I have one week left here at the Sointula Art Shed Residency and I feel like since the halfway point, time has really started to pick up speed. If I had to pick a theme for this past week, I think it would be: relationships.

The week began over a lovely visit with Kerri, co-director of the Sointula Art Shed Residency, and Jai Sallay-Carrington, a ceramic sculptor who was also doing an art residency in Sointula. It was great to chat art and share stories before Jai went back to Vancouver.

On Monday I decided to go for a walk and I ended up talking with a man about his large wood pile. This man’s name is Stewart Marshall. I mentioned that I was staying at the artist residency and he said he likes to make art on kayaking trips. One thing lead to another and he asked if I would like to see the wooden kayaks he built. We walked down through his garden to a large wooden outbuilding. When my eyes adjusted to the darkened interior I realized I had just stepped into a magical world. A beautifully crafted kayak was propped up in the middle of the building. It was 23 feet long and had gorgeous inlay work. Stewart showed me the two hatches. One was for him and was big enough that he could sleep comfortably inside (at sea!). There was even a plexi window so that he could see under the water. The other hatch was for his art supplies. Then he brought me to a cozy room in the corner of the building and flipped through a book that documented his work and his travels. He would head out kayaking in the spring and come back in the fall—his objective: to paint. I felt like I was talking with a member of the Group of Seven. His work so poetically captured the pure wildness of the places he visited. We both enjoyed our unexpected meeting. I am a quiet person but often when traveling during residencies I have found myself wishing I spoke the national language and could interact with people I met. That’s what I was thinking about before striking up a conversation about a wood pile… a good reminder to be open in life. Maybe you have already heard about Stewart. There are some articles online and an interesting documentary that he directed me to that I highly recommend watching. Here is a link.

The next day my parents came over for a little visit! This is there first time visiting me at an artist residency, and my first time having visitors. As I was preparing for them I received a text that there were orca in the area, so I quickly finished what I was doing, packed my camera and headed for the beach to watch for whales and wait for the ferry to arrive. No orca. I enjoyed showing mom and dad the cottage that I am staying in and then we went for a walk down the road to Rough Bay. When we came back I showed them around the studio and what I have been working on over the past few weeks. After lunch we walked back down to the ferry dock to say good bye. As I was heading back I was sure I saw a couple blows, so I ran home, got the binoculars, then ran back to the beach. Nothing. Later that evening I received another text that orcas were rounding the point on the far side of town. *phew* These whale alerts are keeping me active! I stayed till it got too dark to see. Oh, and I made friends with a dog who also wanted to see orcas. Its at least nice to know that whales are around, even if I don’t see them.

The rest of the week involved lots of studio time, looking for whales and two long beach walks. I also changed the installation in the Window Gallery! Here are a few pictures.

The week ended with a lovely forest walk with Kerri and her son. They wanted to show me “The Big Tree”. Based on the name, I already had grand expectations before setting out, but I was not disappointed! It’s hard to capture scale on a camera (and even in person sometimes), so please just take my word for it, this tree is massive.

Thank you for reading my musings of the week and coming along on this journey. Matt comes back in a few days to join me for the remainder of the month, which I am very excited about! It’s been strange being here by myself, but it has heightened my awareness of the time I spend with people and the gratitude I have for spontaneous conversations.