The great blue-white North

It’s a cold time of year to be in the high arctic… nevertheless an enjoyable experience to get into the remote North. The last three days have been a frozen blur—a quick sortie to art direct photography with Ian McCausland (can’t wait to see his shots!) for our mutual client, The North West Company. We left Winnipeg early Thursday, stopped in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan for a few hours, refueled in Yellowknife, then on to Inuvik in the Northwest Territiories. Besides photographing in the NorthMart store there on Friday, we got out on the ice road to Tuktoyaktuk. Then, back eastward with a fuel stop in Kuglugtuk (Coppermine) and an attempted landing in Arviat—but as the runway lights didn’t work, it was on to Churchill, Manitoba for the night (with all food services closed by the time we landed we settled for brews with the local revelers). Up early yesterday, back up to Arviat (with photography in the Northern store there), and a bone-chilling session out on the land with champion musher Michael (who assured us he was “sweating” in his traditional seal-skin parka, caribou leggings, and wolf-skin mittens). Then back down to Winnipeg to spend a comfortably warm Valentine’s Day evening with the lovely Evelin…

Images: Ian on the winter road to Tuk; the (ice) road beneath our feet; refuelling the Conquest in Kuglugtuk; with the sled-dogs in Arviat’s -40 degree windchill; Nunavut’s iconic license plate.

Each year hundreds of words are dropped from the English language. Old words, wise words, hard-working words. Words that once led meaningful lives but now lie abandoned and forgotten.

You can do your part. Help save the words! If not for yourself, then for generations to come. Now, you may ask, “What have future generations done for us lately?” Well, not much. But one day they’ll be grateful. You never know, they may even have a word to say about you…

The above is from Save the Words—if you’re a lover of neglected words, check it out here (where you can adopt a word, spread the word, etc.). Thanks to David Coates for the link.

Along a similar vein (protecting endangered words), below is one of a series of greeting cards for What? Clay Art & Curios that we developed last year (“Giglet” was first used by Will Shakespeare to describe a giddy, frolicsome girl—a word worth saving). More word rescue efforts are underway…

Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba

Well… it’s been a fun weekend of making art. Ev has been working on some awesome sculptural pieces, and I’ve been enjoying experimenting with a combination of ceramic techniques, illustration, and assemblage. The blizzard-like weather conditions of late January hardly seem to matter… :-)

Photos: Evelin Richter hard at work on her latest sculptural pieces.

Victoria, British Columbia

Anyone who knows Peggy Cady will have experienced how focused, inspiring, motivating, nurturing, and empowering this wonderful woman is—a shining light to those whose lives she enters and to the Canadian design community that she has become such an integral part of over the past decades (and has also lead—as GDC National President from 2004-2006). Well, Peggy’s fighting a new battle now, and friends and compadres from near and far are rallying in support. Join others in expressing your encouragement for her by literally or virtually “shaving your head” and submitting your bald image to a growing online gallery, Friends of Peggy.

Winnipeg, Canada

Some people have asked about the booklet Top Climbing Knots that I wrote and illustrated for the Alpine Club of Canada in 2007. Intended as a primer to aid skill development (and as a handy pocket-sized refresher for occasional climbers), the booklet covers the Figure-8, Water Knot, Double Fisherman’s, Clove Hitch, Münter Hitch, Prussik, and Klemheist. Copies can be purchased from the Manitoba Section of the ACC, or contact me directly.

Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba

Evelin Richter (a talented ceramist and my girlfriend) has been doing some interesting sculptural work of late—this is a recent piece of hers that seems particularly relevant to the stressful economic times being experienced around the globe. Warns Ev: “Be careful what you fill your head with… a fixation on numbers could crack a person up.”

Images: Prime Candidate; a figurative slab-built piece in stoneware, finished with various stains and low-fire glazes, assemblage with wire-rim glasses; 380mm x 320mm x 200mm.

Montreal, Québec

Netdiver has just released their 7th edition of Netdiver Best of the Year—“projects and individuals whose talents have made a strong and lasting impression in 2008… new sources of design inspiration.” The Hillman Curtis video clip of Milton Glaser alone is worth the visit…

New Hampshire, USA

I love bears, and living in the woods on the edge of the Boreal Forest, I feel privileged to have fairly frequent encounters with them at my place and at the nearby crags where I climb (I’m talking about black bears here [Ursus americanus]). So when my girlfriend forwarded the following story to me today (which she received from her fabric-artist friend Betty Jackson in Dunnottar) I couldn’t resist passing it on. I have encountered mama bears with as many as three cubs… but never five! (This somehow also reminded me of the five baby raccoons I had the privilege of “raising” a few years back).

+  +  +  +  +

Black bears typically have two cubs; rarely, one or three.

In 2007, in northern New Hampshire, a black bear sow gave birth to five healthy young. There were two or three reports of sows with as many as four cubs, but five was, and is, extraordinary. I learned of them shortly after they emerged from their den and set myself a goal of photographing all five cubs with their mom – no matter how much time and effort was involved.

I knew the trail they followed on a fairly regular basis, usually shortly before dark. After spending nearly four hours a day, seven days a week, for six weeks, I had that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and photographed them in the shadows and dull lighting of the evening. I used the equivalent of a very fast film speed on my digital camera. The print is properly focused and well exposed, with all six bears posing as if they were in a studio for a family portrait.

I stayed in touch with other people who saw the bears during the summer and into the fall hunting season. All six bears continued to thrive. As time for hibernation approached, I found still more folks who had seen them, and everything remained OK. I stayed away from the bears as I was concerned that they might become habituated to me, or to people in general, as approachable friends. This could be dangerous for both man and animal.

After Halloween I received no further reports and could only hope the bears survived until they hibernated. This spring, before the snow disappeared, all six bears came out of their den and wandered the same familiar territory they trekked in the spring of 2007.

I saw them before mid-April and dreamed nightly of taking another family portrait, an improbable second once-in-a-lifetime photograph… On April 25, 2008 I achieved my dream.

When something as magical as this happens between man and animal, Native Americans say, “We have walked together in the shadow of a rainbow.” And so it is with humility and great pleasure that I share these photos with you…

Sincerely, Tom Sears   (photos ©2008, Tom Sears)

Ottawa, Canada

The National Film Board (NFB) of Canada has launched a new project to allow Canadians (and others) to see its films through online streaming, at NFB.ca. Part of a $1.3-million project to digitize the NFB’s collection of historic films, the site starts with 700 classics and with plans to add 10 new films a month online (from the archived collection of 15,000+ NFB productions). A great use of our public funds, in my opinion—visit the site here… and enjoy!

Montreal, Québec

“What do you think went through this woman’s mind when she saw this on her way home from shopping? Did she say to herself, ‘Wow, what an indictment on consumer culture and the degree to which it is fueled by the military-industrial complex.’…What began as a form of activism rooted in a desire for more bike paths… eventually grew into an art project that, to a certain extent, continues today…” —Roadsworth (aka Peter Gibson), more here.

 Talented, innovative, well-spoken—visit Roadsworth’s website here...