Image: Peter Demerse Scott with one of his paintings.

By Laurice Gomes

Chilliwack Artist

‘My soul lives in those mountains’ Chilliwack-born artist on his connection to the mountains, even outside of the art world

Aug 8, 2022 | 6:00 PM

CHILLIWACK — Nobody understands what “the mountains are calling” means better than Chilliwack-born and raised artist, Peter Demerse Scott.

“My soul lives in those mountains; they are my friends,” he said.

Scott, who was born in Sardis, has been working as an artist and selling his work since 1978; he was also an educator for 30 years in Quesnel, B.C.

“I went to UBC starting in ’75, and I trained there, and then about ’82 I got a job teaching up in Quesnel,” he said. “But my family all lived in Chilliwack, where my mum and dad were born and raised. So, I was always coming home.”

After university, Scott worked with the RCMP and the Chilliwack Search and Rescue (SAR), and utilized his skills in cartography to help with planning and rebuilding of the trails.

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“I grew up in those mountains, spent all my time hiking and camping, I really got a good knowledge of them,” he explained. “And in 1978, the Search and Rescue and the RCMP put together a project where they wanted to hire crews to map, survey, build trails, and upgrade all the maps so they could find the fastest routes for rescues, so they put out an application and they hired me because of my knowledge of the mountains.”

For two years, Scott and the crews of people working under him rebuilt all the trails that were on the maps, repaired them, surveyed them, and marked them.

“And whenever the RCMP had a rescue, they’d contact me and my crews to lead them up to whoever was in trouble,” he added. “We would live in the bush all week.”

Scott credits his uncle, who was of Stó:lō heritage, and another relative that was Coast Salish, as well as a Stó:lō elder, with teaching him the original names of the mountains and legends.

“Basically, for two years, we got paid to explore. It was awesome,” he said. “And the man that hired me was Neil Grainger. He was the head of the search and rescue, and he was quite a well-known mountain man, climber, and mountaineer.”

Scott, who currently resides in Osoyoos, said he is currently at the height of his career as an artist.

One of Peter Demerse Scott’s paintings entitled ‘Above Chilliwack Lake’.

“Since 2012, I’ve been having a multitude of one-man shows, group shows; I sell my work online, through my website, through the winery,” he remarked. He added that just this past Friday, he had a one-man show opening.

“When I get into these states to get ready for a show, I get really manic and I go like two weeks without sleep, without eating, and I crank out 20 paintings,” he said, laughing.

The artist described the paintings at the show as a division of Osyoos, the dessert, and Chilliwack mountains.

“Tourists come here looking for grapes, paintings of peaches, and that. I don’t do that,” he said. “I’m totally colour blind. And that’s why a lot of my mountain paintings are stormy skies, so I really try to capture the soul of the Cascades and I try to use the First Nations names.”

Scott described his style as an impressionist and landscape painter with a passion for mountains, Cariboo scenes, and forests.

“I don’t paint buildings or people,” he said, matter-of-factly.

For the younger generation who would like to follow in his footsteps, Scott’s advice was simply, “Go to art school, get a mentor, and paint.”

“I paint every day,” he emphasized. “I come up to the studio at 10 in the morning, I work until 3 o’clock every day, I stay disciplined. You must do it. You have to dedicate your life to it if you’re going to be a real professional artist, not just a hobby artist.”