Many Lunenburgers past and present are renowned for their creative spirit and artistic skill. Even the practical needs of home and industry - from intricately patterned quilts to sleek bank schooners - were created with a flair for design and beauty.

 Among the talented artists of Lunenburg, painter Evern Earl Bailly is singled out not only for his memorable images of sea and sail but for the determination that brought him success against the highest odds.

 Born in Lunenburg in 1903, Bailly was rendered a quadriplegic by a bout of polio he suffered at the age of three. His mother, who was a schoolteacher, taught him to hold a pencil in his mouth in order to learn to write.

 Bailly's success with a pencil soon evolved into drawing and painting, all by manipulating tools with his mouth. Since he was confined to a wheelchair, a special apparatus was designed for the chair to aid him in his art, including a rack for his brushes.

 He experimented in several mediums including watercolour and pen and ink. However, Bailly garnered special recognition for his oil paintings - an artform in which his personal challenges were accompanied by the practical difficulty of acquiring the oils which were available only via suppliers in Montreal at the time. His brother Don was often at his side and assisted by squeezing the paint from the tubes so that Earl could do the mixing.

 Bailly's paintings focus on the seascapes that surrounded the artist in his hometown of Lunenburg. His brush captured images from the era of schooner and dory, reflecting the beauty and form of vessel, sail and wave.

 He and his brother travelled aboard the Bluenose through the Great Lakes when Bailly was invited to appear at the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago. He reached international acclaim and his artwork was purchased by many individuals and organizations including such prominent figures as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.

 When he passed away in 1977, Bailly had achieved success and renown beyond all expectations. He had been honoured as a life member of the Nova Scotia Society for Artists and had received an honorary doctoral degree from Saint Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, NS.

 Today, visitors to Lunenburg can view a collection of Earl Bailly's paintings displayed at various venues including the Lunenburg Art Gallery, the Town Hall and the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic.

Compiled by Tony Colaiacovo.