Renaissance Man Dave Dawson Pens 10th Book

Mar 20, 2014

At 81 years of age Dave Dawson of Sharbot Lake is an artist who continues to create work at an awe-inspiring rate. A painter, poet, writer, songwriter and musician, Dawson has been living the life of a multi- disciplinary artist for decades. A visit to his century-old schoolhouse studio located just north of Sharbot Lake never fails to inspire. Painted guitars, sap buckets, and turned, painted talking sticks hang from the ceiling, and countless framed original landscape paintings in all shapes and sizes cover the walls. A record player sits in one corner (Dawson loves to listen to records while he paints) and a palette covered with freshly squeezed coils of oil colour await his brush.

Many of the books he has penned are laid out on a desk to one side of the room. Two armchairs are cozied up to the recently lit wood stove and when I arrived, Dawson was carrying in an armful of wood as his 10-year-old Belgian shepherd Bruno greeted me at the door. Originally from Huntington, Quebec, Dave Dawson moved to the area 35 years ago. He worked for years at North Frontenac Telephone Company before art became his central focus.

Dawson, who sings at a number of regular events around the area, also continues to put out an amazing amount of work. His latest is a new book titled “A Touch of Cobalt”, a collection of his latest poems and ballads that has been in the works for roughly three years. It includes a special tribute to famed Canadian troubadour Stompin' Tom Connors, who died last year

Dawson knew Connors quite well, having met him while working as a telephone technician in Northern Ontario, “He was not very well known at that time when I met him. He was an honest man and very much his own person and I recognized right away his originality and loved the fact that he was able to go into a place, look around and then go up to his hotel room and write a song about it. People loved him for that.” Dawson's tribute to Stompin' Tom demonstrates his admiration and respect for the man.

“To the common folk, and the hard working man, 
To his songs we all could relate. 
Standing strong for the downtrodden, 
Like the bum, whose home is the street.... 
A singer, songwriter, recording our times, 
Our harbinger of history and song. 
He touched each one of us deeply, 
Placed his lyrics just where they belong.”

In the new book Dawson writes also of the unavoidable tragedies of life. In his moving poem titled “The Night I Sang You Jimmy Rodgers Songs”, Dawson writes about Anita, his first true love, a woman who died tragically in a car accident the night after he proposed to her. In the poem he captures that loss both from the point of view of the young man he was then and the man he has now become.

Do you remember Dear 
That November night so clear, 
When we thought that nothing could ever go wrong. 
And in the back seat of my car, 
Just you and my guitar, 
The night I sang those Jimmy Rodgers songs.,... 
I'd pretend to be a train, 
Moaned the whistle's sweet refrain, 
And often you would follow right along. 
Now when I strum my old guitar, 
I often wonder where you are, 
Especially when I sing Jimmie's songs.

While not afraid to delve into the darker realms of the human heart and mind, Dawson is also an artist with a lively sense of humour. In his poem titled “Just An Ugly Piece of Wood” he tells of an experience that many woodstove owners know all too well - the sad fact of “No More Wood”. The poem tells of Dave's incredible efforts of tackling one last chunk in his yard, a “cast iron hard, petrified knurl”. He writes of his initial defeat:

I hacked away, made little dent, 
This cross hatched 'matter' so intent, 
I swung my axe, and broke its tip, 
But didn't gain one single chip. 
I circumscribed the block again, 
Drove the wedges in and then 
I turned the big block on its side 
But my axe it still defied.

In the poem the matter is happily resolved months later when the woodcutter recognizes other possibilities for the unruly chunk of stove feed. 
Dawson is a humble artist and believes that creating art, no matter what kind, is something that many wrongly think is outside of their abilities. “Anyone can do this stuff, really. All it takes is little perseverance and dedication.”

Perhaps the best way to understand the work of this local Renaissance man is to read the poem “Leaving Something Behind”, which can be found in an earlier book of his titled “My Dear Old l-Log Cabin”. It tells of the works of an artist. One of its verses may hold the key to the legacy Mr. Dave Dawson has created over the decades.

I have looked to the stars, and cried out the blues, 
Then came to conclusion, that there was nothing to lose. 
Be it poets, craftsmen, writers, musicians, 
Be it ever so small, they left a legacy written.

In the case of Dave Dawson his is one legacy that continues to grow both in size, scope and feeling and one that continues to charm our eyes, ears, hearts and souls. “A Touch of Cobalt” will be available in print on March 24. To purchase a copy contact Dave Dawson at 613-279-2280 or 613-279-2797.