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!