Last summer I traveled in Newfoundland and Labrador with two friends. One of our favourite activities was looking for icebergs, and here’s one that we saw off the coast of Red Bay, Labrador.

Later we stopped by Ben Ploughman’s studio, but unfortunately it was after hours and he wasn’t there. Some of his work was displayed outdoors, including this wonderful piece, “Great Big Empty Sea.” I totally identified with these iceberg=gazers, and I was glad that the artist had depicted local people. To me, it meant that the thrill of seeing the icebergs doesn’t wear off even when you see them all your life.

I looked up Ben’s website when I returned home. He writes, “The inspiration for my work often comes from a response to critical and crucial events in Newfoundland such as the collapse of the Atlantic cod fishery, a rapid decline in rural population and lack of meaningful employment. Therefore my style and subject matter is strongly influenced by my surroundings in this little corner of the world, rural outport Newfoundland. I consider myself a contemporary self-taught artist just keeping track of what’s going on around me and in the process helping to preserve a piece of our past for future generations.”

Another piece of Ben’s that caught my fancy, since I’m a quiltmaker, is “Homemade Quilts.” This mixed-media piece of made of wood except for the quilts, which are knitted.

You can see Ben’s work in the spring issue of the Canadian art and architecture magazine Arabella in the section “Artists to Collect.” Better yet, visit Newfoundland and meet him in person.

You can also watch a video about this artwork: Alan Syliboy, The Dream Canoe.

Working in gouache, watercolour, or oils, Virginia looks carefully at the world and then gives reality a poetic interpretation. The landscape or setting of a piece often becomes a character as important as the main subject, infusing the image with emotion.

In the painting of an old abandoned house that we commissioned from Virginia, titled “Mabou Mountain Road,” the yellow field washes up against the house. It looks like the house will soon be submerged. Who lived in that house and why did they leave it?

“Ocean Front 3001, Revisited” is a stylized, almost abstract image. Virginia says, “The hull of an abandoned boat represents great social change in Inverness over a mere 100 years. A thousand years and melting polar ice does the same to buildings between the edge of my garden and today’s shoreline.” 

In 2004 Virginia had a one-person show at the Cape Breton University gallery called “Becoming White.” She painted her family’s stories going back to the days of her great grandparents to describe “the assimilation affected by the policies and goals of the dominating white European culture.” The paintings also show “the emotions and influences surrounding decisions made in each generation that resulted in a drift from a Native to a European cultural identity.”

Here’s a painting from that show called “The Little Skater.” Virginia sets the scene: “Celina Trottier, my grandmother, graduated from Normal school in the Ottawa valley and took a position at Heron Bay on Lake Superior, teaching on the reserve there. She boarded in the white community and walked to the reserve each day. In the winter she skated across the bay to get to the reserve school.”

So much is conveyed in this piece. To me, it shows the cold wind, the challenge but also exhilaration of the skate across the bay, the strength and determination of the young teacher, and the oneness of all life forms in the winter landscape.

To see more of Virginia’s work see her blog or visit her studio in Inverness.

You stop and enter a 9-room Victorian farmhouse. Each room has been painted a different brilliant colour. In one large room elegant antique furniture contrasts with bold abstract paintings. Another room features Nova Scotia pottery, functional pieces and delightful faux baskets of berries. Rotating exhibits by painters, sculptors and photographers fill more rooms. Intricate stained glass creations hang in many of the windows.

Upstairs, a tiny room has more than a thousand vintage salt and pepper shakers, most of them humorous. Clothes by a local designer, retro fashion and jewelry made with found buttons fill one room, and around the corner is a room with brightly painted folk art. Even the two washrooms have art and collectables including a large stack of old books, many on the royal family.

This is the magical experience of Swoon – Fine Art, Antiques & Fashion (also on Facebook). Owner Brandt Eisner, an artist himself and the former assistant director of Argyle Fine Art in Halifax, cares about promoting the work of Nova Scotia artists, craftspeople and designers. I’m very pleased that he will be including my silk scarves, fabric cards, and painted T-shirts in this wonderfully eclectic mix.

So what about her music? She was an ECMA Nominee in 2009 for Female Solo Recording of the Year. She grew up in New Waterford, Cape Breton, now lives in Halifax, and according to her website, she “manages to seamlessly meld her innate old-school country sensibilities with contemporary influences (Wilco, Patty Griffin, Bruce Springsteen) without losing a drop of authenticity.” Sounds good to me, and I’m glad she’s coming to the Red Shoe.

He says, “I see the landscape as something pure, containing age old rhythms and patterns, and with each painting I seek this ebb and flow of nature that holds us all together, to form our connection to all things wild. I want to light up the eyes of Canadians, to awaken them to this wonderful land, to bring the wilderness home.”

I first became aware of Mark’s work a few years ago when I was lucky enough to spend two days on the jury for selecting art to be purchased by the Nova Scotia Art Bank. We chose one of his paintings, and since then I’ve seen some of his work at the Argyle Gallery in Halifax and on his website. Just recently I learned that he also makes recordings of the sounds of the wilderness. You can go to his other website, wildearthvoices.org, to hear a dawn chorus in the boreal forest, a thunder storm, or coyotes howling.

Here are two of Mark’s paintings. The first, Winter, Whitehill Woods, Nova Scotia, illustrates the season that is just about ending.  The second, April Shoreline, Rocky Lake is what we have to look forward to.

Winter, Whitehill Woods, Nova Scotia

April Shoreline, Rocky Lake

The "red snow" at West Mabou Beach, taken from our driveway.

Two more clues:  the weight restrictions sign (so big trucks won’t get hopelessly stuck on muddy roads) and the lobster buoys, freshly painted in that family’s distinctive colours.  OK, I’m cheating, the lobster buoy photo was taken last year, but I expect to see them any minute now.

Note the word "SPRING."

Lobster buoys in tulip colours

 Well known in the world of rug hooking, Deanne Fitzpatrick is a very creative and busy artist. She grew up in Newfoundland and now has a studio and shop in Amherst, Nova Scotia.  She has published four books, a DVD, and an audio book, she maintains a blog, and she gives many workshops throughout the year, yet she manages to walk five miles most days and work at her rug hooking almost every day.

Deanne introduced herself to me a few years ago when I was at my table at the Mabou Farmers Market and she said a few encouraging words. I’ve seen her work in person at the Nova Scotia Visitor Information Centre in Amherst and on her extensive blog. Here are two of my favourite recent pieces, the first an abstract landscape with glorious colour, and the second a quirky assemblage of houses. Visit her website to see and read more!

Where the Fields Meet the Bay

The Shape of the Village

Enjoy the article:  http://thechronicleherald.ca/TheNovaScotian/1232791.html.

I learned about the numerous products, from high end to low end, that use licensed art. Any of us can look around our house and see some of these things: wallpaper, clothing, fabric, ceramic tiles, plates, mugs, giftwrap, gift bags, paper napkins, greeting cards, buttons, magnets, jigsaw puzzles, posters, and a lot more. Most of the art was representational (I saw way too many snowmen and roosters) but there were some opportunities for artists like me who do abstract work.

Some artists do licensing as a full time job, and the really successful artists can apparently make a lot of money doing this.  Others (possibly me?) pursue licensing as a smaller part of their work.  Some artists represent their own work to manufacturers and others are represented by agents who typically take a commission of 40-50%.  My current goal is to investigate possibilities in the fine art end of this business, sending samples to companies who publish open edition prints (reproductions) and posters. Before visiting Surtex, other artists might want to check some of these online sources: artlicensingblog.com, joanbeiriger.blogspot,com, allartlicensingblog.com, or artprintissues.com.

We also visited the two other shows at the Javits Center, the National Stationery Show which had a dizzying array of all the products related to stationery and gifts (many, of course, using licensed artwork) and the spectacular International Contemporary Furniture Fair with inspiring cutting-edge designs (some of which also used licensed artwork!).

For me, other highlights of New York were the show of late Claude Monet paintings at the Gagosian Gallery, which goes through June 26, the quirky and very cheap Jane Hotel where I stayed, and the excellent Indian restaurant Tamarind. 

Afterwards, a brief but nice visit with friends in Boston, and now it’s wonderful to be home in still-chilly Mabou watching the peas and spinach grow.