The Land and Sea Project

I recently finished documenting a one year project conducted by Earthand Gleaners Society, entitled LAND AND SEA. Lead artists Sharon Kallis and Rebecca Graham, together with numerous local knowledge holders, lead a series of workshops and conversation circles investigating coastal traditions around net making and fish leather. Subjects covered included spinning nettle and flax, weaving nets, salmon skin tanning, stitching, and beading. Several walking tours of the Vancouver shoreline were given by First Nations facilitators, describing the deep history and traditions of this place. A final exhibition was mounted at the Roundhouse Community Centre in September 2018, which included the building of a coracle, an ancient boat design used by many cultures around the world.

Filming Nicola Hodges at Trillium North Park in Vancouver – photo Sharon Kallis

Spinning Flax at Trillium North Park in Vancouver

Rebecca Graham and Sharon Kallis launch the coracle in the pond at Carb Park, Vancouver

The resulting work is a 15 part series of short videos, each covering one facet of the project. These can be viewed on Earthand Gleaners Youtube channel.

 

Filmed By Bike Festival

Upsetting the Applecart will be featured in the 17th annual Filmed by Bike Festival, in Portland Oregon, taking place May 17-19, 2019. The film screens as part of the Triumph program, on May 19th at 5:30 at the Hollywood Theatre.

Three Film Festivals

In September and October of this year, my short film “Upsetting the Apple Cart: Building the Weaving Wagon” screened at three festivals stateside, all of which I was lucky enough to attend.

The first was the long running Portland Eco Film Festival (September 27-30 2018), which takes place each year at the beautiful Hollywood Theatre in Portland. Organized by the wonderful Dawn Smallman, it hosts four days of though-provoking films and related events in one of my favourite cities, bringing together filmmakers and environmentalists both local and from around the world.

After the festival, I had several days to visit various parts of Oregon, including Astoria, Seaside, Cannon Beach, Salem, and Crater Lake before arriving in Eugene.

Oregon Coast

Crater Lake, Oregon

The first annual Eugene Environmental Film Festival took place in several venues in the downtown area (October 5-7, 2018). Co-directors Michele Eggers Barison and Ana McAbee did a terrific job in welcoming filmmakers and putting together a varied and compelling lineup of films.

The last festival was the fantastic Friday Harbor Film Festival. Held in the town of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island in Washington State (October 26-28, 2018), it is lovingly organized by residents Karen Palmer and Lynn Danaher, together with a host of local volunteers. Screenings over three days are held in five venues, with the entire community participating. Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was presented with the Andrew V. McLaglen Lifetime Achievement Award.

Friday Harbor

At screening with Katharina Stieffenhofer, director of From Seed To Seed

 

Elements Film Festival

My short film, Upsetting the Apple Cart: Building the Weaving Wagon, will be screening as part of Elements Film Festival in Vancouver British Columbia on April 15, 2018.

“The Elements Film Festival features dozens of nature, wildlife and conservation themed films by filmmakers all over the world. April 14-15, 2018 at The TELUS World of Science on beautiful False Creek, Vancouver. All daytime programming is INCLUDED with Science World admission. TICKETS ON SALE MARCH 15 for evening programs and Festival Launch Party.”

https://www.elementsfilmfest.org

Upsetting the Apple Cart: Building the Weaving Wagon

Here is my latest collaboration with Sharon Kallis, Rebecca Graham, and EartHand Gleaners Society. This short film documents the planning, construction, and use of the Weaving Wagon, a bicycle powered cart that allows these two environmental artist to take their show on the road, without need of a car or truck.  Along the way, they work with bike engineer and Shift Delivery co-owner Geoff Hibbard and Alastair Heseltine, an expert willow weaver at his studio on Hornby Island. Part of a wave of local businesses that are employing pedal power, the Weaving Wagon also harkens back to an earlier time before the internal combustion engine, when a wide variety of hand made vehicles carried our goods and services.

Sharon surveys the nearly completed wagon.

Filming Rebecca during the weaving process. (Sharon Kallis photo)

Shooting an interview with Alastair Hesletine. (Sharon Kallis photo)

Ladles

I’ve finished three new ladles from cherry wood as a request. The curve of the wood occurred near the flared base of the tree, and I was able to split several blanks for spoons, each with a slightly different angle to the curve. As the tree had already been cut into short lengths by a city work crew, they seemed a bit short as ladles. I solved this by adding a decorative end of teak that makes a nice contrast in colour. The joint was both pegged and glued, and the finished pieces given a coat of beeswax, carnauba and mineral oil.

Clown Parade

I just completed my first music video for my friend, the great David Gowman, and his Legion of Flying Monkeys Horn Orchestra. I shot the annual event he stages every year on the winter solstice for two years running, and also recorded the band playing the related song. I used a Sony A7s II camera, which allows shooting in very low light, and has a built in stabilizer, which helps greatly with hand-held moving shots.  The fabulous Belva Stone played the role of the unsuspecting target for transformation.

Soil to Sky

This is a short film I just completed for EartHand Gleaner’s Society.

More Spoons

In preparation for Vancouver’s 2016 EASTSIDE CULTURE CRAWL, I have been carving on a daily basis, mostly concentrated on larger serving spoons made of locally sourced Cherrywood. All have been finished with a coating of Beeswax, Carnuba, and Mineral oil.

Planet in Focus 17th Annual Environmental Film Festival

My Short film “The Urban Cloth Project” will be screening at the Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival in Toronto on October 22nd, 2016 at Innis Town Hall at the University of Toronto. It will precede the feature “Frightened – The Real Price of Shipping” by Denis Delestrac. I’m very happy to be attending the festival, which runs from October 18th to 23rd.