Surfing the net can be a great time waster, but it can also cop magical rewards. If you can score one of these a day, your life will end up as fulfilling as mine. Through a routine search one day recently, I happened to learn that Walter Ball (RURAL ROUTE) one of my Canadian cartooning heroes has a permanent exhibition in the Grimsby Art Gallery!
Before I tell you this, I had dropped in to the Cookstown Public Library early in the spring of 2013, to find out what kind of history Walter Ball's "hometown" library kept of their famous native son. I didn't find anything about Ball, "Rural Route", nor did anyone there seem remotely aware of either. If your hometown is apathetic about you, then what is your legacy? I had given up hope of seeing anything to do with Mr. Ball apart from what people post online.
So, with that in mind, that is the route I took. Several Google hits centered on a catalog of Ball's cartoons available to lending libraries across Canada, but none actually had the book in stock. Digging deeper, I began to view information about something called the Walter Ball collection at the Grimsby art gallery. I sent in an inquiry and a few tumblers clicked to result in the following...
Rhona Wenger is the person I was transferred to when I sent an email inquiry about the exhibit. She was very gracious in answering my questions and seemed genuinely glad that I contacted the gallery over the cartoon collection. I also purchased a catalog of Mr. Ball's work held at the gallery and learned as much as I could about the what they have stored there.
I am excited to visit the gallery in person, view some "RURAL ROUTE" strips and find out more about Walter Ball. If you're interested, you can do the same: Email
RHONA WENGER, or visit the website at:
GRIMSBY PUBLIC ART GALLERY.
