25th Anniversary Interviews: Michael de Pencier from Canadian Art on Vimeo.
But Michael never gives up on issues he’s passionate about. Media behemoth Maclean Hunter printed several of Key’s publications, so he approached his contacts there and asked for their support. History (and Michael’s memory) have lost precisely what he said, but it must have been persuasive. Maclean Hunter agreed to share its substantial subscription lists and help promote the magazine.
Michael went back to Key’s board. On September 26, 1983, the corporate minutes read: “New Canadian Art Magazine: The board agreed to proceed with this project in partnership with Maclean Hunter. Although it is not expected to make money, it was hoped that with Canada Council and Ontario Arts Council support, the investment could be kept to a minimum.” The directors of Key who approved moving forward with Canadian Art were Michael (its chairman), Michael Rea (its secretary), Peter Gzowski, Julian Porter, Ken Rodmell, Alexander Ross and Annabel Slaight.
On January 12, 1984, the minutes read: “Canadian Art magazine will have its first issue in September. Lucia Stephenson, Susan Walker and Ken Rodmell [longtime member of the Key board; art director extraordinaire who won numerous awards during his career] are masterminding, with help from Tom Hedley [Canadian boy wonder who had worked at Esquire and Toronto Life and who wrote the script for the 1983 movie hit Flashdance]. Maclean Hunter are gearing up to run lots of ads for us.”
A central supporter of Canadian Art was Lloyd M. Hodgkinson, then vice-president of magazines at Maclean Hunter. Even though the magazine lost money from the get-go, he remained optimistic and kept telling Michael things would improve. Meanwhile, another supporter, Donald G. Campbell, CEO of Maclean Hunter at the time of Canadian Art’s launch, gloomily told Michael, “Magazines are 10 percent of my profit and 90 percent of my headaches.” But he didn’t rescind Maclean Hunter’s commitment.
Michael, bless him, was willing to take on the headaches. There were many times, I’m sure, when he wanted to reach for a few ibuprofen. But there were many more amusing, life-enhancing, culture- and friendship-building times that more than justified his belief.
On my first day on the job, I walked into my new office to find a jolly voice mail from a friend of the family, a well-known lawyer who offered to sue a writer (at no cost to me) because the writer in question had just published a story about Canadian Art’s change of editor and had included some off-the-record remarks from me, with “off the record” being part of the quote. Wow! The art world was dramatic and emotional, just like I’d imagined.
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Canadian Art, fall 1986 cover, featuring Evan Penny |
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