Professor Kerry Mason Speaks About Emily Carr at the Gathering at the Edge

Professor Kerry Mason and world authority on all things Emily Carr gives a presentation to the Gatherers about the artist's sketches, paintings, textiles and pottery.

I have the job of introducing Kerry

Sheila Wex, BC + Yukon representative for SDA and Barbara McCaffrey, Gathering at the Edge committee member.

Everyone was captivated by the way Kerry talked about the BC artist Emily Carr. 

In a post-event survey, people were asked, 'What did you like about the Event (the 3-day Gathering)?'

"Loved the lecture about Emily Carr,"

"Learning about Emily Carr. Such a wonderful talk!"

"Everything was so well thought out in detail but my very favourite was the Emily Carr 

presentation by Dr. Kerry Mason."

Gathering at the Edge - A Surface Design Association BC + Yukon Event, April 1 - 3, 2016

Gathering at the Edge committee members woman the registration desk in the Holiday Inn Express & Suites lobby.

Barbara McCaffery, Lesley Turner, Laura Feeleus. Susan Purney-Mark signs in.

Gatherers: Katie Stein Sather and Jennifer Love

'Gathering at the Edge' is a three-day event in conjunction with the national touring exhibition, 'Edge of the Forest,' where SDA BC + Yukon members will come together to create connection and build community.' Quote from the program.

Lori Mudrie, Elserine Sprenger, and Hugo Sprenger register in the hotel.

Many of the Gatherers stay in the hotel over the event.

Sheila Wex, the BC + Yukon representative for SDA, welcomes people to the Gathering during the celebration dinner held in the Coastal Offices Conference Room, next to the hotel.

It is a time to put faces to familiar names, to make new friendships and to renew old ones.

A common passion for fibre links and bonds everyone in the room and there is a spirit of celebration.

Special thanks to Judi McLeod for taking these photographs and continuing to document the whole event.

'Edge of the Forest' exhibition - Surface Design Association (SDA) Canada

 'Edge of the Forest' exhibition and 'Gathering at the Edge' event committee.

L to R- Gina Dingwell, Barbara McCaffrey, Lesley Turner, Laura Feeleus

After touring across Canada the 'Edge of the Forest' juried textile exhibition arrives on Vancouver Island to be hosted by the Vancouver Island Surface Design Association.

Here it is loaded up and ready to be taken to the Coast Collective's new gallery in Colwood.

Barbara and Laura

Every work was made to a specified size which made the collection a breeze to hang once Laura had done the math to fit in all the works so they were evenly spaced while filling all of the gallery's walls.

Barbara and Lesley

With the show hung we are ready for the public opening on 26th March 2016

Barbara was responsible for the food and beverages catering and the floral arrangements. She did a wonderful job.

And they came...

Lesley, Laura, Barbara

Here we are looking very pleased with ourselves after successfully hanging the exhibition and attracting the public to the opening event.
Many thanks to Judi McLeod for documenting the events with her camera.

Backyard Project: How Long Does it Take to Build a Deer Fence?

The line of the fence is marked out.

Fence post holes are dug into the soil and drilled where there is rock.

Metal posts are cut to length.

The posts are cemented in place in the holes.

Branches and shrubs need to be removed or cut back in places.

The supervisor checks the width of one of the gates in the fence.

Heavy gauge wire mesh is tied to the fence posts.

In the steeper areas, it is more of a challenge to get the wire in place. Skirts are tied to the bottom where there are dips in the ground.

Cross bracing is added at the corners.

The supervisor checks one of 4 gates in the fence.

A temporary fence between the house and the studio is erected. After the new conservatory has been built and it is linked to the studio with a more decorative cedar fence the temporary fence will have done its job and be taken down.

The last job was to Bambi-proof the fence. I went around the whole perimeter inside and out and stacked all of the rocks and stones I could find along the bottom of the fence where there were small gaps. We are coming up to Bambi season. I didn't want a baby deer to squeeze under the fence then the mother to go crazy trying to rescue her offspring. I want to avoid someone getting hurt or something getting damaged.

Ron and I also strung heavy fishing line from tree to tree, about knee height over well-trodden deer paths. The idea is to deflect the deer from their established routes before they get to the fence. They walk into the line and feel it at their knees. Not being able to see what it is that they feel they turn back and take a different path. It is going to be interesting to see how long it takes for the deer to establish new grazing paths in the areas we have not fenced.

How long does it take to build a deer fence?

It depends on the terrain and how long the fence is.

This deer fence took the team a month to construct.

Fencing Donnington Food Forest

The dear deer are wondering what is happening. 

They are creatures of habit and their foraging paths are being disrupted. They are confused.

The Nordic Fencing team is doing an excellent job.

Cutting pipe to length.

The fence needs to be 8 feet high to keep these agile jumping deer outside.

An impressive array of specialised shovels, diggers, and other tools is carried on the back of the truck.

The back of the truck tray has an ingenious concrete making set up.

They are able to make a small batch of concrete, tip it into a wheelbarrow or bucket then carry it to the fence post hole for filling. This method results in minimal disturbance of the forest underground. We really appreciate the care they are all taking.

This looks like a graffiti artists kit but it is what a fencer uses to mark post locations.

The fencing project continues and we see the progress being made each day. It is getting closer to the day when I will be able to plant something and wake up in the morning to find it is still there.

Backyard Project and Work in the Studio

Ron and Nordic Fencing team leader, Mat, plan the location of the deer fence along the south boundary.

Nathan is digging trenches for irrigation pipes.

The main pipe will be located under the path going around the pergola and arbor. If there is ever a problem with the pipe it can be dug up without disturbing any garden beds.

Meanwhile, I am collecting leaf skeletons from under the tulip trees.

The damp conditions are ideal for the soft parts of the leaf to rot away leaving the leaf skeleton in tact.

After washing and laying the leaves out to dry...

...I am sewing them onto an embroidered afternoon tea cloth that spent a year or so outside wrapped around a tree trunk. I have been adding leaves to this cloth for the past couple of years. The repair of the decayed cloth with darned leaves speaks of how leaves fall to nourish and repair the soil, the skin of the earth. I will keep adding to the cloth for another season or so to demonstrate how soil building is a long term continual process.

The work is called, 'Earth Repair.'

The hyacinths are blooming in the studio bed. There is such a lovely smell as I come and go from the Green Shed.

Now that the winter rains have eased we can continue with the Backyard Project tasks

Back Yard Project: Fences and Mulches

It was an exciting day when the Nordic Fencing team arrived to begin building the deer fence. Over the 6 years we have lived here the deer population has exploded. The deer eat every new shoot that comes out of the ground preventing all plant succession happening in the forest. I had given up buying plants because it was like laying out a buffet for them. They are particularly hungry in the spring and eat everything, the whole plant, not just a nibble like they used to.

We took our time making the decision about a deer fence because we didn't like the idea of being fenced in.

The design of the fence incorporates the buildings - my studio and the house acting as barriers to the deer entering the fenced area. We have placed the fence so it can't be seen (much) from the house.

This is Mike doing the hard job of digging holes for the posts.

He uses a manual digger, but not this one because it is Matt's, and so named.

The fencing team is very good about the minimal disturbance of the forest vegetation and understand we are fencing to protect the forest.

Meanwhile, the green manure crop is sprouting and covering the bare soil in the rock garden beds.

We got a delivery of straw bails to use as a mulch to cover the soil after the green manure crop is dug into the soil. We don't want hay because that introduces grass seeds to the garden beds. In the forest ecosystem, we are working to eliminate bacteria supported grasses and encouraging fungal dominant soils.