Days 24 - 25

Days 24 – 25

16^th and 17^th August.

So, some of you may now know that I am home in Australia, so this is a post Newfoundland post. It was tricky to get anything down in my last few days at Woody point, as I spent them packing down all the things from my lovely house, and giving my love to all the wonderful people I had met.

On my last night in town we had a very delicious and excellent sushi diner extravaganza up at the artists house. Here is a photo of all the food we collated:

And are all the beautiful people about it eat it:

It was great to have so many amazing chefs to make this dinner, and so many enthusiastic diners as well. Andrew, Munju and Kris, you are the sushi royalty. A hundred points!

On my very last day I said goodbye to a few people missing the night before, and some who were there as well. I had a good last few tunes with the excellent Charlie Payne, and had a quick hug with sweet Kris and the staff of Parks Canada. And then I headed on down to Galliott studios to be seeing off the very lovely Jenn and Olivia. And also to eat some Poutine.

Here is a photo of us:

This photo is a good example of how I feel about the whole shebang in Woody Point. May the time sweep past until I return.

Days 20 - 23

Blog entries – 20 – 23

Day 20 – 12^th August

I went for a walk today with a cardboard wolf. I left the house and wandered up the community trail towards the cemetery, having a little sing like the tourist I am, and carrying my cardboard wolf along. When Matt and I were travelling through BC we met an amazing couple that worked in the park in Jasper. The fella, Doug, told us a story of a lady walking her community trail when her dog was taken by a wolf. I am fascinated when I hear about incidents between animals and people in the borderline areas, where the wild and the domestic meet. So, I thought it would be great to make an animation where a wolf is appearing and disappearing in the woods, especially as Wolves are not currently found in Newfoundland, although there has been a sighting in Terra Nova national park. I spent a good chunk of time attempting to wrangle sticks and stones into wolf like shapes, but eventually I gave up and headed home. In some ways it was good to make an art that went a bit wrong here, one of the luxuries I miss when life is busy is the time to take a risk and make something that may be a bit rubbish. When you are pressed you can play it safe, and just make the same things again and again. Here I know I am making something new, possibly just because it doesn’t go to plan.

Lucky for me, two excellent evening plans came upon me like manna from heaven. One was a delicious meal with Munju, Kris and Nelson, and the other was a great gig at Galliott studios with the fabulous Matthew Hornell. He was a great player, and it was excellent to be celebrating Jenn’s new found Newfoundland liquor license. I think the celebrating may have gone on a good while.

Day 21 – 13^th August

Today it rained. Proper rain for the first time since I arrived in Gros Morne, the kinda rain you see covering all the hills and obscuring the water. And it was great. It was also a pity, as I had planned to document these gannet wings on the water:

But, I did get them finished and I did get an excellent head along on the hare ears and the cable coat.

Then, in the theme of all good days, I had a lovely time playing the fiddle with Kris, who has a Montreal made fiddle that is itching for her to play. This was a great break, followed by a little more art, and then a tune over at Charlie Payne’s cousin, Darlene’s, place.  There is nothing nicer or more humbling than to be invited to spend time with other people’s family. Many of Charlie and Darlene’s relatives were there from all over Canada, and all over Woody Point, and they were very gracious to have us play some tunes. I learnt a very important

 thing that night: The tune we call Aunty Mary Had a Canary Up the Leg of Her Drawers gets called Uncle Charlie Had Some Barley Down the Leg of His Drawers.

I also had an excellent chat with Charlie’s Cousin, Florence. Florence grew up in Winter House Brook, which is the next little town down from Woody point – about 5 minutes drive. The road didn’t go through round here until 1943, and up until that time places here were only accessible by foot or boat (or snowshoe).  Florence was surely the highlight of my trip in terms of local stories. I loved to hear her talk about ice skating on the bay when it froze over, and finding that the walk to Woody Point (which is about a mile) felt so far when she was little. Her father had a dory, and when the groceries came in on boat they would paddle over to Woody Point to collect the food, and then paddle it back home. Every year they hunted moose and caught fish to tide them over the winter – that’s just what you do here.  It blows my mind to imagine that I could be born in a place with no roads out or in except the sea. I was very sad not to have more time to talk to Florence, she had led an amazing life of travel and teaching around Newfoundland after the road went through, and her stories promised to be more and more interesting. Ah, I’ll just have to come back soon. That’s the only choice.

Day 22 – 14^th August

Today I took this photo:

Getting to the point of actually taking this photo was surely the best fun I have had in the pursuing of bird related art.

I spent the morning trying to finish a bunch of work, despite the fact that I had a very sore arm (too much sewing combined with too much fiddle playing equals pain).  As I am endeavoring not to push my body to huge extremes, I ducked down to Jen and Liv to ask if one of them would mind helping me take some photos of some gannet wings I have made. The wings are only a mock up, I will remake them when I get home, but I think the space here is so great I needed to document them right here.  

So, we worked away and took some really great photos, which will be art soon if the wind is right.  I had some fairly specific ideas on how I wanted them to go – what a change – and these were all going great, so we collected some fish bones for Liv’s art and headed back to the shop. As we got there we passed a huge concrete block out in the ocean, I said I wished that I could take a photo on the top of that. We chatted about how tricky this would be, and if I could swim out to it, but in the end decided that wasn’t going to happen. We walked back to the shop and just mentioned to Jenn in passing that it would be great to take a shot out there. Before I could even draw breath, she was on the phone to her dad, who agreed to take us out in his wooden boat, packed with a wooden ladder, which I would then climb to get up to the concrete block. This quietly blew my mind.

So the five of us get in the boat, with the wings, and the tripod, and the camera, and our life jackets and the ladder and we head out in boat. After a quick drop off to the pier, where I set up a tripod and left the photo taking to the lovely Olivia, Jen, Terry, Steve and I headed out the block. Steve set up the ladder IN THE BOAT and he climbed up to the top. He picked off all the fishhooks and then dragged me up there. I got down to my cozzie, put on the wings and then we took some photos. Steve then came back and helped me down, and we all spent the afternoon on the water, collecting rope and sticks, before dinner with the lovely Sharon at her home just round the corner. I think it is possible this place is a little bit magic. Here is Steve in the boat:

Day 23 – 15^th August

Today we did a hike up to the base of Gros Morne to take photos in the arctic hare hearing ears. I am so happy with them, I can’t even say. Thanks so much to Genna, Laura, Liv and Jenn for their help, it was great to be making with this team of gals and great to be out hiking with them too.  I have just put up a photo of Genna and Liv because I decided I didn’t want to put all the images up online before I was certain of how they would be when they are art, but I am so happy with the shots of all 5 of us, I can’t wait to turn then into art.

The woods around here are so beautiful; they just look like a fairy tale. I saw a huge mushroom which was red and white like a picture book, and we walked for ages through soft pine forest like bambi. Yep, just like bambi. When we stopped to take the photos, we were in such a huge blueberry patch that we ate, I swear, full handfuls of berries and left so many more. They are a hundred times more delicious when you have climbed a hill to be eating them.

Tonight we had an open studio up at the house, and it was just lovely to have so many people turn up to have a glass of wine and have a look at the art I’ve made here. I am very chuffed to be surrounded my so many lovely and inquisitive people; it makes me a little bit teary.

Blog entries 14 – 19

Day 14 – 6^th August

I awoke today with that all too familiar twinge in my wrist which means I have been doing too much sewing. It starts with a little twitch, and quickly becomes a small panic in my head, with the sudden certainty that I will never be able to make the art I have planned. But, after a chat with the lovely Matt and my excellent family back home, I decided that, here in sunny Canada, I would not panic, and instead I made a different, non-sewing art. I made a little animation out of my bathroom window. I’m not sure that it’s great, but I am sure that I made it and that’s surely the first step.

I also evaded further injury by making curry. Something that I miss about being home is cooking for more than one person. It can be very tricky to make a one-person pie, or a one-person pasta. Inevitably it turns into monster sized pasta and then becomes so huge you can only look at it and sigh, knowing it will certainly harden in the fridge before the week is out.  So, I asked up the very same crowd who cooked me such excellent mussels, and made a many part curry dinner. Making food makes me almost as happy as making art, and, quite frankly, I never did see much nourishment coming from the art. Maybe it’s time art started pulling its weight.

Day 15 – 7^th August

It concerns me that writing the date on this blog is the main reason I know that my yoghurt is off. When you work and think about art, without structure or near deadlines, then all the days meld into one.  In some ways this is great – it means that nothing is breaking your train of thought, and that you might actually make a coherent series of ideas into work.  Hurrah! On this residency, I have been attempting to let the ideas come to fruition without too much self-sabotage.  Often when I am making art, I have a grand idea about where everything will go in a body of work, almost to the layout of the show and the design of the invite, and I quickly spurn errant ideas. I think this is in part because I see a series of work as a chance to make a long, and segmented argument for whatever the art is about and, in this plan, the works must all come together without too many distracting, unrelated objects.  But here, in Gros Morne, I am only briefly able to research and collate ideas before I am home, and so I will keep them all, and sort the chaff from the art upon my return.

Today was very great and also very productive, especially given no art was made.  I spent the day in Cornerbrook with Liv, sifting through op shops and Canadian Tire for all the parts needed for a good spot of art making. Collectively, we found a great old coat, some kitchen implements, a globe, a cow mug, a scarf with a great picture of Florida and some parts of an old oil lamp.  We also ate lollies, saw a really strange exhibition of things made from paddle pop sticks and had a chat about art. It was thoroughly refreshing. Here is some of the strange paddle pop art:

I also wanted to show you this ad for moose sausage:

 

I am receiving no payment for this advertisement. Just in case you wondered.

Upon my return, I quickly changed for a yoga class with Munju, which was great. So great that, until the sound of fireworks woke me from my reverie, I could feel the earth under my feet and every breath enter my nostrils.

On an unrelated note, here is a book cover for Newfoundland ponies:

Day 16 – 8^th August

Today was headed and tailed by walking. I headed out into the back of the tablelands with Jenna and Liv to check out an old tip (called a dump here) that had been left for years up at the top a hill, near the edge of the earth’s mantle.

The walk headed along the Old Trout River road, a road which I think was finished being used around the 60’s. When we reached the top of the hill we began finding a bunch of car parts, and shoes, and glass bottles. The further we scurraged, the more strange objects we came upon. A plastic cave man with one arm missing. A license plate saying “Canada’s Happy place”. A car bonnet with many a bullet hole. We scrounged around for an hour or so, just enjoying the strangeness of rubbish from 50 years ago.  Everything was rusting and decayed, everything was falling apart and being re-absorbed by the landscape. It was great to walk with Jenna because she knows a lot about the park, and we even found some hairy poo, who knows what creature that came from. It is my fervent hope it was from a Lynx, but I suspect they actually live somewhere else, far from town.

After a few hours of work I got a message from Munju asking if I would like to go for a swim. So I packed up the art, and headed out along the edge of the beach with Munju. We walked all along the waterfront, looking at fish skeletons and checking out weird seaweed. We got so far the sun had gone down, so we walked back to Munjus bay in the hope it would be warm there. It turned out not to be, but we sat on the beach and put our feet in the water. AS we sat there, a little fat mink came scurried past the bushes, and along the edge of the beach. It was not at all shy, and kept coming out to look at the dead fish. It picked up a fish head, and packed it away into the bushes. Munju told me they can be a bit nippy, but it was too fat and full to worry about us. Jenn told me that they can collect fish and put it in the walls of your house to rot, so people do their best to keep them out. Here is Munju at the water, just where we saw the mink!

Day 17 – 9^th August

Workshop day! Hurrah! Today was the day of my adult workshop up at the discovery centre. We had some very excellent and enthusiastic participants, and I was very impressed with the works they made. Here are some, with the artists’ permission:

After another few hours of art making I headed down to the heritage theatre to catch Daniel Payne. (Here is an aside: I am amazed that even here, where everything I need to do is very close, I am still unable to arrive places on time. Luckily, if I leave at the arrival time here, I am only a few minutes late) Daniel plays a hundred instruments, and plays mainly Newfoundland tunes and songs, which are fantastic. The gig was an excellent one, mixing trad tunes and multimedia spectacles! A spectacle! Hurrah again!

Day 18 – 10^th August

Today I finally cracked the bear net. The realization that I cannot actually make 3 months of work in one month has hit, as it always does, and I have decided to let one little art go. Possibly, the fact that I was making the frame for this net out of rotting wood with lead paint on it may have been a factor. Many discussions about customs last night reminded me that whatever I make will need to cross the sky in a suitcase, and really, some things were never meant to fly.

So I upped the work on the other objects, and this turned out to be a great plan. As I make more and more art, I never get less ambitious about what I will make, but I am getting better at recognizing when my body says “stop”. So I swapped between sewing and drawing and cutting and pasting, and many a thing was achieved.

I also spent the morning having a tune with Daniel Payne, and Charlie Payne – I think they are not related, but Payne is a big name round these parts.  It was thoroughly delightful, and satisfying to have a few tunes with people I have only really just met. Something I love the most about music is that feeling like you are figuring something out with someone else. Without really speaking about it, you are having a conversation.  It was excellent.

Day 19 – 11^th August

More art happened today. Although art is the thing I like to talk about the most, sometimes it’s just a making time. So, today I did some glueing, sewing, cutting, pasting, taping, cutting again, un-picking and some knot tying. Here are some photos of the arts I am working on:

After a good day of arts I reached that point where y shoulder was at the end of working. So I headed over to Peter and Roberts house for a celebration of 25 years they have lived in the house. It is amazing.  The house was built in 1873, and has had many a repair and remake over the years. At first a family of 10 and a vicar lived there, for a little while some sheep and also two women who were weavers. Robert showed me some photos of people bringing houses across the ice! As I have said I think in every post, the community here is amazing and I have been so lucky to be part of it for this brief period. Ten points Woody Point!

 Here are some more posts for ya'll! Thanks to everyone who sent me an email, it's really great to be hearing frm you over the ocean. Yeah!

Day 9 – 1^st August

Artists talk all the time. But today, I had a public program and so people had to listen to me talk, and that is always great! And I even talked about art! It was good to get started on the public programs, and lovely to see some of the great people I have met here come along to hear me rattle on.

However, it is possible that this event has overshadowed any other part of the day: I saw a really big moose. It was really big. I was having an evening with Kris after the program and, just as I filled my mouth with pasta, a huge bull moose with enormous antlers hurtled past the verandah. I tried to let everyone know, but my mouth was full and they were all having a chat. Lucky for me the moose just hung around for a bit, and we could all admire his amazing velvety headgear.  They do have very ugly necks though.

Day 10 – 2^nd August

Here are the parts that make today: 2 parts making art, 1 part thinking, 1 part walking about, 4 parts mussels and 1 part screech.  Over here, they have this thing called screech. It’s like really rough rum. And when you come to Newfoundland you have to be screeched in, and then you will be a part of Newfoundland. After my day of art times, Jen and Liv had planned a mass screeching of all the newcomers this evening, but after a rough trot falling down the stairs and a grey drizzle descending across the land, we decided to have a night out in.  A couple of lovely folks came past, and Jen and Andrew made a delicious dinner of mussels and meatballs. Jenna made a hulk Hogan moustache out of wool.

And then I wore a yellow sou’wester, kissed a cod, drank some screech and sang a funny song about a bye in a boat. Hurrah for Newfoundland! Long may your big jib draw.

Day 11 – 3^rd August

I think that today went in the kind of flash you get from putting a fork in a toaster. I made art for a large portion, yet still the works looked the same. I planned to climb a hill, but then it was suddenly night.

But, oh, what a night. Kris and Munju came over for some tacos, we had a little wine, and then walked the 15 metres from my house to the heritage theatre to catch the end of the Appalachian Spring concert, which was excellent. The Gros Morne Summer Music festival is on for the entire time I am here, which is truly wonderful. I will soak up all I can. We walked around in the cool and the dark, we met with a lovely Yoga woman called Sarah and had a tune or two with her. Again, everyone I meet here has been both lovely and talented. Well-done Newfoundland.

Day 12 – 4^th August

This morning begun with a good block of washing up followed by a little emailing and then a bit more art transport organizing from a distance. Yes, even in the glamour of the Newfoundland coastal artist in residency program, admin can catch you. It banks up until nothing can be done but to begin the snowploughing of responses and forms.

Fortunately, this repeated shoveling was interrupted by my second public program here. Making animal extensions! I was very pleased to have such a great turn out, (thank you CBC radio for promoting the workshop) and to be lucky enough to have fantastic assistance from park interpreter extraordinaire, Quinn Pike!

The kidlets made some amazing things today. Among them were bull horns that attached to heads, a complete cat transformation made only of card and pipe cleaners, a bear and a Labrador in headpiece form, masks of fox, fish, newfoundland lynx (with tufted ears), a hat with moose antlers and a sparkly cod hat, as well as many excellent drawings of animals found in the park. I always forget that you can’t take photos of children making art, so instead I will show you the art itself:

I was so inspired; I went home and finished making the bear net. And then undid it and made it again. Twice. I am still unsure if it’s right now, but it got too late a night to be thinking about it, so it’s resting and I am eating.

Day 13 – August 5^th

It is very strange the urge we have to climb to the top of things. There are lots of hikes to be done around here, but the ones I am most keen to do always end up at the top of a hill. Today I hiked the lookout, which is a short walk, but a very steep one. Since I’ve been here I’ve done a good spot of walking about, but I wanted to do at least one hike on my own. So, I sang and clapped all the way up like a twat (they say it’s a good way of avoiding bears. They also say that very few bears have been seen this year, and so it’s unnecessary) and then I got to the top and looked out. It was a truly beautiful site. To the left Gros Morne mountain sat all bald and lumpy, in the middle a thick forest, underlined by the arm of bonne bay dotted with boats, and to the right the odd, red barren landscape of the tablelands. The way such disparate landscapes intersect here is great; they don’t merge, they just butt up against each other like a collage of national geographic magazines. I watched and drew up there for a while, and had a good old sing back down the hill too.

I promised myself that I would go home and make art, and, despite some very enticing offers of walking and soup from Kris, I did. And it was good. I have made a good spot of headway with the hare ears, although I am worried they might look like donkey ears. I am keen to get some good chunks done, so that in the next few days I can begin to document them. The landscape here is so wild, and has been such a big influence on the work; I cannot just take these objects home and document them in the bush. So, full speed ahead!

Gros Morne Artist in Residence!

Hello All! There has been radio silence on this blog for a little while now, on account of I have a lovely new website! So, you can see all my art here: www.jacquelinebradley.com.au. And that means I have turned this blog over to a log of my residencies. Here is the first: I am in Newfoundland! The first few days are all in one here, as I have no net at the house, but I'll try to get over here and post every couple of days til I get home. Hurrah!

Blog entries 1 – 8

Day 1 – 24^th July

And

Day 2 – 25^th July

This is an announcement: Because there is no Internet in the house, I am writing this entry in retrospect. As a result, these two days have become one. Just like the backstreet boys’ song (or was it Spice Girls?) Anyway, here are the key things that happened:

1. After the two days of travel from Halifax in car and boat, I arrived last night to the artists in Residence house.  A thunderous hurrah!

2. I met the excellent Kris Oravec, who guided me through the things I would need to do for the park (talks, workshops, that kinda thang) and also lent me a moose antler to make some work around. Ten points Kris!

3. I got up feeling a bit lonely and far from home, and headed down to Galliot studios on the say so of Kris, to meet the Jennifer Galliot. Jen is a local artist, who makes beautiful tapestry and ceramics. You can check her out here at the galliott studios blog:

http://galliottstudios.blogspot.ca/.  She also makes a mean cup of tea, and did an excellent job of lifting me from my homesickness with her loveliness. Ten points also Jen!

4. I started making two sets of objects. One is a sort of Moose antler shaped net – like a butterfly net for moose antlers, and the other is a set of Arctic Hare ears. I always feel odd talking about art that is still in jelly stage, so here are two animal facts to distract you: Moose loose their antlers every year, and given the moose population, there should be a million around. But, in some very cleanly efforts, the caribou and the rodents eat them up. Yep. The next fact is that the artic hare is grey like a rock in summer and white as white in winter, with just black tips on their ears. I have been thinking about what this black bit is for, but have come up a blank so far. Maybe I’ll ask someone. Or maybe I’ll make a reason up.

Day 3 – 26^th July

Today it was raining. The mountains are amazing in the rain, all the clouds come over and fill up the bay, and it feels quite comforting and calm. This is nothing like the storms that come through here, just a quiet, grey layer over the land. I went exploring along the edge of the water, where I saw a million amazing washed and grey wooden structures and boats. I also saw these stairs, which are wonderful. I think I will go back and ask if I can make some art on them – just a little bit of art, then I will give them back.

I dropped into Jen at Galliot Studios and met the very lovely Olivia Ball. Olivia was a past artist in residence, and has come back to live here. Her work is very excellent, made from silver and found materials. As you know, great art is my favorite kind, and you can have a look at it right here: http://www.oliviaball.com/.  This seems to happen a lot, which says great things about both the community and the place, and quite frankly, there are far too many talented folks around here altogether. There must be a big art magnet around these parts. Jen asked me to catch a ferry over to Norris Point to be on the radio with them to that night. I said Great! And went home to make some more art. This is the moose antler net in progress:

When I got on the boat (I ran there. Even here, where I can do anything with my time, I am still chronically late) we bought return tickets. I said oh, good, I wondered if we would get back tonight. Jen and Olivia informed me that, no, we would camp and come back in the morning. Surprise! Luckily, Jens’ fella, will, brought all the gear over and set it up. We had a good old radio time, ate some moose pizza, and then headed out to the open mic with Mike at the pub. It was so great, we may do it again sometime, and, if you are so inclined, you can listen to us having a rant online, on the site www.vobb.org. It’s on from 6.30  - 8.00pm here, so that’s 7am – 8.30am for yez all back home, I'll keep you posted on the actual likeliness of this.

Day 4 – 27^th July

After catching the ferry home from Norris Point, and then briefly falling asleep again, I headed into the studio for the bulk of the day, and listened to radio national podcasts, which was great!

 Something I have found tricky here is trying to balance my urge to just stay inside making with the amazing opportunity to explore a whole new place. If I just wanted to make art, I should have pretended I was going away and then just hid in my studio for a month (I haven’t, it’s too cold to sleep in Mitchell).  I am here because I want to make something that reflects this place, not just my imagined view of this place from inside a studio. So, in the afternoon I drove over to Trout River and walked along the headland. There is something very calming about looking out off the edge of the land, and I find satisfying the promise that something is on the other side of the ocean, even though we can’t see it from the shore.

Returning home I met with a fantastic evening of meet and greet at the residence house. The house suddenly felt much warmer and happier with all those people in there, and it was excellent to meet all the artists, musicians, makers and locals (sometimes all at once!). It is a lovely and humbling feeling to meet so many open and welcoming people so far from your home. Aw, shucks.

Day 5 – 28^th July

Determined to go out into the wilderbeast, and not just stay in the studio as I could at home, I got up to take Kris Oravecs’ Tablelands walk. The tablelands are an amazing part of Gros Morne, which stand barren and red in an otherwise lush valley. Through some excellent, although not entirely voluntary, audience participation, Kris demonstrated the way the ocean floor had cracked and slide up and over the continent to expose some of the Earth’s Mantle. (I had no idea what this was – just in case you don’t either, it’s the hot wiggly bit beneath the Earth’s crust.)

The way that things survive in this environment blows my mind. The exposed mantle is rock, rich in minerals and without a lot of water, so the plants develop these amazing techniques to live there. One plant pumps all the toxic elements into one leaf at a time, killing that leaf and then moving on to the next one, in the hope that it can flower and seed before it runs out of leaves and dies. Other tiny little plants, big as your hand, make huge long taproots up to a metre and a half long to hold into what soil there is and get to the water.

I came back to spend the afternoon in the studio trying to get down all the things I was so excited by on the walk before they floated away. This was only briefly, but very importantly, stopped to watch Jen and Olivia win the Dory Races! Dressed as Captains!  Woody point has a million things going on, and as part of the Bonne Bay Regatta I have seen a bike parade, a torch parade, fire works, the dory races, and, this very evening, the dance at the Legions, which was great and filled with Steve Miller.  After a good potluck up at the Residence, we ducked to the heritage theatre to catch the fantastic “Sherlock Holmes: The Nazi of Bonne Bay”. This was a radio play style production, with cello, piano, songs and a really great set up of sound effects using chains and sticks and ropes and all sorts of jazz. (There was no actual Jazz, that’s a figure of speech) 

Day 6 – 29^th July

Today was filled with the joy of searching for art materials in a new place where the op shops are unfamiliar and deftly hidden. Of course, I forgot it was Sunday, so it turned out they were just closed. On my way to Corner Brook I tried to stop in at the tip, but was greeted by a closed gate and a sign saying I would be prosecuted if I entered. Personally, the sign just inside the gate that said “ Beware of Bears” was, alone enough to turn me off.

No luck with the tip, I headed over to Corner Brook in search of cables, canvas, two pairs of headphones, handles for satellite dishes and some conical metal tubes. I came home with two long cables, two pairs of headphones and two trowels, mostly from a great flea market I passed, and from the strange and wonderful Canadian Tire. They are really good trowels.

Day 7 – 30^th July.

I don’t want to pick favorites here, but I think that today might win. It just might. I got up early to drive over to Rocky Harbor, which is about 1 and a quarter hours drive, but only 15 mins ferry. This is because I am living on the arm of an inlet which comes in from the ocean and then splits in two, and we are at the ocean end. You drive from here back inland, along a bit and then back out towards the sea, but on the other side of the water. Here is where the first excellent thing happened. I saw two black foxes with white tails by the side of the road, and as I drove up to them, they looked at me and they were just amazing. Sometimes looking into an animal that lives in the wild makes you feel a shake in your centre. They have no urge to be anywhere near you, they don’t even care if you are there, except that you interrupted their meal. They live places you could never be, and they sleep outside all the time.  I know wild animals are all over the shop and everyone sees them, but this time I just felt it. When I arrived at Rocky Harbor I asked Tom the ranger what they were, and he said they were the counter-intuitively named Red Fox.

I was at Rocky Harbor to join Tom and Sean on their job of collecting the Moose tracking collars around the park. These are GPS collars, timed to fall off after two years collecting data. Charlotte, who also works in parks, would join us as we went up in the helicopter to track the signals. Yes, helicopter. It was amazing. The park here is so big and wild, it covers a huge amount of ground. If I were to hike everyday I was here I could not cover it all. Due to the different geological features, altitudes and exposures to the ocean and wind, it almost feels as though the park is made up of a million different places stitched together. 

We flew up, looked down and Sean tracked the beeping of the collars. They send out a different beep when they are fallen off than when they are moving and still on a moose. The first stop we set down and then Sean and Tom got out the awesome antenna seen here:

We walked following the signal into the alder forest, which had no path and was full of moss and bog, and just walked around in there, Sean tracking the beeping and Tom looking out for the collar. When it was found, it looked like a big vertebrae, and was lined with two years of moose hair.  It was fantastic! We just cranked through the bush, being in this amazing place where I would never have been otherwise, searching and traveling around in a helicopter. We then repeated this process 4 more times, each time in a different and strange place. We picked up a collar in the highlands, where caribou and moose with enormous antlers scatted as we set down. They are both such majestic creatures, and when they run you can see the quiver of the muscle and flesh under their skin, and you wonder how they can move with the huge weight of the antlers always at their heads. We are bakeapple and blueberries from the ground, and walked in a lagoon where some antlers were fallen off and rotting away. We pushed through trees and scrub and saw huge mushrooms.

By the end of the day Tom and Sean had found all the collars, Charlotte and I had quickly lost fear of the helicopter and I drove home to make some art for the afternoon. I made a bear armature for the bear net, and worked on the arctic hare hearing ears. I was amazed to find that not only the arctic hare, but the snowshoe hare, the ptarmigan, the mink and the caribou all change colour over the winter. And then I made a quite interesting soup from old broccoli and now I will fall asleep, exhausted and very happy.

Day 8 – July 31^st

Two great non-art related things happened today. Firstly, I spent the morning having a tune with accordion player, Charlie Payne. It was excellent to play music with Charlie, lovely to find we had a few tunes in common and it will be great to catch up again with the new tunes we swapped.

After a lovely impromptu lunch at Galliot studios, I headed home to spend the afternoon working on a bear net. It came along faster than I thought, but has a much more melancholic feeling about it than I expected.

 

The second excellent non-art event was that Ed and Kris took me out in boat (that’s how they say it here) this evening. It was stunning to putt along the edge of the water and look up at the rock and forest rising from the ocean, falling straight into the sea. We saw three bald headed eagles, two tickle aces and some terns, and pulled right up along the edge of the town. It was beautiful.  When we pulled up we met a gent also called Ed, who told a story of a gal following a moose trail and ending up lost in the park. He found her, cold and waving from the shore the following day. He also told us about finding cracks in the rock so deep that when you drop a stone down you count to thirty before it hits the bottom. It seems as though the land is so wild here, and the sea so cold, that people choose to live in the turbulent juncture of the two, along the shore, at the meeting of land and sea. And in that tiny space everyone makes this amazing town, builds these incredible communities and creates a home space that is so welcoming and warm. It is no mean feat.