At 62, environmentalist/artist Donna Polos is passionate about the colour green: living green, saving trees, and painting greenery. Yet, when she’s exerting her political and social voices in her art, she sees red.
Donna, a retired Burnaby elementary school teacher, has lived in her south Burnaby neighbourhood for 36 years. In her tiny, self-designed basement studio, she paints on fabric, creating unique wall hangings; some speak softly, while others scream loudly.
At her kitchen table, Donna flips through the pages of her portfolio and stops at “Big Box Implosion,” an image of downtown high-rises seeming to implode from the inside out, and says, “Everything begins to fall apart when there are too many condos and not enough green space.”
“So many Burnaby houses are razed and replaced by huge monstrosities,” she says. “That’s why I painted this menacing bulldozer ready to devour an old house and titled it, “For What?”
She tosses the pages, stops, and emits a chuckle, “Here’s a funny one about something serious.” Concerned about road rage accidents, Donna points to a humorous painting depicting many tiny cars being driven by drivers with lit-dynamite heads. In a wistful voice, she says, “It would be better for our planet if they all got out and walked.”
She turns the page to reveal “Invisible Woman.” Her voice is reflective saying, “She’s invisible because she’s old. She has a wealth of wisdom to offer but it’s ignored.”
Donna admits she’s a feminist. “I don’t like being dictated to by a man; that’s why I painted, “It’s a Man’s World.” Look, you’ll see the toilet seat has been left up. That was fun to paint.”
On the serious side, I painted this game-board called “Frenzy.” We [women] thought we could do it all, but the frustrations of work, running a house, driving kids to soccer and lessons… it was just too much.”
Donna is proud of her original 1930s home, which she and her husband, Jimmy, purchased in 1976. When they became a family of five, they chose to expand what they already had.
“We’d lose the charm, construction quality, ambience, and history of our old house if we rebuilt.” Instead, the couple pushed out dormers, updated plumbing and electricity, put in double-glazed windows, and kept the original floors, doors, moldings, fireplaces and fixtures. “No need to knock down a perfectly good house,” says Donna.
Indeed, losing her neighbourhood to monster houses is one of Donna’s pet peeves. In Burnaby, it is common practice for buyers to level existing houses and build huge homes.
“Losing green space means less space for children to play. In my last years of teaching, I had never seen so much stress and anxiety in children,” recalls Donna. “I’m sure it’s because we’re paving over everything. Trees combat the green-house effect. They provide oxygen, shelter, and food. We need our trees.”
In 2001, when too many of her neighbourhood houses were being felled, Donna decided to lead an art project with students from Nelson Elementary School. Using photos, they created a quilt, which is still hanging, entitled “Heritage House Quilt.”
Not satisfied enough was being done, she says, “As so many houses were going down in the ’90s, it felt like they were being murdered, so, for their obituaries, I would go and take photos. Now, I have a gallery of 50 water colour paintings hanging in my studio; a memorial to my old neighbourhood.”
Donna admits that retirement has softened her artist’s voice.
“Since I retired in 2008, my paintings have become quieter, not so raging,” she says. “I love nature and my paintings reflect that. I just want people to appreciate and become aware of the beauty of trees. They balance the craziness of living in a city.”
Donna is committed to saving this planet.
“It’s time we all became aware of our responsibility to lessen our carbon footprint,” she says. “I recycle and compost everything I can; put my groceries in a backpack; and walk or take public transit. I even reinvent coats and vests I sew by cutting them up, repainting, and turning them into new garments. Lids from frozen juice cans get painted, strung together, and become a screen for my greenhouse. I once rescued a condemned white-picket fence by breaking it up into sections, painting the pickets, and interspersing them through my garden.”
Of course, Donna grows her own vegetables and herbs. “My family isn’t too happy about my heat-can’t-go-on-until-November rule, but I just tell them to put on more sweaters.”
Perhaps the most whimsical and unique use of her backyard is the delightful tree house nestled in the branches of her beloved Brazilian Hartnut tree.
“Originally, we built the tree house for the kids,” she says. “When they outgrew it, it became my summer place, where I read, quilt, stitch, paint and draw. It’s also part of my going green. I’m not dealing with the commute. I’m saving gas by holidaying in my backyard. Who needs the headache of a second place anyway?”
Donna lives her passion through every facet of her life, including her work. “I paint to communicate to the world by making political, social, and environmental comments to make people aware and to think about these issues and hopefully to take action.”
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