In 2007, Victoria, BC had grown increasingly concerned about the number of homeless living on the streets. Subsequently, advocates, a street pastor, and the local council decided to build a central community centre to serve the city’s most vulnerable.
At the same time, Elfrida Schragen, a retired special needs teacher, felt an overwhelming need to give back to her community. “I hit upon the idea of painting portraits of the homeless to raise money for the new central facility,” she recalls. “My friends went to bat selling them to individuals, companies, churches, etc.” Their plan was extremely successful, and they raised $27,000. All the funds were donated to the new facility called Our Place.
OUR PLACE
Our Place is a unique inner-city community centre whose mandate is to assists people struggling with homelessness, mental health challenges, substance use issues, the working poor, and impoverished elderly.
It provides over 1,000 meals every day plus snacks, 400 units of housing plus transitional shelter spaces, hot showers, education, job skills, health care, addiction recovery services, donated clothing, counselling, outreach services, and a storage facility. Most importantly, it provides a sense of hope and belonging to people in need.
Shortly after Elfrida gained exposure for raising funds for Our Place, her husband had a severe stroke.
“He became wheelchair bound. That finished any travelling we might do,” says Elfrida. The couple used to spend winters in Florida, but with her husband’s limited mobility, Elfrida developed a new focus in her work.
“It occurred to me to paint [homeless people’s] portraits. The portraits were a way to honour them and their achievements. Our Place staff supported me. Even when the pandemic came, I just kept on painting. We sold work through an online donation site and raised almost $50,000 – the portraits went to some of the subjects, some to the family of the subjects, and some are on the walls of Our Place facilities.”
Recently, Our Place asked Elfrida if she would paint a series of “Admired Youth,” between the ages of 18-29 who were making a difference in their communities through advocacy.
“So far, I have painted 10 and expect to get up to 20-30, she says. “These will go on another sale site in late spring or early summer, or if the pandemic allows there might even be a show and a fundraising event focused on the portraits.”
BORN TO PAINT
Elfrida was born an artist, one might even say a prodigy.
“I was the daughter of professional artist CW Kettlewell. Colour, design, layout and self-expression were a constant thread through our dinner conversations, and during reports on his latest commissions.”
Elfrida began wanting to please her father with her daily drawings on the cardboard that came out of his laundered shirts.
“In his loving ignorance, he tried to teach me, and to my horror he actually drew on my work, when all I wanted was approval and attention.”
One time, her dad went a little too far and ruined Elfrida’s creation. “He took a drawing that really expressed how I felt. A pony being led back to the barn in a fog. I didn’t know anything about art therapy then. He was a bit aggressive asking me how I came up with the idea, and he tried to tell me how to make it show better, and then he started painting over it. I was devastated.”
Elfrida wanted to leave town as fast as possible when she turned 18. She didn’t see herself having any sort of future in rural King City, Ontario.
“I wanted something bigger but didn’t know what. So, I tried out for a more cosmopolitan university while all my cohorts were going for local universities. McGill was a huge challenge. After a small-town education, I didn’t even know how to use a library.”
Eventually, Elfrida moved to Victoria with her first husband. She applied for a position at a place called Seven Oaks, a treatment centre for disturbed children.
“It was fascinating and totally absorbing,” she says. “All the staff were in therapy and I learned a great deal about myself. I went on to get a teaching degree at the University of Victoria. Once I became a teacher, I worked with delayed and disturbed students in elementary school, then went on to oversee a new program for autistic children where I managed 7-9 childcare workers, write reports, and design individual programs.”
Seven years on, she was asked by the provincial government to work on an interdisciplinary team investigating services for severely handicapped children. Two years later, she was back with the school district and working in the children’s unit at Eric Martin Psychiatric Hospital.”
Part of the reason Elfrida believes she became involved in the education of and worked with difficult children was her relationship with her father.
“I was a very sensitive child, easily hurt and desperate to please,” she says. “I never found the words to describe my feelings, as feelings weren’t discussed so openly as they are today. I am basically an upbeat person, but I frequently felt sad, unheard, and unable to label what was going on with me. I worked with kids because I wanted them to feel they had a right to their feelings, that they would be listened to, and that they would get some support and guidance on how to handle those feelings in a socially acceptable way.”
After many years working with children at the Queen Alexandra Children’s Centre, Elfrida finished her teaching career at a regular school. “We had a great time learning many subjects through the use of art and drama.”
Elfrida started pursuing a career in art therapy at age 40. “Well, my real love of creating started then. I bagged the idea of therapist, kept teaching and delved into the artistic process strictly for myself. It lit a fire in me – it was like coming home!”
“My preferred subject matter has expanded from portraiture to plein air and just about anything where light and line catch my fancy. I find huge caches of energy when I am painting. The absorption of the task is like meditation but with an external and internal result.”
To see more of Elfrida Schragen’s Portraits of Caring, visit www.ourplacesociety.com/events/portraits-caring
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