Sault daughter and father fine art duo create military paintings for new Legion Branch

The latest creative project for Cindy Hatt — a Sault native and professional artist — combines her passion for painting and admiration for Canada’s military.

Hatt, daughter of well-known and respected Sault artist Doug Bradford, has joined forces with her father in creating a collection of new paintings to be donated and put on permanent display at Royal Canadian Legion Branch 25’s new office and apartment building on Great Northern Road.

An official unveiling of the works – five by Hatt and three by Bradford — will take place at Branch 25 for invited guests Friday, July 19.

Hatt and Bradford will be in attendance.

“Our idea was to do something for the veterans and the Legion because it’s really important to our family. We try to support the Canadian military as much as we can. It’s our way of giving back,” Hatt said in a phone interview with SooToday from San Diego where she now resides.

“I remember going to Remembrance Day ceremonies every year as a child. I’ve taken my own kids to the ceremonies and I’m committed to making sure our children understand the contribution of people in our Canadian military and how important they are. We wouldn’t be able to live as well as we do without them. This is a great way to give back through our art.”

Hatt provided a verbal preview of what admirers of military art can expect to see at Friday’s ceremony.

“I was trying to give a cross section of the different types of people who contribute to our military, and animals as well,” Hatt said.

“One of my paintings shows a mounted military person with the Quesnel Canadian Ranger Patrol in British Columbia’s Cariboo region during an exercise. I really like that one. I’ve got one of the Canadian Women’s Army Corps with two ladies standing in their uniforms near an army truck in the 1940s, and I have another of the female chopper pilots from the Cold War. Another I’m donating is of a Canadian military man sitting on the back of a truck with his military service dog.”

Hatt’s fifth painting for the Legion project — which she described as “my most important one” — is also a tribute to her Metis family’s past.

“It’s a painting of one of our ancestors that fought in the Fenian Raids in the 1800s. Our family is Indigenous. We’re Ojibway from Batchewana. In the 1800s he stepped up and fought for Canada. I thought that would be a nice piece of history, a legacy for our family in the exhibit.”

The Fenian Raids were attacks by a U.S.-based Irish republican organization on British military posts and other locations in Canada from 1866 to 1871.

Hatt’s father Doug has a long history of creating paintings that honour the Canadian Armed Forces through the Canadian Forces Art Program.

His paintings include works portraying the 49th (Sault Ste. Marie) Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA), Canada’s role in the Korean War and commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Navy.      

Several of his paintings are on display at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.

One of three works Bradford will be donating to Branch 25, Hatt said, is a study of a painting that depicts a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Halifax bomber shot down by an enemy plane over the Netherlands in July, 1943.

All but one of the bomber’s seven crew members were killed in the attack.

The lone survivor became a POW.

The deceased airmen — five Canadians and a Briton — are buried in a cemetery in the Dutch village of Ten Boer.

A trunk containing letters from one of the deceased crew members was eventually discovered, kindling interest in the plane’s story and leading to Bradford’s painting of the doomed Halifax bomber.

The squadron code painted on the bomber’s fuselage is LQ-M, hence the painting’s title ‘M is for Mother.’

Bradford has visited the burial place of the crew in Ten Boer. 

“I was quite humbled to be standing in front of those grave stones,” Bradford told SooToday in 2016.

“My dad has also created a special piece representing the different branches of the military in Canada. I haven’t seen it yet so I’m pretty excited. It’s going to be a surprise for me too on Friday,” Hatt said.

Hatt’s website displays a trove of paintings with a wide range of subject matter including Indigenous art and portraits of people and animals.

“I learned about art from my dad and my uncle (Ken Bradford, another well-known and respected local artist) right from the very start. That gave me the base for my artistic skills. I had a lot of support from my high school art teachers and then I took some courses with John Keast. He was a great teacher as well.”

Her love for artistic expression has also extended into dance, having studied Dance and Visual Arts at Toronto’s York University on a full tuition scholarship.

“Since then I’ve been building and creating on my own while still taking some classes. I took a really great course in Victoria, British Columbia because I lived there for 22 years with my husband after we moved from Toronto. We have two great kids and my daughter is also an artist, going to Sheridan College in Oakville for the animation program. Once the kids got a little bit older I focused on building my art career and exploring new techniques,” Hatt said.

She has had her work included in Bradford family art shows at locations such as Mockingbird Hill Farm.

A multi-talented individual, she helped run The WetCleaner, a family-owned non-toxic dry cleaning business. The business was sold in 2021.

She now lives in San Diego where her husband is employed as a real estate agent with Sotheby’s, the world-famous, British-founded auction house, real estate and classic car firm.

Hatt has had her paintings displayed at art shows in Victoria and San Diego.

She currently is employed by Whole Foods Market, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon and an American multinational supermarket chain.

However, art is clearly her passion.

“If I could devote my time to art 24 hours a day, seven days a week I’d love that. That would be great,” Hatt said with a chuckle.

Hatt and Bradford received funding for their Royal Canadian Legion Branch 25 art project through the City of Sault Ste. Marie’s Arts and Culture Assistance Program. 

“We’re really grateful for that. It helped us create these works of art. We couldn’t have done it without them,” Hatt said.

“The new Legion apartment building is such a gift. We need housing, especially for our veterans. I hope the art makes the building feel comfy and homey.”

The Legion art project is not the first artistic collaboration for Hatt and Bradford.

“This has been another way to be with my dad. I love working with my dad. We have such a great time together. He’s a huge influence on my life and on my art,” Hatt said.