The Georgian Bay Collection

Georgian Bay Spa

This is a fantasy piece based on many variations that can be seen on the outer shoals and islands of Pointe au Baril. The weathered wooden dock hung from the pink rocks and a windswept pine overseeing the activity.
Today a spa, tomorrow a group of children catching fish or swimming and diving from the dock.
Sometimes it doubles as a place to tie the boat in an onshore wind coming in from the open water.
I have kept the scene simple and austere.
This is made of wet molded vegetable tanned cowhide, coloured with dyes and acrylic paint.
I have made a one piece black leather frame for this piece and it is hung on a simple leather hanger.

6" x 10" x 1" depth

My Red Canoe Nightmare

My Red Canoe was my friend and companion when I spent my childhood summers on the island at Pointe au Baril. We went everywhere together . We especially liked the marshes where we could sneak up on frogs and catfish and big Gar Pike resting in the sun.
My red canoe never let me down.
That one night, when I was asleep in the tent, the rogue wave came out of nowhere and tore the paddle from my hands and twisted the canoe out of the water. I was left waving my arm in the air breathless and unable to scream as the wave hurled my canoe and paddle into the air…
Then I awoke gasping for air and the moon was shining down through the flap of the tent…

I used a small piece of natural weathered granite-textured cowhide and skimmed a coat of watered down black dye on it. I filled the pockets left by the random lumps of mineral on the stone with intense turquoise paint mixed with white for the splashes of water. The wave is then touched with a mix of gold and bronze metallic acrylic for the final touch of reflection from the full moon. A perfect rogue wave.

8" x 8" x 1 -1/4" (depth)

My Red Canoe Reflection

This piece is made of various thicknesses of cowhide leather, wet molded, dyed and painted.
The main detail strip is cut from a thick leather piece and details stamped and carved into that strip.
The island rock details and the reflection of the island are made of thin cowhide wet molded over a form.
The hardwood backing plywood is sanded and painted with acrylic paint and it functions as a frame as well.
The leather is laminated to a birch plywood backing which keeps the leather stiff and a clear acrylic coating keeps it clean and protected from dust and dirt.
The scene is based on memories of the red canoe I used to paddle around the bay surrounding our family's island. The many rocky coves and the marshes we explored and fished and caught frogs.
One of those marshes lay between the main island and a little island where we had a sleeping cabin and that is what this piece depicts. The canoe waiting while I explored the rocky marsh for frogs or minnows

10" X 12"

That Night after the Storm (OSA Lake, Killarney)

I like to recreate and build on various scenes and events that happened over the years. Having spent most of my summers on Georgian Bay, this is where many of my memories were created and I have no chance of running out of events that I can document and build on to create my three dimensional sculptures of cowhide.
This leather sculpture is a rendition of the campsite where we spent the night of the big storm that passed through that area of northern Georgian Bay on August 2nd 2006.
We had spent the afternoon climbing on the quartz outcroppings of La Cloche Range surrounding our campsite on the tiny island in OSA Lake in Killarney Park.
We had noticed that the sky was turning a greenish colour late in the afternoon so we had made our way back to the campsite in our canoes.. As we sat around eating our dinners in the increasing wind and the first smatterings of rain and the distant rumble of thunder, we decided we better batten down the canopy and the canoes and head to bed early.
No sooner had all retired to our tents after securing them as best we could, the first rumblings and flashes of lightening began to shake the little island. It then came full blast with powerful gusts of wind and a rain that came in sideways in pounding bursts that shook our tents as we held onto the sides and tried to keep them upright as they shifted and shook.
It lasted what seemed to be forever but was probably not more that an hour and a half.
Eventually it calmed down and the rain and wind subsided.
When we eventually looked out of our tents, the full moon was shining down on our island and the
wind had subsided and it was calm and serene.
We found out later that the storm that had passed through had hit Bancroft as a small tornado and had done a lot of damage to the town. We had survived the beginnings of the Bancroft Tornado in our tents on this small island in the middle of OSA Lake.

This leather sculpture is mounted on a raised plywood base and is sanded smooth and painted black.
It is hung with picture wire screwed to each side.
I have used damp vegetable tanned cowhide of various thicknesses, that is first dyed and then painted with acrylic paints to get the colours and it is wet formed freehand to achieve the shapes and folds of the trees and rocks.

18" x 24"

Rowing Home Past the Wreck

He had been picking blueberries on Shawanaga Island when he looked up to see storm clouds closing in from the north-west. The wind had picked up and the clouds were moving fast. He hadn't noticed, as he was engrossed in moving from berry patch to berry patch in the cracks of the rock around the outcroppings of pines.

He grabbed the berrry can and headed for the rowboat.

He jumped in, pushed off and started rowing into the wind, as he had no choice. The Island and it's protected bay, lay around the point, past the wreck…

To make this sculpture I used a piece of vegetable tanned cowhide that I had previously wetted in the lake and walked on in my bare feet to push the damp leather into the crevices and bumps to make the deepest surface impressions I could. Then I left it to dry in the sun and when it was dry, rolled it up and took it back to my studio to add some colour. I dye the leather first with water based dyes then while still damp, I use watered down acrylic paints to finsh the process. It dries to a permanent stiff surface.

You can see in the clouds and on the rocks, the impression of the time washed face of the Canadian Shield.

15" x 24"

Shawanaga Traditional

As my childhood summers were spent on our island at Point auBaril, we often went on picnics down Shawanaga Bay and out to 'the open'.

We would pass these simple frame cottages perched precariously on small granite islands as we manouvered through small channels to the open waters and shoals of Georgian Bay.

One of our neighbours near the 'Wreck' had a similar style to the one I have constructed here.

I have always admired these modest cottages with their big verandahs and the pink rock leading down to the water and a weathered wooden dock.

There are still a few around that have not been added to or drastically modified and they remind me of simpler days on Georgian Bay.

This piece is made of wet molded vegetable tanned cowhide and coloured with water based dye and watered down acrylic paints. It is mounted on a piece of hardwood plywood and has a picture hanging wire screwed to the back, for hanging. It is not meant to have a frame.