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.

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.

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.

Spoons of 2015

This year my spoon carving improved, as did my level of production. I have  switched over to using a knife finish entirely, which has been great in lowering the amount of sawdust in my house and given the finished product a much more interesting look.

I was lucky in obtaining a large supply of cherry wood from two trees that were cut down in a local park. I’ve got to the point now that I can complete a spoon in a single sitting, although it’s often necessary to do a few refinements after the wood is completely dry in a couple of weeks. They are finished with a mixture of beeswax, mineral oil, and a smaller amount of carnauba wax for hardness.

Urban Cloth Project

I recently finished work on the film documentation of The Urban Cloth Project.

Sharon Kallis, Tracy Williams, Mirae Rosner and Rebecca Duncan worked together to make this project happen. It looks at how we can grow and process fibre to make cloth in our own community, and what is involved in the large-scale industrial production of clothing around the world.

Original music composed and performed by Clara Shandler.

Mr Fire-man Builds a Horn Orchestra out of Wood

Vote for my film-pitch at http://www.storyhive.com/project/show/id/907

Between October 26 and November 8, 2015, you can vote once everyday to give me a chance to win 10,000 dollars to make this film.

Two Wood Bowls

Wood Bowls

I finished two more bowls a while back and thought it was time to document them.

The smaller one was made from the large piece of plum found by Amy from a tree cut down in the neighbourhood. Initially, it had a flat top but warped during the drying process. The result is quite pleasing even if it wasn’t intentional.

The second was from a very large Red Alder tree, one of many removed by the city from the steep bank above Spanish Banks Beach. The logs were placed in the firewood area on the beach where they are free for the taking. Mark and I borrowed Karen’s Volkswagen and retrieved the rather cumbersome chunk of wood, and after some effort, split it in two on the road in front of his house.

The adze I made with Lorne during our blacksmithing stint proved invaluable in shaping this bowl. It was knife finished using my set of hook knives over a few weeks. It is coated with a mixture of beeswax, carnauba wax, and mineral oil.