There are four little photographs in the upstairs gallery at the Station House Gallery this month that showcase three iconic heritage buildings in Williams Lake.
The images created by photographer Lisa Anderson tell the story of what Anne of Green Gables’ life in the book by Lucy Maud Montgomery might have been like had she lived in Williams Lake instead of Prince Edward.
The images are part of the summer art exhibition Expectations of Character that was held over into September after the gallery was closed most of July and August due to wildfires in the region.
The exhibition primarily features the fanciful creations of artist and costume designer Korene Kidd, exploring the worlds of beloved characters Dorothy from the Wizard of OZ, Alice from Alice in Wonderland and Anne of Green Gables.
In the upstairs gallery Anderson along with artists Cat Fink, Barb Fraleigh, Betty Kovacic, Lori Macala, Terri Smith, Kathryn Steen, and Sharon Tucker join the exhibition with their own creative interpetations of Anne’s life.
Using Photoshop, costumes and a little imagination Anderson specializes in children’s photography creating whimiscal settings for her subjects as mermaids, fairies, pirates, whales and other popular characters.
So it wasn’t a big step for her to find inspiration for images that explore what Anne’s life might have been like in Williams Lake.
She met the star of her photographic series, Amely Wolf through 4-H.
“She has red hair like Anne and a really, really sweet disposition,” Anderson says.
Fortunately she says Amely’s mother also makes costumes and had just the right outfits they needed to set the scenes for her photographs.
Gallery manager Diane Toop also introduced Anderson to Libby Abbott, who appears in the background of the first image which shows Anne arriving at the Pacific Great Eastern Railway Station in Williams Lake, which is now the Station House Gallery.
The image is unique because Abbott lived in the upstairs apartment in the station house where the images are now being shown, from the age of three until she was 17.
Her father Edward (Ted) Howard-Gibbon was the PGE station master in Williams Lake through those years.
“It was fun,” Abbott said of participating in the photography session.
“I was impressed with the photographer and Amely was a really delightful little girl.”
The second and third images are taken at the Potato House which was chosen because it is one of the few buildings remaining in the city that might have looked as it did in Anne’s time, Anderson said.
Since reading, writing and dreaming were a big part of Anne’s life, these images show Amely as Anne reading in the doorway of the house and in the Potato House garden.
“Amely was actually reading Fun for Canadian Boys and Girls as I was shooting,” Anderson said.
The last image was taken at the historic 150 Mile Little Red Schoolhouse. The restored school house wasn’t yet open for the season so the image shows Anne sitting on the steps of the school house working on a chalk board, which children used in their studies.
“I am hoping to hear some feedback from anyone who might have attended the old 150 mile house school,” Anderson says of the image.
Each image is named for a chapter in the Anne of Green Gables book: An unexpected beginning; A new interest in life; The glory and the dream; and Delights of anticipation.
Anderson herself has experienced changes that have ultimately brought her back to the Cariboo she loves and inspired her photography career.
She was born in Williams Lake and raised for 10 years in Vancouver and 10 years in Grand Forks.
“I can always remember having a camera in my hand as a child,” Anderson said. But it wasn’t until after her father died when she was eight years old, and the only things she had to remember him by were photographs, that she began to focus seriously on taking pictures of her family and friends.
“Interestingly the event of losing a parent has really driven my career,” Anderson says. “Every picture I had of him was so important.”
Even though she didn’t spend a lot of time in Williams Lake as a child she still had family here and always felt a close connection to the city and region.
So when she was 19 she returned to Williams Lake to make her home and work as a licensed early childhood educator and photographer.
“I have always felt that this was home,” Anderson says. “I love it here.”
Lisa and her husband Chad, a heavy equipment operator working out of Fort McMurray, have three children, sons Kyan, 13, and Memphis, 9, and daughter Harlow, 6.
