Summer of Crafts & Kids

In a few days time I’ll have completed my 4400km journey from the Eastern Coast to the very middle of Canada. Yes, I’m going to Northern Saskatchewan. Why? Because, my nieces, nephew, eldest sister and her pregnant belly (who all live on the exact opposite side of the world from me) are making the 12,500km trip, so the least I could do is to meet them there.

Playing the role of Aunty Meags is a pretty great gig. I get to spend all my time reading out loud, making crafts, and for one week I will scarcely check my email inbox and not feel bad about it.

Each time I see the kids I come up with some handmade gifts and some craft ideas we can make together. The girls love playing dress-up so I made each of the kids (including the one yet to be born) a gender neutral mask of a Canadian animal.

In the last month I’ve also rekindled an old favourite past time that I’m excited to pass on to my nieces and nephew. With a dedicated friend in Halifax I’ve relearnt how to play Cat’s Cradle! If I search back far enough into my memory I think I may have learnt this classic game at my grandparent’s cabin on this lake in Northern Saskatchewan and I’m happy to pass the tradition on.

Back from the Woods

I spent the month of February in Saskatchewan, most of that time I was in a cabin on a lake near Prince Albert National Park, up north. I was there all by myself to work on art in an internet-less, cellphone-less and more or less distraction-less environment. I chose to go this lake because my great grandparents bought a cabin there many years ago and the area has hosted five generations worth of family reunions. I spent many of my childhood summers there and I was interested to return as an adult, this time in the starkness of winter and without the company of dozens of family members. In my art practice I’m interested in origin points, familial history and personal meccas; I felt like this place deserved some time and meditation. While there, I worked on a series of landscape paintings (not my usual medium), sorta as a means of reflection, while simultaneously I brewed about other larger, more conceptual projects. I was also interested in being a “Canadian artist” and what that means in a historical context. I couldn’t help but think of the members of the Group of Seven painting the great Canadian wilderness as a means of understanding it. The experience was a very rich and rewarding one, partially for the paintings I did but mostly for the time I had to think about the direction of my practice.

Here are two of the ten oil paintings I made. I’ve sold all the pieces to fuel the next leg of my travels.