Bud Shapiro Pioneer Village Toronto Artist

When he closed down his hobby store after 40 years of business, North Yorker Bud Shapiro finally found ample time to explore a favourite pastime of his own.

The successful former entrepreneur had long dabbled in painting, but rarely had the opportunity to indulge in his passion. With more time on his hands after he closed up his hobby shop, Shapiro was able to take his art more seriously.

He enjoyed a stint as Black Creek Pioneer Village's town artist from 2000 to 2003, painting the historic buildings out in the open, under the watchful eyes of visitors to Black Creek.

"I had a lot of time on my hands once I retired and I thought Black Creek has a blacksmith, a seamstress, all these people, but no village artist," he said. "They liked the idea, so I started painting the buildings and some of the interpreters in costume, leaving out any modern things so the paintings show the way things would have looked in the 1850s."

Shapiro's time at the historic village came to a close once he had finished painting all of the buildings at the site. Many of those works can still be found at Black Creek, as well as various art galleries around the GTA.

The artist has shown his work throughout North York, at such venues as Toronto Botanical Gardens, Fairview Mall, Bayview Village Shopping Centre and Yorkdale Mall. He has also taken home prizes in several art shows outside of Toronto, an accomplishment made all the more impressive by the fact he is largely self-taught.

"I started painting after seeing and being inspired by the works of the Group of Seven," he said. "I literally learned to paint by duplicating the colours they used in their paintings."

Many of his early works were spot-on imitations of the famed Canadian group's paintings, which he painted while sitting in the front window of his Bloor West Village hobby shop and later hung in the store, to the delight of many of his customers.

"One day, a gentleman asked me how much for one of the paintings I had hanging there and I said $1,000, never expecting to see him again," he said. "A week later, I got a tap on the shoulder and it was the same gentleman, who had come back to buy it."

Unlike many artists, Shapiro has never been shy about painting in front of an audience. As a youngster, he worked with his uncles at the Canadian National Exhibition, and he has carried that showmanship through his life.

"Most artists have to be in the mood, but being a businessman, I knew that being a bit of a showman was part of doing business," he said.

Several of Shapiro's pieces are currently on display at Dr. Deli and Salad Queen, where they will adorn the walls until the end of January. While Shapiro is the first artist to exhibit his works on the well-known deli's walls, he said he does not expect to be the last.

"I would come (to Dr. Deli) all the time and the owner always had rough prints up on the walls," Shapiro said. "I told him I thought it was a wasted opportunity and talked to him about hanging some paintings here. Once my paintings come down, there will be an opportunity for other amateur artists to bring their stuff in and get noticed."