From homeless to art hero

By Emilie Quesnel

BELLEVILLE – Peter Paylor went from living as a homeless man to discovering art and allowing it to turn his life around.

“I feed my soul and body with the work of my hands now,” says Paylor, a wood sculptor who is one of the founding members of the Belleville art collective Artists Below the Line. Paylor’s sculptures maintain the natural shape of the original piece of wood while boasting intricate details and imagery. 

It all began with a moment of boredom a few years ago.

Paylor was 50 years old and staying in Belleville with his nephew’s family. He had been couch surfing in Brampton, Ont., when his nephew called to tell him he’d be undergoing treatment for kidney cancer. He asked if Paylor could come and take care of his great-nephew while he was gone.

“So I came and lived with them here for a while,” Paylor told QNet News in an interview last week. It was here in Belleville that he discovered his love of sculpting.

“I was just bored … I went down to the bay in the evening and picked up a piece of wood and started carving. That’s how it started.”

Following his stay in Belleville, Paylor went to Toronto to sell his work, despite not having a home there. “It was there that I started selling my work, sitting in parks where they had farmers markets,” he said. “Then I ended up (back) in Belleville and started selling my work at the farmers market here.”

Now 58, Paylor is known in the Belleville community for his work. “It’s at the point now where people know I use wood. Sometimes I’ll come home and my driveway will have pieces of wood in it and I won’t even know where they’re from.”

Paylor hasn’t always been interested in sculpting. In fact, he didn’t even consider creating art until that night down by the bay.

In his prior life, Paylor had jobs primarily in sales and marketing, but also worked with families living in low-income housing.

“It was interesting, because I was dealing with people with poverty and homelessness issues – and then circumstances put me on the other side of the table and I was one.”

The circumstances that led to his homelessness were complicated, but not uncommon, he said: “A relationship ended at a time when I had no income or savings.”

Paylor said he isn’t the only member of Artists Below the Line with a troubled past.

“Because of the nature of this group, there are a lot of stories like mine. We have, within our group, people dealing with mental-health issues, addictions issues, and histories of sexual violence. There’s lots of stuff that goes with poverty. The issues that all are in that same soup – we have them all.”

The main focus of Artists Below the Line is helping artists who don’t have the financial means to support their craft.

Kenny Leighton, another founding member, says he was struggling with bipolar disorder and addiction when he met the other two founders, Paylor and Lisa Morris.

He first saw Paylor at the Belleville farmers market. “I could tell there was something hurt about him. I introduced myself and we have been fast friends ever since,” Leighton said.

“I was homeless and going to rehab for the fourth time. I’d been in and out of hospitals for mental-health issues. I started making art at this time and Peter and Lisa encouraged me to show others; it’s now my job.”

Art helps them all become the best versions of themselves, Leighton said.

“Through the acceptance of their craft (Payton and Morris) have become two of the most spectacular people in this area, and I’m proud to call them dear friends. As they progress artistically they become better people.”

Although Artists Below the Line has been around for years, it celebrated its first anniversary this past Leap Year Day. That’s because it was the first Leap Year Day since the one in 2012 when the group held its opening.

Every year since its founding, Artists Below the Line has partnered with the Belleville Downtown DocFest and put on a week-long art show in conjunction with the festival.

Paylor has been commissioned by DocFest to create a sculpture for the award for Best Local Film. From this year forward, he will carve a piece that will be given to the winner in that category. He’s thrilled that DocFest chose him for the job, he said.

Each carving experience is different, and sometimes it’s even mystical, he said.

“One time I had a piece of wood and I swear I saw lines in it that weren’t there. So I just started carving these lines. I don’t know if you’ve seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind, that movie, where the guy starts making his mashed potatoes into this mountain. It was like that.”

Paylor makes his living in Belleville now by selling his sculptures while helping other artists do the same.

“It’s one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever been given.”