Halton Hills Newspapers

Acton Free Press (Acton, ON), November 27, 1968, p. 13

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yosef drenters restores old academy the historic rockwood academy alma mater of railway magnate james j hu1 ontario premier a s hardy hon sir adam beck united church moderator rev dr t a moore and famous baseball player william sunley is being restored one of the most famous boarding schools for boys in the province a hundred and some odd years ago the large stone building has stood vacant except for owners who lived in it since 1883 was decaying slowly as the years went jy when 2 year old yosef drenters bought it for 8000 drenters arrived in canada from belgium at the age of 20 a student from t he seminary who concluded the priesthood was not for him he worked as a cowboy in the west as a miner in the yukon as a lumberjack in hritish columbia and then came back to work as a hand on his fathers farm in laramosa township now yosef drenters lives and works in the old school restorjng the elegance- of a building founded by quakevs with a fove of learning obsessed with a desire to create he made his first sculpture in l5k ie called it mother and child since thai time his works have catapulted drenters into prominence na one of canadas best known creators of art working with od farm iiiijleiichls arid objects which people have discarded as junk he has fashioned figures of burnt oiled wood which have uplifted the human spirit and brought a demand for his work his debut exhibition sold out the cmc filmed a documentary on him uu hes still a simple man obsessed with restoring the old academy on- the outskirts of rockwood his labor oil the old school has s- 6 in e t i in e s t a k e n precedence cverhis career as a sculptor but he achieves the same siilisfaction from fashioning figures or restoring buildings last weekend yosef drenters opened part of the restoreil academy to visitors and they came from a wide radius to look at his work and the sculptures lie has created since creativity runs in the family it was only natural his father joseph a rock wood- resident and ii brother andre from alton should exhibit their work too in the large restored workshop v on the bottom of the academy his works are not without critics some have called lliein totems his laborious work on the old academy is gradually bringing back to the grey stone building the elegance it once had as a leading upper canada school the old quakers who founded the acadciny would- approve of the work yosef drenters is doing it reflects their philosophy of life acton ontario wednesday november 27 968 for full value of your tax dollars and concern for unnecessary debenture debt elect hinton mayor yosef drenters with one of his most recent works i man praying for peace has attracted attention from art lovers all over the contin ent the unique compositions are fashionod from myterial most people would classify as junk drenters came to canada from bel gium and worked as a lumberjack minor and cowboy before returning tohis fathors house near rockwood a few years ago he bought the historic rockwood academy and is restor ing it staff photo objects in one of the restored school rooms of the rockwood academy are examined by visitors over the weekend included in the display were desks and ink wells used by stu- 6 good reasons why you should buy this new 1968 frigidaire dryer ci joseph dtentsb a part lime artist in his own right crested this work called th immigrant crowned by a canada goose it is symbolic of the direction immigrants ilka the canada migrate the bird hands on tha heart of canada while the human figure in front stretches its arms embracing the country from sea to tea staff photo

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