Working on The Black Cedar, Fairy Creek Blockade, Port Renfrew, BC. 2021
Only small vestiges of the Ancient Old Growth remain in British Columbia and there are private interests that wish to liquidate that natural heritage for their own enrichment. The Fairy Creek Blockade was the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian History and for my part, I came to paint portraits of the Ancient Cedars. For me this was an act of conservation, to document these incredible beings for posterity. I made five portraits in total, each one taking up to two weeks to make, camping in the woods in the evenings.
Second Growth, Francis King Park
For two weeks in December 2020 I returned to this second growth forest in Francis king Park near Victoria, BC to paint. I was interested in this view because this forest has recovered naturally from logging that would have happened perhaps 100 years ago, complete with a range of ages and species of trees, fungi and mosses and in the sunny patches, salal and other leafy plants. Modern clear cut logging destroys the forest and tree planting simply replaces it with a plantation, not a forest. This little part of the forest demonstrates the potential for nature to recover and heal.
Old Cemetery, Uplands Park
For over 12 years I worked seasonally in habitat restoration in the Garry Oak meadows around Victoria, BC. Very little remains of this fragile ecosystem with its extremely rare plants due to habitat loss and invasive plant species. While we worked to remove invasive species to preserve these last fragment of natural meadows, I learned that for thousands of year the Lekwungen Speaking Peoples also worked these meadows in the cultivation of camas, an important food source and it was also here in this place that they interred their dead under stone cairns. The natural state of this ecosystem has always involved humans.
House of Painters Past
During the International Symposium of Contemporary Art in Baie St. Paul Quebec, I chose spaces that exemplified the coalescence of the human and more than human. This small cottage was located on the former property of a well known artist from the past named René Richard and he would invite guest artists to his property to paint including members of Canadas, Group of Seven. I stood and painted this old cottage for several days, all the while feeling like I was in conversation with painters from the past. Collection of the Musee d’art Contemporaine de Baie St. Paul.
Working on Old Road, Joe Henry Highway
During a two week residency at Tombstone Territorial Park in the Yukon, I stayed in a wall tent in the camp ground at night and painted during the day. I created a makeshift easel out of some poles and some scrap lumber and affixed a 5x6 foot canvas and I chose this view of the Tombstone Mountains. In the foreground is part of the original route of the Dempster Highway, which was scouted by Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Elder Joe Henry. I had become good friends with Joe Henry’s granddaughter, Artist and Elder, Jackie Olson so I named this painting in honour of her and her Grandfather. In the foreground the old gravel road bed was now rewilding with lichen, moss and fireweed and would soon become reintegrated into the natural landscape.