My residency in Rogers Cove Newfoundland between August 1 and 31, 2019. My initial objective was to explore the artifacts of the Twillingate area of Newfoundland through the lens of tourism, surfacing signs of authenticity, memory and identity. As my residency proceeded that objective was refined to look at the artifacts a little more specifically as representations of the character of the people.
Blog:
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New World Island Residency
Two weeks ago, Linda and I returned from a month-long artist’s residency in Roger’s Cove, Newfoundland. Residencies vary quite widely in nature, from being simply a place of seclusion away from day-to-day distractions to allow the artist to focus on their work, through to ones that include formal study with specific objectives and deliverables. This…
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The Choice of Place
After a residency in Arles France, it might seem an odd choice to complete one in Roger’s Cove, New World Island, Newfoundland. They would appear on the surface to be at opposite ends of the spectrum: Arles is rich with a long history and representative cultural artifacts, Newfoundland has relatively few; Arles, and France in…
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Roger’s Cove
The cabin where we stayed is located on Roger’s Cove (see on map), which in turn, is located on New World Island (an island off an island). Roger’s Cove is situated at the end of a tributary off route 346 (at Cobb’s Arm), a secondary road from route 340 that connects with the Trans-Canada Highway.…
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The Off-Grid Cabin
Although the cabin was “off-grid” and lacking many modern-day conveniences, its interior design created a sense of warmth and comfort, creating for me an odd contradiction: the juxtapositioning of a primitive setting with a sophisticated design. Off-grid suggests disconnection from externally provided services, such as electricity, water, telephone, etc. and to many this infers going…
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The Toilet
Other than being attached to the cabin, the toilet had most of the characteristics of an outhouse. That it was attached was a blessing as it avoided night-time sojourns traipsing across the mosquito-infested garden and coming face to face with other things that go bump in the dark. However, the receptacle of all our output…
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The Journey to Newfoundland
Just as there was purpose in selecting the destination — the Coral Cabin — the purpose of the journey was to transition us both in space and mind from our suburban setting to that of the “Coral Cabin”. While we could have flown and been in Roger’s Cove in a day, we chose to drive,…
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The Distance From Nature
Nature is managed according to an order different than the one humans conceive making it appear uncontrolled, and random and thus potentially dangerous. Through our controlling of the environment around us we have encapsulated ourselves from our natural surroundings removing many of the dangers, improving convenience, but in doing so distanced us from its experience.…
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Flies
In our suburban environment we infrequently touch the soil beneath us. More often than not there is a layer of concrete, asphalt or some other material buffer. We spend much of our time inside air-conditioned houses, offices and cars that insulate us from the weather and air around us. The last time I touched soil…
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A Single Ribbon
A single ribbon of gravel and asphalt connects the west to the east of Labrador. The presence of a road implies some degree of activity has been reached, be it commercial or otherwise. Absent a road there is a tendency to assume the space beyond — to the north and south in this case —…
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Extraction
Driving through northern Quebec and Labrador, it is easy to be mesmerized by the expanse of the wilderness and imagine it as a vast, desolate space. Yet occasionally I was reminded that there is a lot of activity extracting the resources. While there is logging, and mining, I found hydro-power generation the most interesting because…
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Spirit of the Beothuk
Near Boyd’s Cove, on Newfoundland Highway 340, is the Beothuk Interpretation Centre. The Centre provides both a brief history of these people as well as access to the site of a Beothuk Village that underwent an archeological survey in the 1980’s. This village was located on the shore of what is now Boyd’s Cove. What…
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Security
I was riding my bicycle through Cobb’s Arm and I saw fellow cutting wood that he would subsequently store in his woodshed, and later, during the winter, use to heat his home. As I passed by he looked up and waved. I stopped my bike, got off and introduced myself. He asked where I was…
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Lighting
Without electricity, lights were powered by kerosene. The ones provided were small, producing enough light to see, but not enough to read by. This imposed limitations on what could be done after sunset. The effect was a lifestyle change that amounted to rising and setting with the sun. Fortunately, the sun set at around 8:30PM…
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Coffee Pot
If you open up the lid and look inside, there is nothing but space … to hold water. There are no electronics. No flashing lights. No LCD screens announcing something that is otherwise obvious. It is simply an enamel-coated metal container used to boil water, which may then be used to make tea or coffee.…
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Basketball
My attraction to this garage was not its aesthetically pleasing, replete with symbolic meaning, dilapidated state, but rather the basketball hoop. My first thought was surprise that this game had made its way to Newfoundland. Surprise because I have not thought of Newfoundland as a sports mecca. But I could be wrong as I admit…
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The Tank
I was riding my bike through Toogood Arm when I came across a “tank”. When I was growing up in Montreal these machines were used to clear the sidewalks of winter snow. I don’t know if such machines are still in use. As children, we would imagine these contraptions to be “enemy” tanks and pelt…
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The Playground
A little further down the road from “The Tank”, in Toogood Arm, is a playground. It looks as it has not been used for years. I observed that most of the people in these smaller villages are beyond middle age; I saw only a few children. Most of the people I spoke with told me…
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Fish Processing Plant
Many of the little communities we visited have fish processing plants, like the one pictured below. Most are closed. Closed after the demise of the cod fishery in 1992. 30,000 jobs were lost, which given the population of the province at the time, amounted to 5% of all the people.
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Cod Fishing
Each weekend (actually Saturday through Monday) between the last one in July and the first one in September, individuals may fish for cod. There are many restrictions, such as the method used to fish, but the primary one is the limit of 5 fish per day per person and 15 per boat. Yet, people go…
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Traps
Crab and lobster traps are found stacked on almost every warf.
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Crosses
I noted that where we were staying, many of the graveyards were located outside of towns, often hidden away in the forests. I wondered if this was a holdover from the Roman necropoli? I think these markers were less related to the placement of the dead, but rather remembrances of those lost to the sea.
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Fire Wood
Driving along many of the roads one comes across stack of logs, that will be cut, split, and used as fire wood to supplement heating requirements during the long winter. Logs are placed into the form, whose ribs mark where to cut so the lengths of each log is consistent, and importantly, fits in the…
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Challenges of Film
Through our stay in Newfoundland I used both digital and film cameras. The most recent series of black & white shots were taken with my medium format film camera. I have mixed feeling about film. The process of using film has more points of failure than does a digital camera (I refer to the process…
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Sunrise on Roger’s Cover
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Boiling Water
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Fireplace
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Living Room
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Bees
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Wind in Trees
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Cobb’sArm
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Driving
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Seashore
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Off-shore Wind
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Evening on Roger’s Cove
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2019 Newfoundland Travelogue
Early last month, November 1 to be precise, I published 2019 Newfoundland Travelogue covering my residency in Roger’s Cove, Newfoundland, and the trip there. It is presented as a travel journal, but rooted in a documentary style, formatted both as an eBook and a printed edition. In my mind, the printed edition is the modern-day…
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Maquette
A few months ago I prepared a draft / working copy of my book Homes and Gardens. This is by no means the final version; just one version to see what the work looked like in print. I have printed an edition previously, using a commercial printer, but I was unsatisfied with the results. I…
