Prolific artist, longtime volunteer, and member of The Royal community, Stephen Quinlan, recently donated three large paintings as a way to give back to the organization that supported him, encouraged his art, and opened the door to his recovery. The paintings are now on display in the Client and Family Resource Hub on the first floor of the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre.
Quinlan, who is self-taught, has always found creating art calming and therapeutic. His first brush with art was in a place and time that’s probably familiar to many – “I always doodled in school,” explains Quinlan with a smile. “I never could pay attention.”
In seventh grade, Quinlan and a classmate were chosen to paint large posters of Greek gods for their classroom – Zeus with his thunderbolt, Athena and her owl and armour – but when it came to painting Demeter, the goddess of nature, he rendered her in his own “doodle” style. It was a hit. The encouragement he received motivated him to develop his technique and pursue ancient art and iconography.
A few years later, Quinlan was pulled out of school and sent for psychiatric treatment. Painting and drawing took on a much greater significance for him. It was the beginning of a long journey of healing through art therapy.
Quinlan, whose background is marked by multi-generational mental illness, neurological and substance use disorders, credits the programs and the people at The Royal with helping him face his own mental health and substance use challenges and for giving him the tools he needed to move forward with his life, including canvas and brushes.
In the 1990s, he was introduced to Partners in Art, an initiative at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre that provides a venue for clients, staff, partners, and volunteers to display and sell their artwork. A small percentage of the sale of each piece funds a bursary that helps participating artists who apply, buy supplies. Quinlan’s art is a familiar sight on the Partners in Art circuit, and he is a regular contributor.
When Quinlan is not painting, much of his time is spent in observation while he travels the paths lining the waterways of the National Capital Region. As he points out, observing is part of the act of painting, even though it happens before the brush meets the paint.
Quinlan’s apartment looks out on the Rideau River and the living things that reside there – and the river itself – are deeply meaningful.
“I really owe my wellbeing to that part of the river. It's my therapy. I've been able to manage very well just by being connected with that little part of the river,” explains Quinlan. “I see it as kind of a gateway into a deeper meaning in life.”
The Butterfly Tree, one of Quinlan’s paintings on display at The Hub, is an allegory of transformation and metamorphosis that serves as a reminder of challenging journeys. He sees the monarch’s transformation and migration as an apt metaphor for life, a quiet show of strength and resilience during a journey that is far from easy.
This vibrant work is an otherworldly landscape. It features organic shapes and undulating forms that remind one of cells under microscopic slides. The distinctive orange and black pattern of the monarch butterfly, reminiscent of angel wings, envelopes a tree.
Quinlan holds the miraculous life of the monarch butterfly in high regard. Millions of butterflies undertake an epic journey across Canada and the United States to the forests of Central Mexico. It’s an eight-month trek across the continent and back again that spans multiple generations.
“The thought of those fragile, beautiful beings flying such distance – exerting so much – to join themselves in clusters that quite literally transform the mountain trees into pulsating, living entities is truly awe inspiring,” he says.
“The butterfly is a compelling theme. Its journey is something that you have to take into account as you go through your own life.”
For more information about Partners in Art and to view the latest art for sale, go to theroyal.ca/patient-care-information/patients/partners-art-initiative.