Desolation Sound Inspiration

Our summer holiday this year was spent sailing along the Pacific North West coast and on up into Desolation Sound

I saw lots of inspiring land-seascapes

But I think I feel a bird series coming on

Articulation, Bridging Waters Exhibition

Here is my Postcards From Fundy series where I looked at the history of human settlement in the Bay of Fundy through the textiles the people made, wore and used.

When people entered the gallery Wendy Klotz's "Lost at Sea" work greeted them. It was so moving to talk to a man who had worked as a fisherman in Nova Scotia in his youth.
Wendy's work is about the statistic that as a Nova Scotian fisherman you are 19 times more likely to die on the job than any other occupation. She knitted 19 fish.

Miriam Birkenthal's 'Fundy Algae' caused most people to put their faces very close to the work to more clearly see the details in her bead work.

Wendy thread painted a series as a memorial to the now closed Bay of Fundy lighthouses.
Barbara McCaffrey made a series of small 3-dimensional studies of bivalve shells, found as ancient fossils in the Bay of Fundy and still found on beaches today.

Articulated Materials: Bridging Waters Exhibition by Articulation and Material Girls

The 1st showing in Canada of the Articulated Materials: Bridging Waters exhibition opens in a month, at the Cre8ery Gallery in Winnipeg.

The name of the exhibition explains how the it came about and also it's content.

Articulated Materials - Articulation, a Canadian group of fibre artists teamed up with a similar group called Material Girls, based in London, UK, to produce separate bodies of work to be shown together.

Bridging Waters: Each group chose an iconic waterway in their respective country to research. Articulation chose the Bay of Fundy and Material Girls chose the River Thames.

The resulting bodies of work are both contemporary, personal responses to the water ways and they tell stories of the long history of human interaction with the physical environment.

The 'bridging' part happens when Articulation's work was sent to London and toured galleries over 2012, then was sent back to Canada with the Material Girls' work for a 3-gallery tour across Canada over 2014.

The 'bridging' also happens when the viewer makes connections between the two bodies of work.

Donna Clement designed the poster using an image of Ingrid Lincoln's work.

Both are Articulation members.

Marina Reflections and Bull Kelp

While down at a marina on an overcast day I captured these great reflections of boat rigging and a moody sky.

There is just a hint of colour.

Bull kelp adrift.

I recently bought this bull kelp and otter bone basket made by Maggie Squiresmaggiesquires.net I
put it at our front entrance so all visitors have the chance to admire it.

Mimkwamlis, Village Island

I also read Totem Poles and Tea by Hughina Harold, a teacher and nurse who worked in the village for 2 years in the 1930s. 

The Mamalillikulla people have left their village and now it is being covered by berry plants, wild mint and old fruit trees.

From the sea the location of the village is marked by the bright white midden shell beach.

Closer inspection of the beach reveals much beach glass and pieces of pottery and porcelain.  

I picked up a few mementos and plan to incorporate them into a work about my visit.

Ocean Wildlife

As 1st mate on the boat I usually pull up anchor.
One morning I saw seaweed wrapped around the anchor. 

On closer inspection I saw it was a gigantic starfish either fighting with the anchor...

...or making love with it.

We saw 3 different types of whales in the distance and hundreds of dolphins close up.

This one played around the bow of the boat for a long time.
We watched each other.
I know I smiled a lot.

One morning a generous skipper, who moored next to us over night, gave us a bucket of prawns from his trap.

A few hours later, his steamed prawns made a delicious lunch.

Sea Reflections

While we were on our annual sailing trip exploring the Pacific North West coast I took pictures of the shoreline reflected in the sea. 

This shot I didn't rotate because it made such an interesting mirror reflection pattern.

 

The different compositions change the mood of the shot.
There is lots of potential in looking at the concept of reflection and mirroring.

R & R On the Devon Coast

After a demanding graduation week in London, we spent a relaxing and rejuvenating week on the Devon coast, based in the idyllic beach resort village of Budleigh Salterton.
I like that the woman is wearing the same colours as the beach huts are painted.

 

 

 

Beach art using the famous Budleigh Salterton beach pebbles. 

The vernacular Devon boat

A picture-perfect village.
Again, those soft English colours.

Val Cross BA(Hons) Embroidered Textiles

 

 

 

 

Wrapping the 4 Trees Again

Arbutus


Maple

Douglas-fir

Cedar