Artist Talk

This coming Wednesday (August 10th) at 7pm we will be hosting an artist talk with the new artist in residence.

Meet and chat with Gros Morne National Park artists-in-residence Caroline Cloutier and Martin Désilets (Montreal, QC). After their 6 weeks in residency here these two photographers will discuss how the parks landscape has inspired them and how they used the natural light and fog to shoot new photographs and video.

The artists would like to thank The Rooms, Gros-Morne National Park and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec for their support, Kirsten Ovarec and Cédric Davignon. Martin Désilets would also like to thank the Conseil des arts de Longueuil.

Caroline Cloutier — I am interested in the reflective function that inheres in specular and photographic images, and in their ability to evoke virtual spaces. During my strolls through the park, motifs will be selected for their textural poetry and for plays of light that they can set off at different times of day: an expanse of water, snow, cloud cover, or fog. This residency will be an opportunity to begin a new phase in my photographic research, using the mirror as a deconstructive device and as a way of staging the motifs that make up the park landscape.

Martin Désilets — My recent practice rests on an extensive examination of photography's fundamentals, and an exploration of its misuse(s). During my stay at Gros Morne Park, I will base my work on the territory’s singular, ever-changing ambient light and colours. At a remove from landscape art, isolating tenuous and ephemeral abstract events will enable me to subtly convey the park’s geological characteristics, its luminosity, and its immensity.

http://carolinecloutier.net
https://martindesilets.com

Credit for the visuals:

01_cloutierdeploiement-8.jpg:

Caroline Cloutier, Déploiement 8, 2016. Digital print, 31 x 91 cm

02_9-9de16860sec-det.jpg:

Martin Désilets, La couleur du temps / 9.9 de 16860 secondes - working title (detail), 2016, digital print, 5 elements of 125 x 100 cm

Navigation Pots and Microbrewery

Bit of a mishmash to start out the summer season.  (and a bit of insight into whats been happening)

Jenn has been working on new pottery obsessions with mapping and coordinates of where the pottery was made (back of the shop). 

As mentioned in the last post, the back pottery area has finally been insulated! So all the ideas tacked to the back wall can be completed in warmth.

Along with new hand painted pottery, as of mid-July-ish there will be a local beer on tap! The Western Newfoundland Brewing Company has just started and we are the official tap room. How did we manage to become the tap room for such a great local venture you ask? Well It helps that Jenn is part owner of the new set up. Because as busy as the summers are, there is a ridiculous lack of  winter employment in these parts. We are hoping this helps with some winter growth. 

Below is the breweries logo designed by Alli Johnson, you can check her out at  http://www.allijohnston.com/

The Studio will also be carrying locally printed shirts with the WNLBC logo.  Also on shirts,  artist renditions of "Murphy" the companies mersasquatch icon, the mythical creature is part aquatic/part land creature. 

Our first artist is Jessie Donaldson!  

Till next time! 

Construction/Deconstruction

As promised, an update on shop! This week has been a mixture of shop insulating, kiln firing,  and coming up with exciting ideas!  Theres something comforting about the white blanket of snow covering everything and a storm outside that makes all of the world seem to disappear!

Tucked in the shop with the storm doors up, a person can sing loudly and even dance without the outside world being any the wiser, all while artistic messes happen.

The messes start like every mess, with good intention. I had meant to spend the week insulating the back pottery area. The pottery area is one of the last places to be insulated and because it faces the water when the wind is blowing the cold air funnels through the shop. Another thing to note is the fact you could see between the floor boards in that area down to the icy water which on stormy days and high-tides wind and waves jump between the boards! brrrr!

So the pottery area was stripped and insulation was put down and its all being covered over with plywood which will be painted.

Before....

 And Currently....

 

Whales and Seals and Eagles Oh My!

Well here it is the middle of winter, and though the shops have been battened down, the tourists have come and gone, and we have seen the flow and ebb of boats and fishermen,  there is still a lot of commotion "in" the bay!

For the last few weeks we have had schools of herring and mackerel in the bay making the water almost bubble! The sea gulls have been spread out along the surface with eagles perched on the neighbouring trees and seals resting with full bellies on the ice pans! Yet, most exciting of all is the whales!
We have seen Humpbacks, Fin whales and Minkies so far! Most of the activity (that we know of) has been at the end of the south arm of Bonne Bay, which we know as "Up the bottom".

If you come up for a drive bring some snacks and maybe a thermos of something hot! If you're around town after 2pm the local legion is a great place to warm up and have a coffee, beer or chips!
(At the moment we aren't open, but we are currently insulating the pottery area! Updates to come in the next post!)