He’s gone from the crease to the canvass.
Richard “The King Broduer” who manned the net for the Vancouver Canucks during their incredible run in 1982 to the Stanley Cup finals is now a full-time, internationally recognized painter.
Brodeur is currently in Williams Lake, scouting local landscapes that will be painted and on display at the Station House Gallery starting in early July.
“People are so friendly here, they’ve been so good to me.” Brodeur said, “I spent a lot of time when I was playing hockey in a small town where my first wife came from, there were ten thousand people and there was fishing and hunting exactly like here in Williams Lake. As a matter of fact, when I first came to town it was like the rolling mountains are just like Quebec and I said shoot I’m home again.”
Brodeur said he became interested in painting when he was in High School back in Cornwall Ontario playing on the Junior team there.
“My first course was at 7:30 in the morning and it was art. My teacher said you are way too good for what I teach, why don’t you come back in the afternoon and I’ll teach you how to paint and that’s how it started. When you turn pro it’s not something you take into the room and tell somebody cause you’re a goalie, you’re bizarre already and then you have to tell them you’re an artist on top of that, that’s not gonna work so I stopped for a while.”
Brodeur noted that some of his former teammates bought some of his artwork which included Toni Tanti, Stan Smyl, and Thomas Gradin.
We asked Brodeur if there was any connection between being an NHL goaltender and an artist.
“Every time you sit down in front of a canvass you have the challenge to find the right way to see the perspective of what you’re going to do and as a goalie, it’s the same thing.” Brodeur said “It’s preparation about what you’re going to do, who are we going to play tonight, how are they playing, what’s their powerplay like, so you have no surprises. I don’t just sit down in front of the canvass and start painting.”
His exhibition “The King and I” will be on display at the Station House Gallery in early July and August.
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