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2 - DECKS AWASH 

special section 

Visual Arts in Newfoundland

very helpful in explaining things. The Department of 

Transportation is fixing up the road from my house and 

moving the ....'hate to the site , and engtneers are working 

on the pod: ' 

' ...'hile this project has occupied much of Bill's energy, 

he has found the time to enjoy a lifestyle others might 

find exhausting. Bill has always enjoyed the outdoors and 

avoids being regimented. He keeps a rounded interest 

in life and spends as much time kayaking and canoeing 

as possible. 

"I'm interested in all kinds of art and just living here 

is exciting," he reports. "HOYr' often do people elsewhere 

see a huge bull moose walk by the window, watch marsh 

hawks soaring around or observe humpback wha les 0(( 

the clifftop? That's what gets me going. 1drew and painted 

when 1 was young, a nd then went to a rt school at 

Sheridan College in Brampton, Fa nshawe College in London, 

Ontario, a nd the Nova Scotia College of Art a nd Design. 

I got into pri ntm aking because you could ta ke your 

time learn ing a skill and experimenting much more than 

you could pa inting. 

"I did etching for a long time then had access to good 

lithograph)' instruction. 1 took it further for my master 

printer training in Thronto and now I custom pri nt for 

people in town. I've been involved with St. Michael's 

Printshop for six years and that's what I'm known for, 

but I'm uneasy about being locked into one thing. In the 

evening 1do watercolors and 1take a lot of photographs. 

I really believe you can't sit in a studio a nd make artif 

1 don't go out and get excited 1 can't produce art," 

Bill was in Labrador for seven years which really 

turned him on to painting although his main products 

A combination of pleasure and work 

Ben Hansen was born in Copenhagen, Denm ar k. 

when he first came to Canada in the ea rly 19505he lived 

in 'toronto and soon moved to Montreal a fter meet ing his 

wife, Joyce. Seven of thei r eight childre n were born in 

Montrea l, but the eighth was bor n in Newfoundland after 

the family moved from Quebec in the late 19605. Hansen 

is a common name in Sca ndinavia but not in 

Xewtcundland. where Ben's na me has become sy nonomous 

with scenic photography for the last 20 years, 

"I was an only child so there aren't all that many of 

my family left in Denmark, but I've done my bit to keep 

the name going-four boys a nd four girls," Ben jokes. 

Ben's job in Montreal required a lot of travelling and 

he ....'3.5looking for something a bit less hectic, 

"My job was very demanding physica lly because I 

was always flying to do aerial photogra phy for a large 

manufacturer and 1 needed something more sedate." 

Ben recalls. "Also. the French language situation was 

de\-eloping in Quebec . 1had already learned one new language 

and 1 would have had to learn another, so 1 .....as 

ready to move. Afriend just happened to come along with 

a clipping of a job opportunity for a film ca me raman 

here at Memorial University in Newfoundla nd 

"My first work was in 16-mm film for Educat ional Televis 

ion, but the adve nt of por tab le video with its speed 

a nd cheapness mea nt that 16-mm film work was soon 

phased out. ' had to do something diffe re nt if ' wasn't 

going to be out of a job. It just happened tha t the re was 

a demand on campus for a still photogra pher at P hotographic 

Services. I also travelled around the country- 

DECKS AWASH - 5 

of that time were prints. He will continue the Labrador 

connection this .....inter. 

"I lived just south of xatn in Zorn and travelled 

around Davis Inlet and the interior," Bill tells us. "I've 

al ways painted wildlife even at art school and did a series 

of prints on seals at Sable Island. Righi nov.'I'm doing 

watercolors on movtng water and waterbirds. I'm 

also doing one on murres at Cape St. Mary's and started 

an etching-lithograph in the spring-it's of a leatherback 

turtle and measures 44 by 30 inches. 

"I'm off to Cape Dorset to do work for the Eskimo 

Co-opthe day the whale is finished, and Gilbert Hay, who 

collaborated with me on the print series, is coming from 

labrador-the first time in two years that I've seen him." 

Bill prefers to work alone. but he is not a loner by any 

mea ns. He has helped many other printmakers and enjoys 

looking at othe r people's work . 

"I'm not talk-or-iented. and, if I go to an arts confe rence 

of a ny kind, there have to workshops thai w ill help 

me," Bill comments. "Being an artist is being se lfish, 

although anyone who engages in art activity is important 

so I try to be supportive of the arts community. 

There aren't many professional printmakers so we have 

to band together. But. if there's an art gallery reception 

or a chance to go kayaking one evening . "II go kayaking 

every time . 

'" ....'ant to make prints this winter, bull have so many 

ideas and thingsto do.I might have to get a place in town 

and keep this place open as a studio . 1was only grounded 

once last winter ," Bill concludes with a grin as .... e set 

out back down the hill to the comforts he has shun ned 

to be at home in the hills. " 

Ben Hansen (photo courtesy Jack Martin, Universi ty Photog 

raphi c Service s), 

side a lot shooti ng on a very casual and random basis 

• in my spare tim e. Before I knew it, , had a few blackand-white 

pictures that were in demand


" The White Fleet " (PhOIO co urtesy of Ben Hansen). 

that were in demand" 

The die had been cast-Ben' s name soon became 

well-known and he switched to color photography as color 

film became more a fforda ble. reliable and popular. Ben 

has never been particularly equipment conscious and 

sees his equipment as the equivalent of a writer's type 

writer. 

"You might ha ve a favor ite piece of equipment. but 

I a lways ca rry three lenses -ctelephoto. wide angle and 

normal lens. Pretty soon a zoom lens will take care of 

everything, a lthough there isn 't one for the larger format 

ca mera I use: ' he adds . 

Ben doesn't see him self as a photographic artist, 

although those who have bought his prints might argue 

the point. 

" There ar e times you have to be quick and there are 

limes you don't have a choice of angles. but you can easily 

use a whole roll tlf film on one building by switching 

a ngles and lenses, " Ben notes. "I like the morn ing and 

evening for sce nic work because there are crisper 

shadows. A beautiful, br ight day with the sun overhead 

is not much good. Some times I use the natur al and mysterious 

alchemy of fog and mist to transm it the beauty 

of oulport subjects. The photographs of today are no 

different from the caw paint ings of the Stone Age-just 

a different medium." 

Color photography is more dema nding of the photographer 

and there is less leew ay. 

"With black -and -white film you need worry only 

abo ut contrast and density, but with color film there's 

a very fine line between right and wrong." Ben admits. 

" People are SOused to looking at what they consider acceptable 

colors that they kIlO">" there's something wrong 

even if thev don't know exactlv what it is. Kodachrome 

has always set the standard, aithough the colors are too 

rich from my point of viN'-1 like the more subtlecolors. 

I shoot color negatives because you have more latitude 

in exposure, and in the last 10years print reproduction 

has Improved to the point where it's no longer necessary 

to work from slides for calendars and books:' 

Like most photographers, Ben has taken his share of 

portraits but he prefers the more casual and informal 

nature of sceni c photography, 

" I enjoyed weddings because people are at their best . 

but it's amazing how people ,)'ou expect to be in control 

of themselves are terribly nervous ..'hen they have their 

picture taken . It's jus t like being at the dentist-there's 

no es ca pe from the ca me ra," Ben laughs, "There are 

people here who avoid ha ving their photo taken unless 

it's absolutely necessary and others who want their photo 

taken every three months. I understand there's a new 

version of the tri via game with photos of prominent Newfoundlanders, 

so quite a few of those peop le will ha ve to 

sit in front of a camera," 

Ben 's enthusiasm has affected many of those with 

whom he comes into contact. All of his children are using 

photography on a practical basis-one son is a n engtneer 

who uses it for his work , and his daughter Sarah 

is thinking of taking it up as a career. Ben is a lso in demand 

as a speaker on photography for the Memorial 

University Speakers Bureau. a lthough he has never felt 

cut out to teach photography, His real enjoyment has always 

been travelling and taking photographs. and his 

latest project takes advantage of this , 

" I thought I'd run out of places to visit and at firs t 

believed people who told me, 'Newfoundland's a n island 

and you'll feel fenced in', But I could start tomorrow all 

eweragain and never get tired of places. " Ben states with 

conviction. "Last yea r I took rive major trips for a 

book-there's so much to choose from that I couldn't visit 

every nook and cranny but I do like Notre Dame Bay. 

The book will be titled simply ,'I,'evol oundJand and will 

have 108color pictures in it," 

Ben found it very difficult to decide what to include 

in the book, but he knows what people want in ter ms of 

subject and photo qua lity. 

"TIle kind of thing that sells may cause people to say 

it looks almost like a painting, and I take tha t as a compliment. 

I' ve done a lot of arty stuff and it sits there 

gathering dust , but some pictures kee p se lling because 

they have that certain at mosphere," he suggests. "Some 

of the people who paint realistic scenes may well be excellent 

photog rap hers because the creativity is in seeing 

things in the first place. 

"Out port scenes are very popular and I would like 

to put out a second book on the m alone. but my wife told 

me to get the first one finished , She has trave lled with 

me in the car whe n ['m ta king photogr aph s and learned 

to inte rpret my 'I' ll be bac k in a couple of minutes 

I'm just going a round the cor ner' as a chance to listen 

to her Walkma n. You have to be pa tient, but it ca n be 

wort h it. We ma de a trip by boat on the south coast that 

took 20 hou rs eac h way but I loved ge tting in and out of 

places and meeting people. It was a combinati on of pleasure 

and work and I used eight or nine photographs from 

the tr ips in my book." 

" Nelso n Plirsons ot Woody Point " (Photo courtesy ot Ben 

Hansen ).

importance of Ihe life forces around her-Ihe water and 

land and air. 

When Anne looks out her windowall the elements arc 

in front of her. 

"To me the land here is like the skeleton of the world. 

it's not dressed up. prettied upand tidied up. It's the way 

it's supposed to be. There in all its primitive energy and 

strength. 

"I think it's more poignant here than anywhere else, 

because it's less destroyed here." 

Not evervone sees these elements in her work. 

"Some people lell me they'd really like my work if 

I left out all those funny squiggles and odd colors. Bul 

that's really my language...and if I'm talking about life 

force and movement, then I do it through my language, 

which is: color, form, line, brush and strokes. I have to 

create a visual language to show my concern for the environment. 

Like you wood! 

John Sharpe, 73, and his wife Susa n, 63, both grew up 

on the east coast of Ne...vtoundlan d but now call Stephenville 

home. John was horn in Victoria, Conception Bay, 

the son of a section man on the railway. For 40 years the 

family travelled around and didn't have a permanent 

home until John's fat her retired. Susan grew up in 

Green 's Harbou r, Trinity Bay, and ca n't remember exactly 

how she met Jo hn. 

"She stole me away from my girlfrie nd," John laughs. 

"I'm 10years older and I babysat her when I was 15," 

Susan disputes John's version, but confides you can't 

live together -16years without disagreeing once in a while. 

John can remember his younger days when times 

were quite hard, espec ially for his father, 

"II was very differe nt growing up in Victoria -we 

were only 70 miles from St. Jo hn's but it took two days 

to get there." he recalls. "There were no parkas in those 

days. My father would put his oil clothes on inside his 

canvas jacket and when he came home four or five days 

later there was nothing but scraps left." 

His vivid memories of those days help explain John's 

fascination with old Newfoundland scenes which he 

recreates with realistic woodsculptures. Although he has 

really only been concentrating on sculpture for the last 

10years, John has always had a n interest in painting. 

"There was a n uncle who could ma ke instruments 

like violins, but he's the only rela tive I know of who was 

. 

John and Susan Sharp e be side a Christ ma s mang er Jo hn 

has co mpleted lor a local churc h. 

DECKS AWASH _ 9 

But even if you don't understand her work you will 

find yourself drawn to it She uses bright colors and 

"squiggles" going through a scene, making it vibrant and 

alluring, She recently finished three large acrylic works 

Ihat were commissioned for the new Radisson Plaza 

Hotel and Convention Centre in St. John's. '1\'.'0of them 

are 8 feet by 6 feet. 

She's very much at home in her new surroundings 

at St. Michael's. 

From her nine-feet-hig h wi ndows. she can see the 

waves brea king in the Atlantic, birds fly over the water 

and rest on a nearby isla nd, a cow munching on her overgrown 

lawn a nd the nar row road running through the 

community. There's a sense of space and time lessness. 

Th a woman who makes her living by pai nting her 

surroundings. the view an d retu rn to Newfoundland are 

both necessary. 

artistic," John says. " I came here with the U.S.Air Force 

in 1944 a nd was nearl y 23 years with them until 1966. I 

was 52years old when the base closed, and then I worked 

secu rity with the Mounties for four years a nd my last 

10years of work were in hea vy equipment until I ret ired 

in 1979. 

" I loved painting and never had the urge to work in 

wood. The first wood I whittled was 10 years ag o when 

I was working at the hea vy equipment school here, I've 

been very happy here in Stephenville-we have everything 

we need." 

But John and Susan felt the urge to dabble in art when 

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have energy left over for your own work. There are a 

number of people with degrees in fine art , but it's differ 

ent being a teacher. One local school board has several 

art teachers, while the other has very few." 

When she finished teaching Aileen became more sen 

ous about her art, 

" I kept drawing but I had sma ll children and didn 't 

reall y do very much . Since the children left I've been 

drawing more. The Ewing Galler)' is really wonderlul-I 

don't think I would have pursued art in a commercial 

way or tried selling my art if it hadn't been for Tesslooking 

for artwork," Aileen admits. 

"For me working in .....atercolors or from models , 

thingshappen more by accident than design, Withwatercolors 

it works or it doesn't -that can mean lots of wasted 

paper; I see it all as a learning experience. Some people 

use egg tempera but I've never done it that way, I've 

sta rted working with acrylic which is more forgiving." 

Aileen and her friends get sup plies from catalogues 

and order as a group. They' order in bulk from 

wholesa lers and an art supply store Anne Meredi th Bar 

ry suggested . 

" We would have liked to gtve that business to some 

one in Newfoundland . but freight is expensive and in, 

creases the price too much for anyone to take on," Aileen 

notes. 

There may be enough business once the School of 

Fine Art opens next year to encourage an enterprising 

entrepreneur to consider setting up on the west coaia 

Art and science in harmony 

Carl Stevenson, 48, was born into an artistic family 

in Ha rbour Grace. His father, W.H, Stevenson. who was 

born in Bonavtsta. encouraged him at an early age, and 

Carl is particularly pleased to have held a joint exhibit 

with his father in his home town in 1980. 

"Art is very much a tradition in the family a nd started 

with my grandmother on my father 's side-she was 

a Downer from Fogo," earl notes. "On my mother's side, 

Uncle Will was also an artist. My gra ndfather worked 

as a clerk for one of the Harbour Grace merchants and 

the Stevensons were outfitters to the shipowners. so 

there's always been a connection with the sea ," 

The family traditions are wry evident in Carl's paint 

ngs and etchings . He works in oil, watercolor, graphite, 

cha rcoal. and also does etchings, 

when we visit earl in S1.John 's he is in the proces s 

Carl Ste venson

and they were accepted. Tim. 19, was fortunate at Booth 

Memorial in having Ian Sparkes as a teac her. He has just 

had his firs t exhibition here a nd is off to the mainland 

next fall to st udy for a Fine Arts degree. 

"We're all involved in music, too.Two boys played in 

the youth orchestra. John, who is in engineering, plays 

viola a nd Chris plays clarinet. Rac hel, 13, loves to dra w 

a nd plays piano a nd clarinet Weha ve some fun Christmastlme, 

but it's not music a ll the time." 

The combination of science' and ar t may seem 

strange, but Carl finds the two ha ve a lot in common. 

" Art a nd scie nce are very closely connected-the 

physics enables me to look at things fact ua lly a nd see 

wha t's going on in a scene ," he suggests. " Music brings 

in the harmonies-harm ony exists in colors a nd sounds. 

The connect ions have always been there. Leonardo da 

Vinci is an obvious example-he came up with fan tastic 

inventions with his art. We're all more scientific than 

artistic, which is a nice combination. Most of the violists 

in the Newfoundla nd Symphony Orchestra are mathematicia 

ns or engi neers and several other sec tions have 

scientists." 

Despite a professed lack of time for his visua l a rt, 

Carl has been ab le to orga nize exhibitions a t local galler 

ies a nd the Holiday Inn for the last 12 years. His work 

Combining art and admin istration 

Susan Wood,who is acting as co-ordinator of Memori 

al University's Extension Arts progra m, has been a 

fam iliar face to us since 1984when she started teaching 

pa inting and draw ing courses - main ly individual adult 

tutorials-although she has helped with children's classes 

in the Art Gallery. 

"Being an adm inistrator has cut into my studio time 

although 1 have got some artwork done this yea r," Susa 

n tells us, but admits she finds the job interes ting and 

eventful. 

Susan grew up in Amhers t, Nova Scotia, where her 

father was an elect ronics wholesa ler, although she was 

born in Saint John, Nev.·Brunswick, moving to north ern 

New Brunswick at the age of five. Art has always played 

a n important part in her life, ta king her from the Maritimes 

to western Canada and back to the eas t coast. 

" I can't remember when I wasn't interes ted in a rt 

although we didn't have an a rt program in school," Susa 

n reports. "I produced posters a nd designed the 

newspaper, and 1guess I would have been listed as 'most 

Susan Wood 


" The Basin, Conception Harbour" - an etching by Carl 

Stevenson. 

is also in four galleries now-Spurrell, Ewi ng, Polyanna 

a nd the lbpsail Gallery, which Art Reid opened at the 

end of August on WoodPath Road in Chamberlains. He's 

also featured in a package of four Chr istmas cards he 

has donated for the Ca nadia n Cancer Society. All this 

translates into quite an output for even a full-time ar 

tist , let alo ne a part-time one. 

likely to succeed in art' but 1 also took part in theatre 

and sports, 

"I became involved in waterco lors at school in Amherst, 

a nd 1 took an art class when I was in Grade 5. 

There were no exhibitions then, but when the winter carnival 

was on I would visit the ar t gallery and look at the 

ice sculptures. There was always something to look forward 

to." 

As a teenager Susan 's mother painted in the Annapolis 

Valley of Nova Scotia but didn 't have much time to 

pa int while looking afte r a large famil y and working as 

a nurse , but the artistic inheritance passed to Susa n. 

" I applied to Mount Allison University and was accepted 

the second year after going to King's College, 

Halifax , for a year of general arts courses," she reca lls. 

" 1graduated as a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1976an d did 

graduate work in Alberta, which was like a differen t 

country to me. I found it difficult at first , but things pulled 

together over the winter , There were 14participants in 

the Banff winter studio program. We didn' t rece ive 

marks, diplomas or deg rees , but we met visiting ar tists 

a nd developed our styles , I worked in the Arts Centre over 

the summer, 

"My husband , Stephen, returned to school in Calgary 

and I look on a job in industrial silkscreeni ng. I soon rea lized 

that wasn 't what I wanted to do, Chemical s were 

everywhere and I'd arrive home an abs olute mess. I was 

glad when I was ab le toleave an d take on designing custom 

T-shirts , which gave me more crea tive freedom and 

enabled me to work at home. Eventuall y I decided. to go 

back to graduate school at the University of Calgary for 

a new two-yea r Master of Fine Arts program in 1979. 1 

taught at the Alberta College of Art in Calgary for two 

years after that a nd maintained. a st udio." 

Susan and Stephen moved to the Universit y of Calgar 

y's fam ily housing which was two minute s by bike 

from his physical geography office on the third floor and


her studio on the sixth floor. Graduate schoo l gave her 

two years of st udio space and time to do art, plus experience 

in teaching and some academic work . It also 

changed her views on art school and her focus in a rt. 

" The art school pai nting program tended to be very 

art- a history laden and the compet ition was fierce, " Susa 

n commenls with a wry smile. " I painted in spite of 

myself but began to enjoy other media more. Eventually 

1 found myse lf gelling interested in pape r making. 1 

now work a lot with handmade paper, which means using 

paper as a medium rather than just something to 

paint on. In Calgary I had access t4l equipment that could 

make paper out of things like cot ton diapers and blue 

jean s, but that kind of equipment is expensive. 

" When we moved , I recycled paper into thick pulp 

using the kitchen blender, which disappeared tomy studio 

upstairs. Some of the work from 1979 is starting to 

disintegrate now, so I orde r my pape r from special su pply 

houses in the USA where the interest in handmade 

paper started. There is now a n Interna tional Associatio n 

of Handmade Paper Makers and a worldwide resurgence 

in interest. In my drawi ng classes I ta lk about pape r and 

bring in a range of papers to explain costs , When I put 

in my orders I get some oddball papers just to see what 's 

new. Most people see paper maki ng as a craft, and teac h 

it a s such , but it's very much part of my art. " 

Art is also very much part of Susan's.family life. 

David , 4, a nd James, 1, have grown up In St. John's surrounded 

by art, and David is already showing an interest 

in drawing and pai nting . 

" He's ver y interested in sc ience a nd art and a lways 

has paper, markers a nd crayons out, " Susan reports. 

" He's been fascinated by marine life. especially whales, 

Between earth and sky 

Although Marcie Campbell of Stephe nville did n't 

rea lly get ser ious about painting until her three children 

were teenagers, she has always had an interest in art 

since her childhood in Paradise, Placentia Bay. 

" I lived with my grandmother who introduced me to 

seeing thing s arou nd me," Marcie says. "She couldn't 

enjoy them much herself beca use she was so busy, but 

she always pointed them out to me. 1 liked to draw and 

admired paintings 1saw in magazines. 1couldn't live in 

a small community today, but it did mea n you had tocre 

ate your own entertainment." 

Marcie always wanted to paint, a nd moved to 

Step henville in 1954to finish school at St. Stephen's High 

School where there was art once a week . Her firs t involvement 

in an courses was at Hannon Air Force Base. 

After that she took courses for eig ht or nine years from 

Memorial Univers ity's Extension Service. Then Bay St. 

George Community College sta rted a fine arts progra m. 

" It was something I had been waiti ng for for years," 

Marcie reca lls. " I was one of the first studenls in the fine 

arts program. I have concentrated on painting, although 

we did everything at the ar t schoo l. 

" I worked mos tly in oils until I took the visua l arts 

courses when I beca me interested in acrylics, which I 

use now. My interest cha nges from time to lime. I could 

do landscapes for two month s and then get into other 

idea s. The courses broadened my outlook and I started 

thinking in terms of new conce pts." 

Marcie often creates work from photograp hs people 

" Large Devll' s Purse " by susan Wood , carbon and watercolo 

r on paper, 1985. Photo co urtesy Susan Wood. 

for a year and a half , and regard s a rt as something per 

fectly natural to be involved in. James is too young yet 

to develop any interest. " 11 

Marcie Campbell besi de one ot her atmospheric paintin gs. 

give her, but she has had only one exhibition a t Memorial 

University which was a joint exhibition with Gwen Larson 

's photographs. 

°'1was doing paper collages at the time-there were 

21pieces in the exhibit and 15of them were sold," Marcie 

notes. " It takes a lot of money to put on an exhibition 

." 

"Now she 's working on one in acr ylics-it's a bout the 

universe and is somewhat atmospheric resulting from 

her interest in astronomy, which she tries to incorporate 

into her Art. She doesn 't have a title for it, so .....e suggest 

" Betwee n Earth and Sky." Marcie ag rees to consider 

it. 

An idea sta ys with Marcie a long time before it's com -

" Dune desolation" from a color photograph by Blake Maybank 

. (Printe d by permission 01 Blake Maybank) 

tograp hs isn't driving me-it's only a part-time business 

so I have the luxury of waitin g until the time is right. 

Howserious am I about my photography'?Ththe extent 

I do it, I photograph seriously but I'm not going to be 

giving up my day job. It's a passionate hobby, but I'm 

nol convinced I want it to be my occupation. Photogra 

phy may be a way ofsupplementing whatever retirement 

income I might have. I'm also investigating other 

avenues in my other hobbies. I'm not sure which will 

Jay Barry changes direction 

" I've realized no mailer how much monev 'l OU make, 

you've never 'got any anyway." says J ay Bar ry, 

He and a friend came to this conclusion one night 

while drinking in a bar in Toronto. It was this reali zation 

that helped him decide to give up his full-lime job 

with Visual Arts Ontario and head for Newfoundland. 

Jay has a master's degree in Fine Arts from Concordia 

and a mind for planning. But despite his obvious tools 

for success in the world of administration he wants to 

paint full time. 

The zs-year-old is now living in his family's second 

home in 51. Michael's on the Southern Shore. They recently 

bought the old St. Michael's Prin tshop and renovated 

it to mak e it liveable . 

"Coming here is really out ofcharacter for me," says 

Jay . " I tend to be a planner. But we all have a spirit of 

adventure and while in the back of my head I knew 1was 

leaving a lot behind, this is where I want to be." 

dominate." 

Blake thinks slide film is still superior for reprod uction 

and it's easier tostore and file. It is expensive to get 

prints made and Blake sends his orders for prints to 

Winnipeg. 

" It's generally agre ed there isn't a company east of 

Montreal that can do it, but I think there is enough of 

a market for someone to set up in, say Halifax," Blake 

reasons . " I get intemegatives for print s and I can adjust 

the color balance at the approval stage to make the 

print more faithful to the slide. 1can indicate any crop. 

ping but I don't like physically manipulating the source. 

I almost always use a tripod so 1can crop before tak ing 

the picture . 

" Most of my photographs are still in slide format. I 

don't play around with different types of film-I tend to 

stick with Kodachrome 64because it has relative ly good 

speed and good color rendition . When 1sell prints I sell 

them unframed unless the buyer specifies a fra me. I 

often sell to friends and acquaintances and some prints 

have gone to Europe and New Zealand. I'm negotiating 

a deal with a compan y in Thronto to include some of my 

photos in their librar y. I made contact with them several 

years ago but poor health limited my photography and 

I re-initiated contact. " 

The scen ic beauty of the Bonne Bay area has drawn 

a number of visual artists in recent years and Blake can 

understand why,but there are drawbacks to painting and 

photographing in the area . 

.'There are days in the summer when visual artists 

are really frustrated by the hazeand mist in the air which 

renders all colors a sort of neutral blue-gray, so it is a 

tough park to photograph," he admits . "The climate can 

be inconvenient in term s ofsitting inside and waiting for 

a better day.Sunnydays inspring and fallare oftensharp 

like today but rarel y calm . Perhaps I have a sma ll advantage 

in living here year round. 

"Mountain park s in general ar e normally spectac ular 

and it's easy to take an impressiveshot with very little 

work. Youcan almost hold up your camera, close your 

eyes and shoot, but the best shots are taken after a lot 

of hard work, especially here in Bonne Bay where the 

weather doesn't a lways co-operate." 

Youcan feel how excited Ja y is when you speak to 

him, but you can also sense that the organized side of 

Jay is making him uncertain of his decision. 

He came here with his mother Anne 16years ago, 

when she was leaching at Hibb's Cove. And at that time 

he wanted to be an archeo logist, but admits that was 

probably only because the word was so big. 

"I would say the experience of being here probably 

convinced me to be an artist. There 's something about 

this place. II was really a kind of revela tion to me as a 

boy, 1 mean, Ihis is a whole other way of dealing with 

the world." 

He grew up in Toronto,which he describes as a ma nmade 

world. 

" Most of my work is based on the east coast of Newfoundland, 

which is another reason why 1wanted tocome 

here," explains Jay. 

This put him in a stra nge situatio n because he was

Jay Barry 

Call me an artist first 

The School of Fine Arts building on the Sir Wilfred 

Grenfell College campus in Corner Brook may be only 

a half-completed shell when we visit , but its director, 

Michael Coyne, is a lready in residence. As soon as he 

greets us and opens the door to his office, it is clear he 

is rig ht to say he is as an artist first, teacher second, and 

adm inistrator third. A desk covered with paints, brushes 

a nd a palette is the desk of an artist with work in 

progress rather tha n an administrator. 

Michael, 37, who was born a nd raised inSt. Ste phen, 

New Brunswick, is very proud of his Irish ancestry. 

"My ancestors came over from Irela nd 130or 140 

years ago," he reveals and takes out an article with his 

name in the original Gaelic spelling. "My name means 

the son of the barnacle goose, and it's something I'm very 

proud or." 

His interest in art developed at an early age under 

the influence of a father who was a bit of a n artist 

himself. 

" He was a sign painter and cartoonist, a nd he did portra 

its occasionally a lthough he was self-taught a nd not 

an accomplished painter as such," Michae l recalls. "I 

was drawing as soon as I was old enoug h to hold a pencil, 

but I didn't seriously consider becoming a n artist until 

after I finished high school." 

Students at that time had to take music . There was 

no art, a nd sports were extra-curricular, so there was no 

choice of activity at school. In his first year at Mount 

Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, Michael 

took his first art courses and became seriously interested 

in art. 

" My Bachelor of Fine Arts took four years and I then 

went to the University of Regina for my Master's 

degree." Michael continues.• ,I was looking for a different 

expe rie nce, a nd the move gave quite a change in outlook. 

I then went into teaching which I enjoy. Most artists 


working for 50 week s a yea r in Thronto as an administrator. 

Then he'd rush back to Newfoundland, spend his 

vacation sketching the sce nery and head hack to Turonto. 

And during the rest of the year all his work would be 

based on the sketches of Newfoundland 

"At a certain point it seemed to me to be crazy. Obviously 

the thing that intere sts me most a s an artist is 

the environment. And, in fact. living in Toronto, I was 

a stranger to the environment." 

Right now his life is up in the air . He'll be teaching 

art with MUN Extension besides painting, but beyond 

that he'll take things as they come . 

Jay works with shaped plywood so his paintings aren 

't on conventional four-sided canvases or paper. He 

cuts out the shape of the wood and paints it for a double 

effect. 

"I guess because the decision to come here was to 

a large extent emotional. that 's the yardstick by which 

I'll measure if I'm going to stay," says Jay. 

"The Newfoundland scenery is the motivation for my 

work. Like my mother, I'm happiest painting with the 

ocean in front of me without the pressures of full-time 

work. 

" If this place knocks me out as it always has then 

that's all that matters. Everything else will fall into 

place ." " 

Michaet Coyne In front of one of his painti ngs in his office. 

would ideally prefer to spe nd all their lime producing 

art, but I enjoy teaching and it's quite a good arrangement. 

I still have time to do my work .


\

public art gallerie s across the 

country. Noother gallery has the 

same range of activitie s. Our 

space situation is so desperat e 

that we have had to close down 

the art rental service. Our 

provincial exhibition service also 

has been suspended for space, 

sta ff and other reasons . It's just 

one result of the serious space 

and funding problems we've had 

to face. Children's workshops, 

which are enormously popular, 

have to be held in the Gallery to 

protect the artworks and this 

limits the scope of the workshops. 

" Most people don't realize how 

much effort goes into running an 

exhibition. Our exhibitions are 

booked 18 months to two year s 

ahead in terms of firm bookings. 

For major showswhere you need 

outside fundingyou might have to 

plan three or four year s ahead . 

We've already had approaches 

for space in 1990 and 1991. Some 

shows travel to mainland and international 

venues . Wehave five 

or six shows on the road here and 

nationally which involves information 

packages to different 

galleries, not to mention coordinating, 

crating, shipping and 

making other arrangements. 

There are only two 'curatorial' 

people to generate exhibitions, do 

public programming, write , design 

publications, advertising, 

etc., so we're using guest 

curators whichis goodfor all concerned 

by providing other viewpoints 

on Newfoundland art. " 

With so many exhibitions on 

the go, there are bound to be 

problems with packaging and 

delivery . While most have been 

resolvedquickly, Pat remembers 

a major international snag . 

"The David Blackwoodexhibition 

was a nightmare when we 

tried to get it here," she 

grimaces. " I had doubts we 

would get the exhibit here in 

time. I must admit Air Canada 

was very helpful once we were 

able to deal directly with them. In 

the end the exhibition got here 

about 12hours before the opening 

and we worked through the night 

to install it. I don't wish to repeat 

that episode." 

The Art Gallery's basic funding 

Display at the Sir Wilfred Grenfell College. (Photo courtesy of Don Meiwald) 

comes from Memorial University 

and there is virtually no other 

provincial government support. 

This means having to compete 

for grant s at the federal level, 

both exhibition assistance grants 

from the Canada Council and 

help from the National Museums 

of Canada with specific projec ts 

such as the curatorial internship 

program which pays someone to 

receive mid-career training while 

working for a year. The Galler y 

has just received its fourth internship 

grant. 

"We haven't done any fundraising 

with corpora tions, but 

we may well have to," Pat suggests 

. " We probably get as much 

as 75per cent of what we ask for 

DECKS AWASH .!-. 21 

from Canada Council and even 

more from the Nationa l Museums, 

but changes in Canada 

Council funding patterns mean 

we now have to make multiple 

applications." 

Because the Art Gallery's role 

in reality is that of a provincial 

gallery, there is some feelingthat 

there should be more provincial 

government funding. A new 

galler y proposal takes this into 

account-the proposal is cast in 

economic and tourism, as well as 

cultural and educational, terms. 

"We' re lookingfor support for 

buildinga newfacility that would 

have room for a lot more public 

activities, but that's still in the 

early stage s," Pat admits. " We

26 DECKS AWASH 

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you. 

St. John's 

P.O. Box 9000, Stn. "B" 

A1A 3B8 

Ph. 754-2940 

@J'f:J 

Grand Falls 

P.O. Box 850 

A2Z 2T7 

Ph. 489-9883 

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P.O. Box 474 

A2H 6E6 

Ph. 639·9960 

' THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION 

OF NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR


A selection of Don locke's paintings on disp lay 81 Ihe Ewing Gallery. 

rush back in and buy a painting 

his wife likes-it's the best way to 

go shopping for pre sents," Tess 

smiles. " From January to March 

things are slow but then it picks 

up again for different reaso ns. In 

spring we sell a lot of work to organi 

zation s for girts at meetings 

and retirement presentation s." 

Of the 100pieces hanging in the 

gallery, 70 per cent are usuall y 

artis ts ' prints. 

" I'm surprised by the amount 

of interest in art-our gallery 

could never get enough prints for 

sale ," Tess admits. "You must 

have a variety of prints at all 

times-they turn over so 

quickly. " 

There is no space in the gallery 

for installation work and the largest 

painting Tess has hung was 

36" x 2·1", but there is certainly 

plenty of variety ranging from 

oils and watercolors to etchings 

and pastels. Tess knows all the 

artists and takes us on a quick 

tour . We'restruck by the sty le of 

two paintings, which rem inds us 

of some of the Group of seven 

work. 

" Don Locke is a big fan of Tom 

Thomson which shows in his 

work." Tess confirms . " He's retired 

from his job to become a 

full-time artist, so we' re hoping to 

have more of his wor k for sa le. 

He helped on the film on the 

"You can buy it, but you can't take it home." 

When Emm a Butler told her 

friends she was opening an art 

gallery on George Str eet, they 

rushed down to have a look at the 

building she'd purchased . :\105t of 

them were startled by the state of 

it and feared she 'd made a 

Beaton Sheppard 

Associates Limited 

Architects 

BEATON SHEPPARD. MRAIC 

P.O. Box 6023 

325 Duckworth 51. 

51. John 's, Newfoundland 

Canada A1C 5X8 

mistake. 

" It was such an innocuous 

building. people couldn 't picture 

it as a gallery." explains Emma. 

..It used to be the Newfoundland 

Liquor Corporation ware house." 

Emma and architect Beaton 

(709) 753-7132 

Beothuks and built a Beothuk village 

on the Exploits River . 

"A lot of people, especially 

mainlanders, are looking for 

Newfoundland art, and the y are 

amazed at the quality and the 

number of artists considering the 

small population of the island. 

several artists are well-known on 

the mainland and people ask a lot 

of questions abo ut David 

Blackwood. " 

This interest will likely increase 

in October when the Ewing 

Gallery holds a show of his 

watercolors. 

" He was here for three weeks 

in J uly to paint in this area and 

Gros Mcrne. It' s unique that his 

paintings will be shown in the 

area they were painted," Tess 

notes . " We usually have three 

main shows eac h year-we have 

another show of work by six artists 

in November." 

Artists may wonder if the Ewing 

Gallery has space for their 

work . 

" We're ap proached by a num 

ber of hobbyists, but I'm very 

particular about consistent standards," 

Tess says . "We tr y to 

show different styles of art even 

though some might not move 

well-we owe it to our clientele to 

expose them 'to all kinds of art. 

The important thing for me is to 

know the artist and be sure qua lity 

is consistent." II 

Sheppard have created a 

modern, spacious. building which 

looks brand-new. With three 

storeys and two gables on the 

roof, the gallery is located at the 

ext reme west of George Street, 

next to the salvation Army Thrift 

Shop. 

Emma thought St. John's really 

needed a quality gallery that 

was a com for tab le place to visit. 

" I reall y wanted to open a 

gallery where people would enjoy 

browsing," says E mma. " Some 

galleries on the mainland are like 

shr ines, you know, and you feel 

you hav e to whispe r. I want a lot 

of ac tivity and I have plans for

Emma Butler Gallery after. 

things to happen here." Her approach isn't exactly hard 

She tells us one lady came in to sell, but it appears to be paying 

look around the gallery with her off. 

two daugh ters. When the time "People are visiting, they seem 

came to leave the children want- to be comfortab le and the first 

ed to stay and do their homework week's sales were extremely 

there. good," says Emma . "The banker 

The gallery is certainly invito is happy and he's the most imporing, 

possibly because Emma has tant person right now." 

succeeded in making it bright People visiting the gallery can 

and open. see for themselves howwen she's 

"So many people incorrectly doing. About half the paintings 

assume they have to buy some- she had on display downstairs 

thing if they come in, so they during openingnight were sold by 

either avoid galleries or slip out the following Friday. And all the 

quickly in hopes of avoiding the paintings on display upsta irs 

owner's eyes," says Emma. "My opening night were sold within 10 

gallery is for browsing as well as minutes. 

buying, ,I encourage people to These were the paint ings and 

look around." sketches by the new artist on the 

In fact she says she'll dis- block, Barbara Pratt Wangersky. 

courage people from buying if The opening of the Emma Butler 

she doesn't think they're ready . Gallery coincided with Barbara's 

Emma Butl er Gallery befo re. (Courtesy of Emma Butl er). 


second show. which proved to be 

even more successful than her 

first. Politicians, business people, 

artists, young people and critics , 

raved about her work. It was the 

perfect way for Emma to open 

her gallery because Barbara 

draws such a crowd. 

"1felt at times like saying, you 

ca n buy it, but you can't take it 

home," laughs Emma . " They 

were spoiling my whole set-up." 

Besides her financial success, 

Emma is also pleased with the 

trust artists have in her . 

She is exclusively representing 

a number of well-knownartists in 

this province such as Barbara 

Pratt, Bill Ritchie, Peter Bell, 

Anne Meredith Barry and David 

Blackwood. 

"They know that l understand, 

that I'm living orr their backs, " 

says Emma, "and I'll always 

keep that in mind. I depend on 

them. 

" They have to be encouraged 

to feel that their work is safe and 

respected and not just perceived 

as a piece of merchandise." 

v Sales 

v Service 

v Installation 

CALL 

PARDY'S TIRE & 

INDUSTRIAL LTO. 

722-6644 

AREAS OUTSIDE OF 

ST. JOHN'S 

NO CHAR GE 

DIAL 1-8QO.563-7676 

FIRESTONE STORE 

77 KEN MOUNT RD.


She almost apologizes for being 

so idealistic . but she is sincere 

and that's a big part of her appealing 

perso nali ty. 

":\1)' rel ationship with the 

clients and my relationship with 

the a rtists is such a special thing 

a nd I know that sounds so idealistic 

for someone my age I Emma 

is the mother of four childre n. her 

eldest is 25) to say those things. 

but it 's true. 

" It's the contact with people 

that's really good. and in there 

so mew here. you know . a piece of 

work gets sold. But it wasn't the 

mai n objective or the main pur 

pose. " explains Emma . 

She al ways speaks fondly about 

her children and explains that 

they a ll pitch in 10keep things going 

a t home. Her sc hed ule is hec 

tic. but she describes running a 

galle ry as a way of lire rather 

than a job. 

Prior to the opening she spent 

Emma Butler In her etnee. 

two years working at another the money aspect of it alone ," 

gallery in town, and before that says Emma. 

she worked in the arts depart- " I feel it's important for me to 

ment at CBC. give back to the community and 

" I understand the importance because of that , I'U be sue 

of the bottom line, but I don't cessful." 

want that to be my guiding force , II 

Eastern Edge-the cutting edge of art 

A sta rk gray building, referred 

to as the Old Tobraceo Factory, on 

Flavin Street in St. John's is 

hardly the place you would expect 

to find a n ar t gallery, but a 

poster on the door of No. 22plainly 

indicat es this is the new home 

of Ea st ern Edge Gallery so we 

step inside past the Hennebury 

ca binet-ma king premises and 

reach a n open a rea with artwork 

on the wa lls. on central panels 

a nd in an alcove . 

The current exhibit is "Slings 

a nd Er os" , whic h has been 

desi gned to com plement a panel 

discussion on Bill C-54, which ar 

tists see as a threa t to ar tistic integrity 

as much as an attack on 

por nography. The displa y has 

been set up to provoke discuss ion 

of the Bill's scope-something a n 

artist -run ga llery is much better 

equip ped to do than a commercial 

or provi ncia l run gallery. 

Joan Sullivan. who volunteers 

her time to have the gallery open 

Monda y to Saturday afternoons, 

als o runs an inform ation office 

where magazines are a vaila ble. 

She thinks it would be nice to 

Uarilyn Koop (r) explains th e conce pt 

of design to Elaine Forre st . a studen t 

from Nova Scot ia now living In 

Stephenville. 

have longer hours and be open on 

Sundays, but that's not possible 

for the gallery which is run on donations 

and fund raising and uses 

v·olunteers. It costs just $10to join 

Eastern Edge, which has 70or so 

members. 

"There's usually one exhibition 

a month and the wa lls a re 

repainted after eac h show," Joan 

tells us after we have taken some 

photos of the artwor ks on display. 

"The whole range of visua l ar ts 

is included, but the space is really 

suited to experimental an d installation 

pieces which are ra rely 

shown in galleries." 

Susan Woodis on the exec utive 

of Eastern Edge and explains the 

history of artist-run galleries in 

Canada and their role in the arts 

community. 

" It all sta rted about 15 years 

ago because the major galleries 

were not exhibiting the cutti ng 

edge of contemporary Canadian 

art and younger artists couldn't 

get into commercial galleries," 

Susan tells us. "Artists started 

getting together to rent space to 

exhibit their art and show videos . 

The Canada Council called a 

meeting of the six or se ven 

centres in existence and the Association 

of National Non-pro fit 

Artists Centres (AZ'tPAC) was 

formed to receive special funding. 

There are now about 70 

artist-initiated centres across the

organizations and administrators 

Teach your children well 

The Ter ra xova Integrated 

SChool Boar d district is the largest 

in Newfou ndland off the Avalon 

Peninsula . It includes Fogo 

Island and all the communities of 

the northeast coast east of Gander. 

The Board emp loys 10-11 

program co-ordinators and three 

assistant superintendents. Sheila 

Brown is the very active coordinator 

for art. 

wh en we meet Sheila at the 

board's offices in Gander late one 

evening, it' s har d to keep her enthusiasm 

for art from bubbling 

over. The provincial government 

has made the teaching of art a 

feasib le option for the larger 

school boards, a nd not surprisingly, 

Sheila has one of the most 

complete art programs in the 

province. 

She explains the various elements 

of the program from kindergarten 

to Grade 12 and 

indicates how her board has 

ada pted it for the district. 

" We have a combinatio n of 

teachers : some are tra ined art 

teachers with Bachelor of Fine 

Arts and BFA (Ed> degrees:' 

Sheila explains . " Other people 

are very talented and are born 

The Board also owns the work of Chris 

Collins, a high school stud ent from 

Hare Bay. 

Sheil a Brow n admire s high school student 

Brent Pardy 's work - on e of 

several purchases of students' art by 

th e Terra Nova Integrated School 

Board . 

teachers even though they don't 

have the training, so they help in 

workshops and conferences. 

There 's no set system. In some 

schools we have an art teacher 

for K-6 as at Gander Academy, 

while others might use classroom 

DEO


"In the summer we don't normally 

offer courses because of 

vacations, but we have adult 

workshops instead. We've done 

children's arts camps in the past, 

but we started getting requests in 

the spring asking for classes. To 

accommodate vacations we did a 

July and an August session with 

eight classes in four weeks for 

each session. Those turned out to 

be very well-received-we were 

a little taken aback at howmuch. 

The classes were very popular 

with working parents with children 

at home during the summer. 

The regular instructors handled 

the sessions : Julia Pickard did 

the July session and Marilyn 

Koopdid the August one. Wealso 

had two week-long summer 

camps which included days for 

photography, creative movement, 

beachcombing, art and 

drama." 

Most of the children have a 

definite interest in art which isn't 

a top priority in school, although 

... 

The merits of a print are discussed In an Extension Arts course. 

the school art program is getting 

better . For the last twosummers, 

Continuing Studies has used the 

Extension Arts facilities to run a 

Summer Art Institute geared to 

art teachers. 

St. Michael's Printshop, now at St. John's 

For 15years now,St. Michael's 

Printshop has been serving the 

needs of printmakers on the Avalon 

Peninsula and farther afield. 

Established in 1972with the help 

of a Canada Council grant, the 

shop took up residence two years 

later in the old schoolhouse by the 

shore in 51. Michael's. 

Memorial University Extension 

Service, with Canada Council 

assistance, supported the 

printshop by providing operating 

funds and director Heidi 

Oberheide's salary, and Frank 

Lapointe's when he was acting 

director for a year, from 1974 to 

1981. Don Wright, who was a cofounder 

with Heidi, was working 

with Extension Arts at the time. 

In 1982, a phase-out of funds was 

a strong possibility as was the 

loss of the building, but the artists 

who used it didn't want to see it 

disappear. The only answer was 

to take over the running of the 

printshop themselves and move. 

"The move took place in 

"Itgives teachers access to artists 

and is an intensive creative 

session . One would hope those 

teachers over time will raise the 

whole level of art appreciation," 

Susan suggests . I! 

Sylvia Bendsza works on an etching at St. Michael's Printshop. 

November 1985," Sylvia Bendsza 

tells us from the new location by 

the 51. John's waterfront at 

Baird 's Cove. "Frank LaPointe 

was in the process of making his 

print for the Art Gallery Print 

Portfolio just as the last pieces of 

equipment were being removed. 

Some artists wanted to relocate 

to another place on the Southern 

Shore, so we scoured in vain from 

Petty Harbour to Renews for a 

suitable building that we could 

move into directly . 

" Being a non-profitassociation 

and now artist-run, we have to


retrospective of our work next 

spring -we're looking for something 

like one print from each ar 

tist to celebrate the 100years of 

the incorporation of the city of St. 

John's... 

It appears to us that St. 

Michael's Printshop is pressing 

on at full speed in the new location, 

but Sylvia is confident that 

printmaking will become popular 

elsewhere, too. 

"There's a ' group in Grand 

Falls trying to get a printshop going," 

she notes. " Alice Dicks is a 

painter dabbling in printmaking 

whodid a summer workshop with 

us. Andthe parents at Macdonald 

Drive school here in St. J ohn's 

have been sponsoring eveningart 

classes with Ju lie Pickard. We all 

hope art will he recognized, but 

The Art Procurement Program 

Just three years ago DonPeckham 

wasn't quite sure what a 

lithograph was. Since then, he's 

bought over $.100,000 worth of artwork 

produced by Newfoundland 

ar tists. 

Don is the assistant deputy 

minis ter of Public Works and 

services and the head of the Newfound 

land government's Art 

P roc urement Program. It 

perhaps seems natural that the 

person who looks after all the 

public buildings should have a 

say in how they're decorated. 

The program started in 1984 

and as Donexplains it has a dual 

purpose. Besides enhancing 

government offices. cafeterias 

and hallways. it puts money in 

the pockets of local artists. 

"We've got a lot of artwork getting 

around in our buildings now 

and people are really starting to 

notice that irs there." 

Don is enjoying his role in the 

program. and although he's the 

boss he gets a lot of help from 

Don Peckham 

committees when it comes to 

making the final selection. Anadvisory 

committee made up of artists 

recommends to the 

procurement committee what 

they should buy, 

The procurement committee 

has the responsibility of making 

FOR ALL 

RENOVATIONS, 

MAJOR 

PROJECTS, 

AND NEW HOMES 

BUILDING. 

ILPWJ.36r:iM;1 

there have to be art teachers with 

at least a BFA, and the school in 

Corner Brook will be very important 

in that respect. Art in the 

schools has been treated so long 

as a pastime and not an 

occupation -now teachers see it 

as a wonderful use for expanding 

the mind and developing creative 

skills that can be used in other 

areas." II!

at October-November for the 

display dates. 

'" think some people actually 

produce work now so it will be 

rea dy at the time we buy," says 

Don. "The first couple of years 

they didn 't know when we were 

going to buy and one or two of the 

artists didn't have anything to 

show us . Some of them come and 

as k us during the yea r when 

we're showing. Then they can 

either hold something back or 

take slides of work they have on 

tour . 

" We try to make sur e to buy a 

full ran ge of stuff from reco gnized 

artists with a blend of new 

artists and unknown ones,"sa ys 

Don. Nonetheless quality is important 

and work isn't purchased 

without some inherent rea sonable 

quality. 

The program has also commissioned 

a few pieces of work. 

" If we have a particular area 

or something we want for a 

specific location , we'll commission 

art. The artists really enjoy 

this because it gives them a 

chance to work on larger 

pieces-something they don't 

often get an opportunity to do. 

" One of the pieces in particular 

, a stone carving by Gilbert 

Hay, from Nain, Labrador, was 

the largest stone creation ever 

made by an artist in Newfoundland 

. It gave Gilbert a chance to 

work with a great big rock-it 

was a ton," Don explains. 

It took a year to complete and 

Gerry SqUires' peintlngs.t Confed.,..Uon Build ing .nnex. part 01the Art Procure-ment 

Progr.m. 

now it's over in the new ann ex of 

the Confederation building . 

" The program is ra ising the 

awareness of Newfoundland er s 

about their own artists," says 

Don. Employees at the Confederation 

Building tell him the work 

grabs their eye and after looking 

at it for a while they realize it was 

done by a local artist. 

As a result of the program Don 

has become more interested in 

art. " I really wasn 't much of a connoisseur 

of art before," says Don. 

" But now when I'm travelling 

around the province I alway s 

take a couple of hours to go and 

find an artist or two and visit 

them. " This way he can see what 

they're doing and where they 


work. He's met a lot of artists and 

now believes he has a better unders 

ta nding of the demands of 

their craft. 

" I've actually gone to seminars 

that have been offered, jus t to get 

a basic understanding of the principles 

and how they work." 

For Don it has become a personal 

intere st as well as a part of 

his job, in fact he's ac tually 

bought a few paintings for his 

own home . m 

Do you want to 

report , 

- an oil spi II ? 

-a fish kill? 

-chemical dumping? 

- pollution? 

CALL 

112-2083 

-rail collect 

-24 hour service


Department of Culture-keeping in touch 

"I think it's safe to say that 

visual arts could be doing better. 

it's unfortunate that with the economic 

restraint program that's 

taking place in Newfoundland 

and all over Canada, that things 

that could or should be done, aren't 

being done," explains Bill 

Frost. assistant deputy minister 

of Cultural Affairs, Historic 

Resources and Youth. 

Like everyone involved in the 

arts, he'd like to see more 

government funding for the artists. 

But he's pleased with what 

is being done given the province's 

economic condition . 

"There's been a fair bit done 

for visual art in the last seven or 

eight years and that perhaps is 

due to the funding of the Newfoundland 

and Labrador Arts 

Council." says Bill. "We have the 

art procurement program buying 

local art for government buildings 

and of course the new School 

of Fine Arts in Corner Brook. 

"I think there's an awareness, 

and I think the Council itself with 

the arts community has to be 

given credit for making the public 

aware." 

While Bill is an administrator, 

he keeps in touch with the arts 

community. 

"From time to time artists and 

Bill Frost 

groups of artists come to see me 

to tell me what's going on and 

what their problems are," he explains 

. 

Bill fully supports the idea of 

building an all purpose art 

gallery in St. John's. 

"The Arts and Culture Gallery 

doesn't have the room to carry 

out the proper conservation of art 

work-e-they're bursting at the 

seams. The Memorial University 

Art Gallery Board has done up 

a proposal for a whole new 

gallery. They met with government 

ministers about it in Sep- 

" Let' s not get too ambitious" 

Isabel Blackmore of Gander 

has seen her son Kevin develop 

into one of Newfoundland's more 

talented and original entertainers, 

first as a member of 

"Free Beer" and more recently 

as "Buddy whatsisname". Kevin 

is house-building in Glovertown, 

and Isabel is spending more time 

developing her own artistic talents 

as one of the leaders of the 

airport town's Brush and Palette 

Club. 

"Kevin is the only child who 

rea lly got into visual arts before 

the performing bug bit him, 

although the boys all had the ta- lsobel Bleckmore 

tember and I hope they get 

funding from both levels of 

government. It would be a big 

breakthrough if we could get a 

good art gallery building." 

Bill has been with the department 

for six years and is enjoying 

his ex officio role on the 

Newfoundland and Labrador 

Arts Council. He lets the Department 

of Culture . Recreation and 

Youth know what's going on in 

the art community and what's expected 

of them . Art is just one of 

this St. John's native's interests. 

He is a true adventurist, and the 

last time we were talking with 

him in October. he'd just finished 

swimming in the Atlantic. He 

says the water was fine but the 

trick is to dry off quickly. Fluent 

in seven languages, Bill recently 

was appointed to the Board of the 

English Speaking Committee of 

the International Council on 

Monuments and Sites of the United 

Nations Educational, Scientific 

and Cultural Organization. 

In conclusion he adds with 

some emphasis. "The Arts Council 

is at arm's length and neither 

I nor my department makes decisions 

for them. They are an independent 

body." 

lent for art." Isabel tells us as we 

chat by her fireside. "There 

wasn't an active program in the 

schools when they were attending 

but they're all creative in their 

own ways. My art was on hold 

while the children were growing 

up-at one time I turned over my 

oils to Kevin but as he got interested 

in other things I 

retrieved them. 

"I've mainly painted oils but I 

hope to get into other things. The 

Brush and Palette Club formed 

after the regional Visual Arts Association 

broke up a year ago. It 

became a monster which ate it-


Government of Newfoundland & Labrador 

Department of Public Works & Services 

PUBLIC NOTICE 

ART PROCUREMENT 

PROGRAMME 

Artists and Craftspeople are invited to participate in the Newfoundland Government's 

Art Procurement Programme . 

Interested persons who wish to have work considered for purchase are invited 

to bring samples of work to one of the following viewing centres on the dates noted. 

A maximum of three samples may be entered for consideration . 

St. John 's Airport Inn November 22 & 23, 1987 

Grand Falls Board Room November 2, 1987 

Department of Labour 

Corner Brook 10th Floor November 4, 1987 

Sir Richard Squires Bldg. 

Goose Bay Board Room November 16, 1987 

Goudie Building 

Wabush Board Room November 18, 1987 

Public Building 

Marystown Motel Mortier October 19, 1987 

HAIG YOUNG, MINISTER 

Dept. Public Works & Services

Learning and earning through the Arts Association 

After six years as president of 

the Arts Association of Newfoundland 

and Labrador, Doug 

Inkster is stepping down. He'll 

still be involvedas past-president 

but the new president is Alistair 

Drysdale. 

Doug has been involved in the 

Association for 10 year s and 

describes it as a social club as 

much as anything else. They get 

together once a month during the 

winter to hear lectures , see films, 

plan exhibitions and conduct inhouse 

critiques. 

"Weanonymously put a work in 

and everyone sort of tears it to 

pieces so we can learn from each 

other," says Doug. "It 's quite useful 

and not too hurtful. 

"Anyone can join the Association. 

Our mandate is to try and 

encourage people to get more involved 

and to do painting with a 

view to showing their work eventually." 

They have about two-and-a-half 

shows a year. One in the fall, a 

show in June and a half show at 

the Murray Premises. 

"I call the Murray Premises 

show a 'half' show because it's 

small. We take over whatever 

space is available and often irs a 

boutique as small as my office," 

says Doug. "It's two days of activities 

and almost a 1000 people 

pass through. Wealways have a 

jolly time." 

Their annual show this year is 

from November 20 to December 

20at the Arts and Culture Centre. 

"This provides a good opportunity 

for all our members to get 

something on the wall," says 

Doug. "One of the features of the 

show is that it's adjudicated. 

We'llhave a goodartist likefor instance 

Gerry Squires, do an objective 

half-page analysis on each 

painting. So it's really valuable to 

the artist." 

The Association earns some of 

its revenue from the annual Kinsmen 

auction to take place at the 

Holiday Inn, November 17. This 

generates a lot of money and the 

Association gets about 15per cent 

of the sales of all their members' 

works sold at the auction. 

There are 50 to 60 members in 

the association . 1\105t of them live 

in St. John 's although there area 

fewfrom Marystown. Grand Falls 

and Corner Brook. 

Doug says although the members 

don't work towards becoming 

professional, many have 

reached that status. The list of 

previous members, who are now 

considered professional includes: 

Peter Bell, Reginald Shepherd, 

Chris Pratt, and Don Wright to 

name a few. 

"Quite a lot of them now are 

sufficiently confident enough to 

spread out and have their own 

:\£ld. Partrfdgeberry Bread 

2 cups 'flour 

1 cup light brown sugar 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1 teaspoon baking soda 

I.! cup margarine or butter 

2 eggs - well beaten 

Rind and juice of one orange 

1 cup light raisins 

1 1 2 cups partridgeberries 

Place flour, sugar; baking powder, baking soda 

in deep pan, mix with spoon. Crumble butter or 

margarine with flour mixture by hand. Add raisins, 

beaten eggs, orange rind and juice. Addpartridgeberries 

last. Bake at 3.')0 degrees for one hour 

or when straw inserted in middle is dry. 


show without necessarily leaving 

the Association, " says Doug. 

As a child in Scotland, Doug 

loved to paint, but he gave it up 

because it wasn't considered 

something bright boys did. He 

renewed his interest about 10 

years ago after a heart atta ck 

forced him to slow down. He was 

living in Newfoundland at the 

time. 

Doug's been working with the 

provincial Department of Energy 

since he moved to Newfoundland 

from London in 19TI. 

"I'm lookingforward toa bit of 

a rest now that I'm leaving the 

running of the Association to 

Alistair," says Doug. "It's not a 

bad little organization and I enjoy 

being a part of it."


and outlook . 

" I'm hoping one of the conse 

quences of sett ing up a School of 

Fine Arts is getting the sc hool 

boards involved. Certainly there 

will be students coming up 

through the ranks interested in 

attending the School. The more 

preparation they get at the secon 

dary school level the better. I'll be 

going over to central Newfoundland 

later this fall to talk to school 

boards. " 

lt 's early days yet, but the 

SChool of Fine Arts is becoming 

more of a reali ty eac h day and 

sc hool boa rds would do well to 

find out about it now so their 

graduating st udents can be prepared 

for what will certainly be 

a fine art experience. ra 

editorial 

We approached the task of coverin g visual arts 

with some trepidation-perhaps because like a 

large part of the general public we feel we don't 

really " unders tand" works of art and sometimes 

find them a trifle intimidating. Even Emm a Butler. 

who has just opened her new gallery, says she 

finds she has to whisper in some galleries. Casting 

all doubts aside, our main purpose is to raise 

the profile of visual a rt and artists. 1'0 make the 

topic manageable, we narrowed our coverage to 

painting. printmaking, photography and sculpture. 

togeth er with some administrators and teachers. 

We chose. for the most part, to cover emerging ar 

tists ; thus, vou will not find well-known artists 

such as the Pratts. Gerry Squires, David Black 

wood, Don Wright, lise Hughes, Pam Hall nr Mannie 

Buchheit profiled here. Wefreely acknowledge 

their contribution to the Newfoundland arts scene . 

Rather we chose to introduce you to some lesse rknown 

artists who are coming on the scene. We 

also found that a rtists are scattered all over the 

province and very hard to track down-sracob and 

Gary Kennedy. and Don Locke amongst them . We 

hope: sometime to write about them. 

The face of art in Newfoundland has been chang 

ing over the last 30 years. The early, traditional 

rugged lifestyle in Newfoundland did not foster the 

pursu it of a rt as a career-most artists, of necessity, 

trea ted ar t as a hobby, Weremember the days 

when art in the schools was considered a "frill". 

Art was disco uraged, rather than encouraged. 

Christopher Pratt ha s said when he took art in 

school it was offered to those who were "none too 

br ight" . Ray Mackie says his parents didn 't believe 

he was working when he was producing art. 

Growing interest in visual arts is demonstrated by displays of pain ti ng s and phOtographs 

at the Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre. (Photo court esy of Don 

Meiwald, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College) 

but think its OK now that he's also teaching art. 

Today, all this is changing. The change may be 

slower than some might like, but it is perceptible. 

The reorganization of the school system to bring 

in Grade 12allowed the revamping of the school 

arts program. Teachers are enthusiastic about the 

new program even if human a nd material 

resources are limited . The University, throug h the 

Division of Continuing Studies is providing a sum 

mer art institute for teachers to try to trai n more 

art teachers. Extension Arts offers a wide ra nge 

of courses for budding artists providing teaching 

opportunities for professional artists, and workshops 

for practising artists. St. Michael's Pri ntshop 

has moved to St. John 's and provides 

facilities for printmakers. The provincial government 

art procurement program. with its $100.000 

annual budget gives an opportunity for art works 

to be viewed in public buildings. An effort is being 

made to find funding to give the Memorial 

University Art Gallery-the only provincial 

gallery-adequate space. Since its formation in 

1979. the Arts Council has received public funds 

to help artists. Arts organizations have sprung up 

in many places. Commercial galleries are showing 

local artists' work. The owners repo rt buyers 

are becoming more sophisticated a nd are showing 

interest in more than something to "match the 

couch" , Also, the new Memoria l Univers ity School 

of Fine Arts is due to open next yea r. 

What more can be done to foster visual ar t in 

the province? A quick, off-the-cuff answer would 

be for the government to provide more money. Of 

course, more money would help. but given the economic 

state of the province and the demands on

the public purse , particularl y in health. social 

serv ices and education, is it realisti c to expect 

this? Sometime in the future, if the offshore oil 

Flows, this may be possibl e, but for now we should 

look at other ways to improv e the sta te of art in 

Newfoundland. Teachers could help parents to encourage 

their children to enjoy art and to consider 

it as a viable career option. The general public can 

help by buying art works. While some corporations 

are buying art. more should be encouraged to do 

features 

Home gardening 

by Ross Travers e 

Q : Should I fertilize my trees a nd shrubs in the 

fall? 

A : Don't fertilize trees and shrubs or any plant 

which goes into natural dormancy in the fall. 

If fertilizer is applied, it may stimulate 

growth . Soft growth during the fall may not 

harden off and you might get damage dur 

ing the winter. The best time to fertilize trees 

and shrubs is spring. 

Q: I've been digging my potatoes this fall a nd 

notice brown spots on the skin which don't 

seem to do any harm becau se you ca n peel 

them off, but they are rather unsightly . What 

is the cause of this and what can I do about 

it? 

A : This is likely common sca b of potatoes. The 

scab organism is quite common in the soil 

and develops if you have dry weather when 

the young potatoes are forming and also if 

the pH of the soil is too high. 

Youshould try to water the ga rden espec ially 

when the potatoes are forming (a round the 

time when the potatoes are in bloom >. Also, 

becareful not to apply too much a gricultural 

limestone. Some agricultural limestone is 

OK, but if you apply too much then you may 

increase the risk of sca b. If you've burned 

potato stalks on the soil in the fall . the ashes 

from the potato stalk s will rai se the pH quite 

considerably which contributes to scab. 

Sometimes scab occurs, too. if you use too 

much fresh manure. 

Youcan help reduce the instance of scab by 

selecting varieties which are somewhat 

resista nt to scab. Youcan also app ly two or 

three inches of shredded peat hog to the 

garden. This will both increase the organic 

matter and lower the pH of the soil. (In other 

words, make the soil more acld .) 

Q : I've got a problem with ca rrots. First I noticed 

some of the carrots were wilting. Now 


so. More art would be bought if government would 

drop the reta il sa les tax on art works-it has already 

set a prec edent by making craft items tax 

free . 

Raising the profile of visual art in Newfoundland 

is our way of encouraging public interest in one 

of the more dynamic sectors of Newfoundland society 

and its economy . :\lany artists say the Newfoundland 

natural environment fosters artistic 

endea vors . it's time Newfoundlanders did too.ft' 

when I pull them up, I find little pinholes in 

the roots and little off-white-colored worms. 

I've been growing carrots for a long time, but 

this is the first time I've ever see n this 

problem . What can I do about it? 

.\: Once you get this insect problem, there is 

very little you can do about it during the cur 

rent growing season. The problem is a n insect 

called Carrot Rust Fly, which lays its 

eggs on the surface of the soil next to the ca rrot 

plant , and the little worms ha tch out and 

tunnel into the carrot roots. Youca n help prevent 

the damage by app lying a soil insect icide 

registered tor use on carrots when you 

50\\' the seed. Chemicals registered for use 

ar e Banisect and Diazinon . Make sure you 

follow the directions very carefully.

Research lab on board the Antarclic research vessel, 

Joides Resolution. (Photo Chris Pereira) 

and make better estimates of climatic'changes 

and glaciation worldwide." 

Chris learned about the Ocean Drilling Program 

in 1985,put his application in the next year and 

heard he had been accepted in September 1986. 

"There were 25scientists in 15specialized fields, 

each with a different approach to reaching the 

common objective," Chris notes . "Stephen Macko 

and I from Earth Sciences and Dave Piper of the 

Bedford Institute in Nova Scotia had the task of 

looking at the last 10million years. That's a lot to 

consider with such a tight schedule." 

The is.ooo-ton 471-ft. Joides Resolution, which 

was built in Halifax, Nova Scotia , was originally 

drilling for oil as the Sedco/BP m a nd had been 

adapted for the OCean Drilling Program. The biggest 

difference was in terms of the equipment 

aboard. 

"We had the best equipment that $40million can 

buy," Chris smiles, " pius 25 scientists, 25 techni - 

WE HAVE LOCATIONS 

THROUGHOUT 

NEWFOUNDLAND 

The Paint Shop 

OEO


" Port Stanley still bears scars from the war and 

there are warning signs about mines everywhere. 

but there are more people coming in than Ieavlng.' 

Chris reports. " Housebuilding is the major 

occupation and new houses subsidized by the British 

government are selling for $250,000 each . The 

penguins were easy to see and you could watch 

them for hours if the wind, was in the right 

direction-you never want to be downwind of a 

penguin colony." 

Chris admits there was some apprehension 

about the arrival of their American plane, which 

Wonderful Cures 

This summer, the Newfoundland Museum 

launched " Wonderful Cures ", Curated by Linda 

Dale of Ottawa, the exhibit outlined the history of 

medica l practices in Newfoundland and Labrador 

from 1800to 1949. 

SCientific diagnosis of health problems and their 

treatment by trained doctors is a fairly recent 

phenomenom worldwide. and the use of antibiot 

ics in the 1940s has totally changed the face of medical 

treatment. These changes made the exhibit 

both intorrnative and riveting . 

Prominently displayed was a jar of large 

leeches. Bloodlettingwas quite common in the late 

18005 and was used for almost every health cornplaint: 

headaches , fever, and even during childbirth 

. Most of us may have shuddered at seeing 

Humphrey Bogart struggling with leeches in " The 

African Queen", but recen tly. the anticoagulant 

properties of leeches have been recognized, par 

ticularly in restoring severed limbs. It might be 

said leeches are enjoying something of a revival 

in popularity among medical researchers. 

Have you ever wondered how people survived 

before the advent of modern medicine ? In Newfoundland 

and Labrador living conditions were 

harsh and people worked under difficult and often 

dangerous conditions. Maintaining good health 

could be an but impossible and a doctor was not 

often available. 

Keeping healthy in the early lBOOs was 

a m a tter of self-reliance and l uck. Unlike 

today. there were few effective cures 

Il ....lt h l'fll 

I l"' ' I 

I brad!)r 

was the first non-British plane to land since the 

Falklands War. Everything went smoothly, but 

.Chris was more put out by the results of a thrt ving 

tourist industry , 

" Thurist ships are another matter-they come 

in and buyout everything, " he grimaces. "We 

were hard put to find anything to bring bac k." 

There may be fewmateria l reminders of his Antarctic 

cr uise, but Chris has a collect ion of color 

slides and a wealth of pleasant memories of the 

Antarctic he is happy to share. 

Pictured In centre i' one of the medica' advic e books uMd 

by medi ca' missiona rie s in t he late 19th lind eartv 20t h 

ce ntury. 

against infections and disease. Pro fessional 

doctors were few and far between 

and generally confined to the large r 

fjshing stations. Most outport families 

relied on home remedies. edvice books. 

midwives and people 'given to cbarming' 

for their health care . The family, as 

the focus of social and economic life . 

was the natural centre for the care of the 

sick. 

xot too many years ago in Newfoundland, the 

care of the sick was left almost completely to the 

mother in her home. We all remember our 

mothers keeping us in bed because of a cold, 

mumps or chicken pox. Many older people will 

remember "spring tonics" and mustard plasters, 

and who can forget being fed chicken soup? 

Mothers kept a stock of remedi es for the more 

common health complaints. In more severe cases, 

medical advice books might be consulted, or a 

"wise woman" or lay healer brought in. 

Goose grea se was put on one's chest to cure a 

cold, preferably with the use of red flannel which 

was believed to increase the healing power; 

Molasses and kerosene oil were combined to make 

cough drops. Sheep's woolwas used to stop bleed 

109, and fishermen carried fish jaw bones to ward 

off rheuma tism . There was even a home re medy 

for baldness :

"Put liniment on the head . Beat up two 

eggs in water and wash your hair. Rub 

your head with molasses and go into the 

woods when the flies are very thick. The 

flies will land on your head and their 

legs will stick to the molasses. After the 

molasses has dri ed , pick off the flies. 

leaving their legs in the molasses. then 

the legs will take root. After about two 

weeks you wash off the molasses and 

find that you will have a lovely head of 

coal black hair." 

Some of the methods used in the 1800sseem 

more than just a little odd to us today. William 

Vaugh wrote in "The Newlanders Cure " : 

All diseases are cured by e ...-ecuations. 

Free the body of what insupportable 

load of filthy metter which by glut/any 

was engendered. Nor will one purge 

suffice. But beforean ordinary sickness 

be removed, the apothecary must 

minister manynasty and bitter potions 

to weary the strongest nature, 

Purging, along with leeching and bloodletting, 

was another popular treatment to remedy the supposed 

imbalance of one of the body's four humors : 

blood, phlegm, yellow and black bile. Cartoons of 

the day often depicted an unsuspecting patient 

fR 

Patent medicines were part of every mother's cache of 

" cures", 

In the early 1950s government launched a health awareness 

program, 

about to be treated. 

Modern medicine gradually came to Newfoundland 

despit e a certain skepticism. An unpublished 

letter to The Evening Telegram said: 

" I've heard they have a skeleton of a 

man down there-all bones without any 

flesh on it-for teaching the nurses they 

sez. And they ought to be tending the patients 

they 're readin' and writin' what 

they call their study hour. Their washing 

must cost the government 

something- they all have their own 

washerwomen and their dresses washed 

every week. The nurses in my time wore 

dresses that didn 't need any washing, 

they wore a nice dark colour and they 

never got dirty. They could wear them 

from one end of the year to the other." 

Low standards of nutrition and a general lack 

of com prehension of medical services combined 

to bring about a high incidence of tuberculosis, diphtheria 

a nd typhoid fevere when a Royal Cornmission 

investigated public health in Newfoundland 

and Labrador in 1909. Deaths from tuberculosis in 

1901 were about 675and reached a peak of 940in 

1905, and the St. John 's infant mortality rate in 1911 

was 260per 1,000live births. As health conditions 

improved, deaths decreased to the point where 

there were no deaths from tuberculosis by 1975. Indeed 

, Newfoundland health services today are 

among the most modern in the world. 

Certa inly some of the old remedies were based 

on supers tit ion, but some have been endorsed by 

modern research. Chicken soup is effective because 

it is better than any other hot liquid for helping 

to clear general mucus from the nose where 

viruses and bacteria involved in upper respiratory 

infection s are most active. And chicken soup 

has far less potential for allergic reactions than 

do over-the-counter remedies. In the United States 

more than $1.6 billion was spent in 1986on cold 

remedi es-perhaps we should all take another look 

at chicken soup.

Decks Awash takes a cruise 

b)' Roger Burrows 

Every now and again a Decks ,hnJ,'iiJ, reporter 

gets a chance to do something different in search 

of stories. This was the case in May when we got 

an opportunity to be part of a scientific cruise on 

the Canadian coastguardship Baffin. a'e took advantage 

of the chance to increase our own scientific 

knowledge and to provide photos in both print 

and slide format for the Newioundlund Institute 

for Cold Ocean Science (N /COS) library. A Jot of 

what went on has implications for the Newfoundland 

fishery, although the techniques and equipment 

used were very different from those on board 

fishing vessels found in the same waters off the 

northeast coast. Using the word "cruise" to 

describe the time on board the Baffin tends to 

glamorize what is a very demanding work schedule. 

There are days when sleep is a rare commodityas 

we follow the different activities takingplace 

on board. 

A little goes a long way 

Whenyousee a trawl being hauled aboard a boat 

you expect to see it filled with fish like cod, espedally 

when you're in the cold waters of the 

Labrador Sea. Fish, however, are not the catch 

Jocelyn Richard, Kirsten Munro and Paul Snelgrove 

are lookingfor on board the Baffin. They are 

after much smaller prey-the kind of prey cod are 

feeding on, so their catch is every bit as important 

as that of any commercial fisherman. Wewatch 

the bongo nets being hauled aboard. Within 

minutes they have been hosed down and the nets' 

contents have been emptied into a bucket. Wecan 

see small creatures, some of them flashing and 

glowing in the dark, swimming around in the 

water. There are many different kinds visible 

which Jocelyn quickly identifies. 

"The small, dark animals are amphipods and 

the tiny reddish animals are copepods," she explains. 

Werecall our attempts to list them in firstyear 

biology courses-they lookso different in the 

flesh. "The sea butterfly swimming around is 

The bo ngo nets break surface. 


Paul Snelgrove and Jocelyn Richard help haul t he trawl 

aboard the Baffin. 

related to the marine snails but doesn't have a 

shell," continues Jocelyn who is a veteran ofseven 

cruises. 

There are always a few surprises on research 

cruises and the Baffin cruise is no exception. After 

Jocelyn leaves to be awarded her master's 

degree at Memorial University's spring convocation, 

the mysid samples from White Bay include 

a number of bright, orange-red specimens. 

"It could have something to do with what they 

are eating which happens with shrimp," Kirsten 

suggests. "You often get some pigmentation but 

usually nothing as vivid as that." 

We continue to study the contents of this and 

later hauls, and help to sieve the animals intosampie 

bottles that will form the basis of later study 

back in the biology department of Memorial 

University.1\",0months later we meet Jocelyn and 

Kirsten in the NICOSoffices in St. John's just before 

Jocelyn leaves on another cruise on the 

Dewscn in August. 

"The novelty tends to wear off," Jocelyn admits 

with a laugh . 

"I'm a novice with only three cruises so far, but 

the actual sampling is a very small part of the 

work that will go on," Kirsten adds . "I'm just 

finishing samples from a cruise last November 

and starting samples from the Baffin. It takes 

several months just to sort through and pick out 

what you need." 

"Yougo through an entire sample and rough sort 

into major groups," Jocelyn explains. "It took me 

several months just to identify the amphipods 

from a cruise nearly a year ago. Youreally need 

someone who specializes in each group. We're actually 

building up a library of material from the 

northeast coast that can be used by graduate st udents 

for a long time. Our ship times have been 

better than they were on the south coast where we 

concentrated our sampling in the past." 

Jocelyn is from Sackville, New Brunswick-one

water," J ocelyn comments. " By looking at how 

common it is in compari son with other animals in 

the various bays we can estimate how important 

it is in fish diets." 

Anyinformat ion gleaned from the cruises by 1':1 

COSbiologists is a sma ll but valuable part of the 

information available on the distribution and 

abundance of the small sea creatures off Newfoundland 

's coast. Those little creatures we saw 

swimming around in a bucket on the Baffin may 

well help fishermen to better understand the 

habits of cod and other commercial fish found in 

our waters . II 

The Wright stuff 

One of the most intriguing pieces of equipment 

to the crew of the CSS Baffin is the long pole 

strapped on the bowdeck . Its length suggests it's 

some new type of harpoon but instead of being 

launched at whales it's ready to be dropped 

straight down into the ocean mud to act as a heat 

probe. Finding out bottom temperatures provides 

valuable clues to geologists about oil and mineral 

deposits and to biologists as to where the best fish 

habitats might be. 

There have been problems with the equipment 

on previous voyages and everyone is keeping fingers 

crossed this time as the probe is gently lowered 

at a station stop. Jim Wright of Memorial 

University 's Earth Sciences Department is at his 

desk console in the ship's lab waiting to access the 

probe information. He patiently explains to us how 

the probe works. 

" We insert the probe to measure the temperature 

in the bottom muds," Jim tells us. " We' re 

more interested in the amount of heat coming out 

of the earth rather than the water temperature itself. 

We've measured here in October so the profile 

will be different. We've had some trouble with 

the probe, but it worked well this time, although 

we couldn't get the readings on screen at the time 

the probe was working." 

What we can 't see. the user -friendly computer 

nash es up on screen once the probe is raised out 

of the mud and towed to the next station . At 

another piece of equipment Jim Everard and San- 

Unloa di ng can be a tedious bu siness wi t h delicate scie" 

tltic equipment aboard . 

dy Burton keep an eye on a printout similar to the 

ship's sonar printout. It's important to watch the 

printout as the navigation maps being used are old 

and may not indicate the actual slopes on the sea 

bottom. The delicate instrumentationon the probe 

would not survive a collision. 

Fortunately the bottom is relatively Oat and the 

probe is again lowered at the next station. It's a 

long wait before the computer starts to transmit 

the information Jim has been waiting for. Blocks 

of figures which look meaningless to the layman 

start to a ppear on the screen, and Jim explains 

what they represent. After what look like random 

readings there are numbers and letters very close 

together which indicate s the probe is being held 

close to the bottom . 

Soon the probe is lowered back into the mud. 

There 's so much friction even sliding into gooey 

mud it can be measured quite well. The temperature 

shown is the correct mud temperature. After 

a bout eight minutes a pulse of heat is applied, and 

J im and his crew watch the reduction again back 

to the same temperature. 

"The pulse is applied automatically through 

heating wires. Youcan 't use ordinary copper wire 

because of the resistance between copper and 

steel, so we have an alloy with special resistance 

that doesn't change with temperature," Jim explains. 

The changes tell a lot about the natu re of the 

seafloor; The actual temperature of the seafloor 

might be important in looking for oil and minera l 

deposits which are formed within the crustal 

rocks, but the water temperature is more important 

for fish. 

"We've done these experime nts in both oceans," 

J im notes. "The deep ocean temperature is about 

4°C,which is relatively cold. Yet the water temperature 

off Labrador might be as cold as -3OC, which 

is as cold as it can get but provides the right conditions 

for the kind of marine animals cod eat. On 

the other hand, in British Columbia the water temperature 

is quite warm at 8-UrC and that supports 

lu:....lly different marine life." II

letters 

Have you ever done an article 

on the Trinity South a rea? If not, 

can we expect one soon ? If so, is 

the back issue available? We've 

enjoyed the magazine for some 

time new and look forward to its 

success for years to come. 

Please find enclosed our 

cheque for renewal for another 

year; 

The llippern Family 

Bedford, ,SS 

Ed : Back issue April 1977is on its 

way. 

Fogo Island was always of special 

interest to me from my boyhood 

daysand even to the present 

time. My lather spent about 14 

years of his younger years at 

Barr'd Islands, and I still have a 

leWrelatives at Joe Batts Arm. I 

had an aunt at Fogo who lived and 

died there and my paternal 

grandmother is buried there, My 

wife, Hazel Oake, was born at Joe 

Batts Arm and spent some 12 

years 01her lire at Fogo. 

I first visited the island as a boy 

with my father and then as a boat 

operator and trader. For over 25 

years, I made many trips to the 

island and since then, I have gone 

back on business and as a visitor, 

In my active years, I took many 

varied cargoes there such as 

cooperage rna terial of staves, 

heading and hoops, assorted lumber 

and hundreds 01 bundles 01 

tree rinds for the fishermen's and 

merchants' use, al so other 

produce including salt cod and 

farm produce. 

Back in 1938. I collected live 

lobsters from Shoal Bay (from 

fishermen 1 brought there to 

catch them ). These lobsters were 

among the first to be collected on 

the northeast coast for export. In 

1954, 1 made my last trip with a 

load of live lobsters consigned to 

the Fishery Products' pool at Island 

Harbour. 

As a boy, I saw the foreign sailing 

vessels in Fogo harbor wait- 

ing for a load of dried fish after 

bringing over cargoes of salt in 

the spring. Later, I was there 

when the first motor car was 

landed and still later I was there 

with my brother Elmo, on the 

first trip of his new schooner 

Newstead when the three-masted 

schooner Sunset Glaw was driven 

ashore and became a total wreck . 

As an outsider, I may know as 

much about the island as some of 

the people who live there, and I 

still am associated with a lot of 

good people who left the island to 

take up residence here. 

Best wishes to all at Decks 

Awash. 

:\Iacphf'rson Eveleigh 

Lewisporte, XF 

We've enjoyed the Jast year of 

seeing Newfoundland through the 

eyes of Decks Awash, its a super 

way to enjoy home (Newfoundland) 

while you're away. 

Protedion 

Plan 


I am from Round Harbour, but 

have lived in Tilt Cove, La Scie, 

and Baie Verte. I would certainly 

enjoy an issue on the Baie Verte 

Peninsula. It has a wealth 01history 

and information that I am 

' sure many readers would 

enjoy-it has or had mining, log-. 

ging . fishing , and some individual 

business that would make 

excellent stories, 

Thanks for keeping us informed, 

and keep up the good 

work . 

I would like to see a write up on 

Terra Nova, from the early lumber 

companies and sawmill operations 

followedby the Terra Nova 

Sulphite Co, Ltd. whose hea dquarters 

and m ill were at Glovertown, 

which was bought out by 

the A.N.D.CoLtd and all the timber 

limits of the Terra Nova River 

and Gambo Rive r area, 

YOUR GMe DEALER 

Terra Nova Motors 

496 Topsail Ro.d 

SI. John'., NF 

Phone: 364-4130 

Khar is Collins 

Edmonton, AB

Club that first showed interest 

and is still encouraged to use it. 

Its restoration is nearing completion. 

Hillside . erroneously ca ptioned 

as Bleak House on p. 15, was built 

for Henry J. Earle in 1912 and af·. 

ter the Second Worl d Wa r. was 

divided into two residences for 

Arthur and Brian Earl e respectivel 

y, Arthur had lived in it for 

man y yea rs before. 

Riverview in Riverh ea d, Fogo, 

became the home of Fred Earle 

and family when they moved to 

Fogo in 1928. There is no picture 

of it in Decks Awash , but it was 

a lively home for ma ny yea rs, 

with a large famil y of 10children 

and a centre for friends and 

visitors. 

We hope the above helps to put 

the picture straight as far as the 

Earles are concerned. 

Corrections . pag e by page 

Page 7 - 

It was later than 1945 

when the remaining families 

abandoned Indian 

islands. 

Page 14 • The picture is not of 

the Old Fis herman's 

Union lIall but of the 

Soci ety of United 

Fi shermen (S.U.F. 

Hall) . It was a [raternal 

organization of 

Church of England origin, 

with emphasis on 

the text "Be fishers of 

men " . 

Most fishermen did not 

own dori es but punts 

(a nd motor boats). A 

schooner may hav e 

had a dory for emergency 

purposes. 

A canning fact or y was 

opened at Fogo in 1938, 

not 1946. Partr idgeberry 

jell y was produced 

at the Fogo plant, the 

berries ca me from the 

Bonavista Peninsula. 

Local bakeepples, 

blueberries, and partridgeberries 

were 

consumed by the 

residents. 

Page 18 - The Mercer Memorial 

United Church is built 

of concrete blocks , not 

stone. 

The building below 

was the form er Earle 

Sons & Co. Ltd . 

premises and not the 

Labrador E xp ort 

Company. 

Page 19 - It is incorrect that in 

1911 the only telegraph 

office 'on Fogo Island 

was at Joe Batts Arm. 

Page 30 • In the second paragraph, 

reference is 

made to the Methodist 

Church in Fogo dating 

from 1889. We rem ernber 

the date um being 

engraved on the peak 

post, which must be 

correct. 

We'll let this do for now. 

Fred W. Ea rle 

George II. Ea rle 

Sons of Fred R. Ea rle of 

Change Islands and Fogo 

GRAND FALLS 

2 MILL ROAD 

489-4303 

EDaie 

ST. JOHN 'S 

120 TORBAY ROAD 

722-1532 


l\Iy recen t visit to Newfoundlan 

d was a bit disa ppointing as I 

fully intend ed to visit St. John's 

a nd De ck s ' Awa sh office. 

However my wire, having fell and 

hurt her a rm in Shediac, xcw 

Brunsw ick. on our way down. was 

unabl e to help in driving and the 

extra mileag e would have been a 

bit too much for me to drive 

alo ne. We celebrated my 85th 

birthday in Eastport so you can 

unders tand what I mean. 

Wedid enjoy our tri p otherwise. 

and our stay at Phyllis Crisby 's 

home on Eastport bank over looking 

the bay and Salvage where I 

was born was a pleasant experi 

ence. Phyllis is a cousin of 

mine, a nd she also runs a hostel. 

If a nyone visiting that part of the 

country feels lonely. I would 

recomme nd they get in touch. She 

is good company and an excellent 

cook. One can never be lonely in 

her presenc e. 

I a m enclo sing a check for 

another yea r's subsc ription as I 

enjoy your mag a zine very muc h. 

Goodluck a nd may your future 

be alwa ys bright. 

& Company Limited 

STEER S INSURANCE division 

INSURANCE BROKERS 

AUTO - HOME - COM MERCIAL 

Martin Brown 

Peabody, i\lass . 

CORNER BROOK 

MILL BROOK MALL 

634·3455 

REPRESENTATIVES THAOUGHOUT NEWFOUNOlANO 

OFFlCES ACROSS CANADA


Editor's note: 

We apo logize for the error in 

the a rticle on the Reverend Alton 

Fudge where the photo covered 

some of the type. The final par agraph 

in column 1page 77should 

have read as follows: 

"1\11'. Fudge is a mbivalent a bout 

the resettleme nt progr am saying 

it was both good a nd bad . Some 

areas were in need of aba ndonmen 

t, othe rs were not , 

Pushthrough, in his opinion , was 

a mong the communities that 

should never have been aba ndoned. 

On the other hand , he was 

a ctively involved in the resettl ement 

of othe r communities." 

"In 1952, I was assigned to the 

pari sh of Bad ger 's Quay..." 

Letters to the editor should be addressed 

to Decks Awash. Memorial 

University, 51. J ohn's, NF. Ale SSi. 

I)('l'ks ,\ \\ OIsh reserves the right to edit 

letters for purposes of clarity or 

space. 

HARYEY 

CIIICKE", A 11I'1',IT TilE SIIOII' 

During the recent Food and 

Livestock Show, many visitors to 

the show had an opportunity to 

sample a tasty Chinese dish 

made with Newfoundland 

produced chicken. Orange and 

Almond Chicken Stir Fry prepared 

at the Newfoundland 

Chicken Marketing Board's booth 

was very popular with young and 

old alike. 

The recipe is found in the Bright 

Lights Cook Book which is available 

free from the Newfoundland 

Chicken Marketing Board by 

writing to Box 8535, 51. John's, 

AlB 3N9or in the S1.John's area 

by calling the Chicken Information 

Line 739-7363. 

Orange and Almond Chicken 

Stir Fry 

'2 cup orange juice 

1 tap. cornstarch 

2 tbsp. vegetable oil 

1 pound boneless chicken, cut in 

H A R V E Y ' S OIL 

LIMITED 

* 24 HOUR FURNACE SERVICE 

* AUTOMATIC DELIVERIES 

* 3 PARTS REPLACEMENT CONTRACTS 

* CHOICE OF 3 PAYMENT PLANS 

strips 

1 medium onion, thinly sliced 

1 cup thinly sliced carrots 

1 cup thinly sliced celery 

2cups broccoli flowerets, chopped 

in small pieces 

I.! tsp, ground ginger 

1'1 cup chic ken stock 

1 tbsp. grated orange rind 

I,! tsp. salt 

1 01 tsp. pepper 

2 tbsp. toasted almonds 

Mix orange juice and cornstarch. 

set aside. 

In a wok or large skillet, stir fry 

chicken in oil for 5 minutes. Remove 

and set aside. 

Addonion, carrots and celery to 

wok and stir fry 2 minutes. Add 

broccoli, ginger an d chicken 

stock. Cover and cook 3 to 4 

minutes or until vegetables a re 

tender crisp. 

Return chicken to wok. Add 

orange ju ice mixt ure. ora nge 

rind, salt and peppe r. Cook until 

the sauce is thickened, abo ut 1 

minute. Sprinkle with toas ted 

almonds and serve at once. 

PETROCAMADA 

* ANNUAL CLEANOUT & INSPECTION OF 

YOUR FURNACE 

* SAME DAY DELIVERY OF STOVE OIL 

* PLUMBING & HEATING CONTRACTORS 

DAY OR NIGHT 

726-1680 

87 WATER 

CREDIT DEPARTMENT 

726-8931 

"OUR CUSTOMERS ARE OUR WARMEST FRIENDS" 

SERVING NEWFOUNDLAND 'S HEATING NEEDS SINCE 1865 

EXCLUSIVE DISTRiBUTORS OF PETRO-CANADA HEATING OIL

10 

S'Tl*ET ADDRESS OR PO eox 

lt1NNQRCITY 

1 YA. SUBSCRIPTION 0 $10 

2 YA. SUBSCRIPTION 0 $18 

OR GIVE A 

GIFT SUBSCRIPTION 

FROM 

STREET AOORESS OR PO eox 

lOWN OR CITY 

"""''''COOE 

SEND TO: DeCKS AWASH, MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SERVICE 

ST. JO HN 'S , NFLD. Ale 557 

PU"SfIolAKECHEO..OESPIlVAllt.£lOloIE_I,.I\IIVfRSlTY 

Serving the working men and women 

of Newfoundland for over 20 years. 

LOCAL 1252 

FISHERMEN'S UNION 

Chartered By 

UNITED FOOD AND COMMERCIAL WORKERS 

INTERNATIONAL UNION 

AFFILIATED WITH THE CANADIAN LABOUR CONGRESS 

P.O. BOX 880, 2 STEERS COVE, ST. JOHN'S, NFLD., A1C 5L7 

PHONE 753-8830

p~l a=~-' - Memorial University of Newfoundland

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