Happiness half way around the world

After many years of suffering, Mitchell Kelner found happiness and love halfway around the world.

His mother Merrijoy Kelner said the eight years he spent living in China were among his happiest times but they were cut short when Mitchell died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 65. After his death, Mitchell’s paintings were rolled up and shipped back to his mother in Toronto.

The admiration he had for the Chinese people and their culture are reflected in the almost 40 paintings, which Merrijoy has decided to show in Creemore.
“I wanted to share his paintings and have them out in the world,” said Merrijoy. “I want them in people’s homes.”

She said art helped her son cope with life and depression.

Merrijoy says her son struggled with mental illness since he was in his early 20s.

“He told us he was gay, and in the 60s it was still hard to confess this to your family,” said Merrijoy. “He also seemed immobilized, not knowing what to do after he graduated from university.”

Mitchell was hospitalized several times for anxiety, panic attacks and depression and in his late 40s attempted to commit suicide by jumping from a bridge. He survived but seriously injured his left leg and spent many months in recovery at a rehabilitation hospital where he met a psychiatrist who would help pull him out of his personal abyss.

“Mitchell began to make real progress and to contemplate his future in a positive vein,” said Merrijoy.

She said her son was fascinated with Chinese literature, art and philosophy and decided to study the language. As his Mandarin skills improved, he started thinking about moving to China and in 2006, Mitchell told his family that it would be his reality.

Merrijoy, who was always very close with her son and drawn even closer through difficult times, said she was trepidatious about the move but encouraged him to go, hoping he would find happiness.

It turned about to be a good move and Merrijoy started getting e-mails about his new life, where he made friends, found work as a translator and set up a painting studio.

The correspondence has been complied into a book called Chronicles from China, which will be self published by Merrijoy in the fall. In his letters, Mitchell shares his perceptions of life in China. Like his paintings, said Merrijoy, Mitchell’s work reflects the respect he felt for the Chinese people.

“He was very perceptive and talented, a very astute observer of life and often conveyed to me comparisons of North American and Chinese culture and preferred Chinese culture,” said Merrijoy.

She visited her son when he lived in Kunming and again after he moved to Dali and could see for herself how settled Mitchell was. In July of 2015, Mitchell wrote to his mother telling her he had met his soulmate, a young Chinese man who would be moving in with him. The two of them were on a trip to Shanghai when Mitchell died of a massive heart attack.

“It is tragic that his life was cut down just when he had found real happiness but I take comfort in the knowledge that he saw his dreams fulfilled,” said Merrijoy.
One of Mitchell’s friends wrote to Merrijoy that Mitchell was a work in progress and that he both loved and hated his art. She believes this is because of the difficulty of oil painting.

She said he would be bemused by the upcoming exhibit but as a mother, the process of putting together the show and the book has been very cathartic.
Merrijoy, a Toronto resident, decided to mount the show in Creemore, where she has spent the past 16 summers with her romantic partner Jack Shapiro, because she feels very at home in Creemore.

Mitchell Kelner’s Impressions of China will be on sale at Station on the Green from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on July 23 and 24. All proceeds from the sale of the work will go to the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Tax receipts will be issued.