Asheleigh MoorhouseSpring 2024
In 1975, local artist Asheleigh Moorhouse (1924-89) thoughtfully described his love for painting in a Sault Star article by Jackie Hampel. He said: “It took me a long time to find out painting was such a joy. After my retirement, I can have 20 years of active, full-time painting. To work as a painter is an active, exciting life. I’m too old to have too many commitments but if I were 25 or 30, I’d go into it full-time.”
In addition to being an artist, Winnipeg-born Asheleigh Moorhouse pursued a diverse range of career paths during his time living in both Canada and the United States. He was a pilot with the Royal Navy from 1943 to 1946, and in 1949, he earned his Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Manitoba. He worked as an architectural designer from 1949 to 1952, and after becoming ordained in 1954 and working as an Episcopal/Anglican priest from the 1950s to 1970, he moved to Sault Ste. Marie, ON with his wife, Alison P. Moorhouse, who was also known as Sally. It was in Sault Ste. Marie that Moorhouse taught both English and film studies at Korah Collegiate as well as worked as a painting instructor at Sault College from 1980 to 1983. However, visual art was a lifelong passion for Moorhouse. He studied art with both Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald (1890-1956) at the Winnipeg School of Art and Carl Schaefer (1903-95) at Trinity College School. He was also part of the Society of Canadian Artists from 1976 to 1983. Moorehouse created both paintings and collages. He represented varied subjects and themes in his work, ranging from Biblical figures, to abstract scenes, to people, and to spots throughout Sault Ste. Marie. He loved living in Sault Ste. Marie and both the city’s urban landscape and northern Ontario’s natural beauty inspired him. Moorhouse’s artwork was predominantly presented in solo and group exhibitions in Sault Ste. Marie, but his work was also featured in exhibitions outside of it in Toronto, ON and Athens, OH. A retrospective exhibition, Asheleigh Moorhouse, A Survey 1970-1989, was also presented at the Art Gallery of Algoma in 1990 to commemorate his life and artistic work after he passed away from cancer in 1989. While Moorhouse was a prominent member of Sault Ste. Marie’s artistic community in the 1970s and 1980s, he is virtually unknown outside of the city. Little information has been recorded about many of his artworks, including titles and years that they were created, how Moorhouse made them, and what they mean or symbolize. If you have any information about these paintings, or Moorhouse’s life and artwork in general, please contact us. Our phone number is (705) 949-9067, and our email address is news@artgalleryofalgoma.com. You can also visit the gallery at 10 East Street in Sault Ste. Marie, ON to share information about, or memories of, Moorhouse’s artwork. |