CURRENTLY IN PRODUCTION

FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY, 2024

How did a painter who was too shy to go to his own exhibitions become one of the most successful artists in Canada?

Working alone in his quiet studio on Vancouver Island, over the course of his 70-year career, E.J. Hughes made hundreds of paintings and drawings of British Columbia, vividly capturing the province from the West Coast to the Rockies, from the 1930s to the 2000s. His colourful and charmingly detailed landscapes evoke shared memories and captivate art collectors of all stripes.

Described by some as a reclusive, sensitive soul, Hughes’ future as an artist was far from certain when he graduated from art school in Vancouver during The Depression. He was attempting to earn some income gill net fishing when he made a tiny sketch of the coastal scene before him. Sixty-five years later, he would see the oil painting of that sketch, “Fish Boats, Rivers Inlet” auctioned for a million dollars.

A beloved local character on Vancouver Island, Hughes was also one of Canada’s most prolific war artists: applying his fine draftsmanship to the task of recording army life during WW2 and profoundly changing his artistic voice in the process.

Travel through painted landscapes, through history and through B.C. communities then and now, following the twists and turns of the ordinary, extraordinary life of painter E.J. Hughes.