Barbara Lounder
came to the island with a carrying implement based on a 19th c yoke, which she carved from yellow birch lumber retrieved from a woodworker’s closeout sale on the mainland directly south of Pictou Island. Barbara’s intent to carry and portage items led to daily walks, always with a changing burden dangling from her yoke. Walking, she observed and later sketched entries in a large, handmade book of contrasting black and white pages. With her double load hung from each shoulder, a book of contrasting pages and a mix of outfits pieced together from contrasting colours and patterns reminiscent of a harlequin, Barbara embodied spectacle as she walked, chatted with residents and stopped to record details she noticed.
Aimée Henny Brown
brought her purpose built, portable lighthouse library to Pictou Island. Worn like a backpack, her library of shelves housed a prepared series of pamphlets documenting vanished island lighthouses. New pamphlets were added when she stopped to sketch plein air at lighthouse locations previously researched only virtually. Tucked beneath the shelves of her library were drawers with samples of twigs, leave, bracken, lichen and pebbles collected and archived in envelopes as she walked. The portable library constructed off island changed daily with additions made from observation and collection on site. Throughout the week pamphlets were borrowed and gifted, finding a new home on Pictou Island.
Ursula Johnson
came to base camp with the skills, tools and materials of traditional Mi’kmaw basket making, learned from her Great-Grandmother, Caroline Gould. Her daily walks culminated in the discovery of sweet grass tucked within a marshy patch of land at the terminus of a driveway half way up the island. There, Ursula collected bundled sweet grass for drying. At base camp, she worked steadily on a long skinny basket with carrying strap that, once finished, held the Pictou Island sweet grass. At the western end of the island with a camp stove, pounds of flour, water and a litre of oil for frying she served up a collective meal of chopper’s bread, an old time staple similar to bannock. Ursula’s cooking threaded throughout the week exceeding the one assigned meal each artist contributed.
Douglas Smarch
came to the island with an iconic green metal rake picked up in Halifax hardware store en route from the Yukon. Doug’s rake travelled with him along the road. At xx (add name of house owners) he plunged into the woods to tame a path through the impenetrable deadfall. Returning each day he labored with his rake and hands, extending a walking loop from house, to woods and back. At base camp he tidied a patch of woods without revealing its location. Local tips lead to an excursion harvesting giant harbor clams and an excellent clam chowder.
Michael Waterman
prefabricated a travelling radio transmission tower that packed into a compact, self contained package of wheels, cart, plastic plumbing pipe and electronics. Once assembled the rolling cart supported a 20ft tower topped with a pirate flag. Michael broadcast interviews with artists and residents interspersed with walking songs as he pushed his tower along the island road. Astonished to find his signal reached 200 miles east to Amherst Nova Scotia, Michel celebrated the persistence of those who facilitate information dissemination at the edges of authority.
Sheilah Wilson
focused her attention on the physicality of the linear road. From a long stick she fashioned a simple chalk holder. With folded, unexposed photo paper strapped to her runners, she walked the length of the road each day, pulling her stick and leaving a meandering chalk line in the gravel. Base camp was her ad hoc outdoor darkroom and the ocean served as the final wash stage for her worn and tattered walking photographs. Sheilah’s labourious line drawing necessitated constant chalk changing, rest breaks and chats with Island acquaintances from her years growing up on the Pictou mainland. Frustrated with the temporality of the chalk line that disappeared every night, she arranged delivery of bagged lime. Returning to her resting spots, she encircled each with a band of poured white lime. Visible from the air, these resting spots punctuated the island road. An aerial photo became the proof and vestige of her daily walks. The transient line and the oddly placed circles were a daily talisman for all travellers on the road.
The Pictou Island Portage was generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and Arts Nova Scotia and presented in collaboration with Dalhousie Art Gallery and NSCAD University (Division of Foundation Studies).