An Urban Sketcher Hits the Street

With the Wolfe Island Gallery  closed indefinitely, the idea came to me to use the main Street in the Village of Marysville to exhibit large versions of the sketches I did last winter and spring of the islands and village.  The exhibit title is FARM VILLAGE LAKE as the 24 drawings describe the cultural landscape of Marysville, Wolfe and Simcoe Islands. I reflects my ongoing fascination with development patterns and how they are changing the Ontario Landscape.

The drawings went up in time for Canada Day, including a couple of title sheets which give the url for an explanatory web site.  I deliberately worked fast, standing, with a broad marker to keep the energy of the small original sketches.  I pleased that the scale and number of panels gives the exhibit the right amount of presence on the street.

So far the tyvek is holding up well and villagers assure me that its unlikely that any will be stolen, although I'm sure they'll be a little fatigued by Labour Day.

Scaling Up for an Installation

Several months ago I bought a lovely sketchbook and some new fountain pens and have filled it almost exclusively with line drawings of Wolfe and Simcoe Islands.

There was no plan, other than a sort of fixation with the islands and the village of Marysville in particular and faith that it would lead to something else.  Along the way, I joined the Wolfe Island Gallery, which is an artists co-operative in the village, again with no clear idea of just what I would display.  When word came through that the Gallery would not physically open this summer, a purpose for the drawings

occurred to me, as I had hoped it might.

In the absence of the Gallery, I decided to redraw the little sketches on 3' x 4' sheets of durable tyvek and lace those as banners along the main street of Marysville.  This is also the prompt I needed to do much larger, stand-alone pieces, which will be better suited to exhibition than my tiny little bound sketchbook, not to mention omit the seam of the 2 page spreads.

The photos are of my tiny 6" x 9" sketchbook,

selecting from photocopies which sketches to re-draw and a 3' x 4' test enlargement.

Holey Buildings

Abandoned barns are a common site on Wolfe Island.  Often the farm itself is still working but the barn has no utility now that the large hay bales are wrapped and left outside.  More often the whole complex is abandoned as smaller farms are consolidated, hedgerows and fences removed to create  into massive open fields.

What caught my eye, here on Simcoe Island, was a single long plank propping up a large barn.  I didn't enter the property, but had I walked closer to the barn you can bet I wouldn't walk under that corner!

Nine Mile Point Lightstation

As a Sailor, I have rarely been close enough to a lighthouse to read the Canadian Coast Guard sign that identifies them as a "Lightstation".   I suppose this is more accurate as most are unoccupied and if there is a house associated, its probably been sold or rented and has nothing to do with the actual operation or maintenance.  And, for that matter, if we're going to be all sticky about describing the contemporary function, should it not be the 14.48 Kilometre Point Lightstation?

Simcoe Island is much smaller than Wolfe Island but large enough to be connected with a year round ferry operated by the Township.  I know it from the water, having sailed the channel between the two islands and also passing the lighthouse on the west end on the Kingston side.  

Technically it marks the division of Lake Ontario from the St. Lawrence River, and to a sailer often the lee of the islands from the waves across the long fetch of Lake Ontario.  This last week there have been clouds of midges - tiny flies - that are mildly annoying especially if you breath some in, but don't bite.  The smudges on the page are a couple of those that gave thier lives for art.