will be a big success."

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 12, 2011 A4

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