Anyone who walks into Royal Brock Retirement Living will notice immediately that there is an artistic theme throughout the building.  The walls are adorned with fine art. We have our own art gallery, the Sadler Room, where local artists display and sell their work. We have weekly water colour painting instruction and even offer an art history course, Art and Mystic Moments, every Tuesday in our theatre with local college professor Douglas Blair.

Today, Evangeline MacGillivary, a resident who moved in not long after we opened, approached the owners Tom Gallivan  and Al Clausi with a very generous gift.  Evangeline told them the story of how she came to own an original Vyfvinkel.  When she and her husband sold their home, they accepted this fine work of art, entitled “Boldt Castle Powerhouse” as the down payment from the artist himself.

Henry Vyfvinkel was a long time Brockville resident and was a full-time Teaching Master of fine Arts at St. Lawrence from 1972 to 1994.  He was born in the Netherlands, and moved to Canada in 1956. He had many credits and awards in his career as an artist, which included The Joy Orzy award in 2007, The Arctic Moves, best in show in 2012,  Travel Memories – Peoples Choice Awards 3rd annual alumni Show, MVS Gallery, St Lawrence College in 2010 and was made a lifetime member of The Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour in 2009. Sadly, he passed away  on at the age of 79 on August 16, 2014.

Evangeline told the Tom and Al she wants everyone to enjoy this beautiful work of art for many years to come.  “I know it will be appreciated here.  It’s as much a part of Brockville’s history as The Royal Brock is”