Call for Submissions: O'Brien Farm Foundation Fibre Arts Exhibit

Photo from the Craft at Risk Exhibition at the Craft Council Gallery. Photo features the work of Jennifer Morgan, Virginia Stoddard, Jane Smyth, Erica Dawe, Peter Fowler, and Walter Fowler. 

Call for Submissions: Changing of the Seasons: The Turning of the Wheel

O’Brien Farm Foundation is inviting submissions for Changing of the Seasons: the Turning of the Wheel, a month-long fibre arts exhibit presented in tandem with the Sheep to Sock event at O’Brien Farm. This exhibit is going to celebrate the cyclical nature of the seasons, traditional craft practices, and the O’Brien Farm Foundation's long ties to sustainability and agriculture.

Selected works will be available for purchase at a 20% commission rate, which directly supports the public programming offered at O’Brien Farm. As we work to expand our arts-based programming, we hope to provide more commercial opportunities for artists, as well as solely presentation-based exhibitions which adhere to the CARFAC Minimum Fee Schedule

Exhibition Dates: May 15th-June 15th

Location: O’Brien Farm Interpretation Centre, 150 Oxen Pond Rd

Submission Deadline: April 15th

Eligibility & Criteria:

-We are seeking fibre-based artworks that meet the following criteria:

-Alignment with one or more thematic elements: sustainability, cultivation, creative re-use, seasonal cycles, agriculture, and our role in the natural world.

-Created using natural fibres (wool, cotton, silk, flax, etc.) or recycled natural materials

-Original designs or works based on traditional patterns. Reinterpretations of traditional patterns are welcome!

-Artworks may be two- or three- dimensional, subject to available space

-Artworks must include clear hanging instructions 

-All works must be stable and safe for public display

-Works will remain on display for the full exhibition period (May 15 – June 15, 2026). The centre is open Monday to Friday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, and on occasional weekends for special events. Security will be provided.

Selection Process:

The selection process will be led by the O’Brien Farm Interpretation Committee and Heritage NL, in collaboration with a guest curator. We are pleased to announce that our curator for this project will be local artist and arts worker Daniel Rumbolt. 

Daniel is a queer settler artist raised in rural communities throughout the traditional land of the Mekap'sk Mi'kmaq Band (northern peninsula) of Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland). He received his BFA from Memorial University of Newfoundland & Labrador, and his MFA in Studio Arts (Fibres and Material Practices) at Concordia University in Tiohtià:ke, Kanien’kehá:ka Nation (Montreal, Quebec). He is the National President and Spokesperson for CARFAC (Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens), and is currently the Executive Director of the Anna Templeton Centre for Craft, Art, & Design. 

Heritage NL will also award prize ribbons to artworks that best represent traditions listed in the Craft at Risk document, which lists endangered craft practices and encourages the sharing of heritage skills. Ribbons will be awarded at the annual Sheep to Sock Event on June 6th, 2026. To view the Heritage NL Craft at Risk Document, please visit: https://heritagenl.ca/programs/craft-at-risk/

Submission Details:

Artists must submit:

-Up to 5 images of the artwork(s)* to be considered

-Title, medium, dimensions, year, and price of artwork

-Artist Bio (maximum 100 words)

-Artist Statement (maximum 250 words) 

Technical or installation requirements

Multiple smaller artworks in a set are also eligible for submission.

-Please email your submission to programming@obrienfarm.ca with the subject line “ARTIST NAME - Artwork Submission 2026”. Ex. “DANIEL RUMBOLT - Artwork Submission 2026”

-Artists will be notified of acceptance by May 1st, 2026.

Sales

We encourage works to be available for sale. The O’Brien Farm Foundation will retain 20% commission on sales, which will go towards future exhibitions and programming, with 80% returned to the artist. Cheques will be issued within 60 days of the exhibition closing.

Shipping

Artists are responsible for all shipping costs, including:

-Shipping, delivery, or drop-off of work to O’Brien Farm

-Return shipping or pick-up following the exhibition

-Shipping for any potential out-of-town sales.

O’Brien Farm Foundation is not responsible for any damage incurred during shipping.

Exhibition Events

O’Brien Farm will host an opening reception with beverages and light refreshments (details to be announced), and all artists are warmly invited to attend. Artists are also invited to take part in our annual Sheep to Sock event during the exhibition period on June 6th.

We look forward to celebrating fibre arts with you all!

For questions, please contact: programming@obrienfarm.ca

Sheep to Sock

We’re so excited that this event is back. More details to come, but for those who don’t know, Sheep to Sock is a Heritage NL, O’Brien Farm and Sheep Producers Association of NL family-friendly (and free!) fiber art, craft, and agriculture event that showcases the entire journey from sheep to sock. Demonstrators will show how to shear sheep, card wool, spin, and more!

Heritage Places Poster Contest Winners Announced!

Heritage NL was excited to announce the winners of the 2026 Heritage Places Poster Contest on Heritage Day. The full awards ceremony is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUK75byYV8I&t=2s

Find all the winning entries here: https://heritagenl.ca/news-events/heritage-week-2026/ or on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_o6UYGtAxQ&t=17s

More coverage of the winners is available on VOCM: https://vocm.com/2026/02/17/291958/ and with CBC Listen "On the Go" with Krissy Holmes: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-47-on-the-go/clip/16198129-heritage-nl-poster-winner

Some Good Folks: MA Folklore Co-op Students Available for Work

 

Availability of Folklore Co-op Students: May-Aug 2026

Students from Memorial’s Master of Arts in Public and Applied Folklore program are available for full-time, paid work terms of 12-16 weeks this summer.

Memorial’s folklore program has course concentrations in research methods, ethnography, archival studies, folktales, culture, oral history, literature, and more.  Student experience and interests include: research and cultural documentation; public event support; cultural and economic development; marketing and communications; tourism; archiving; and curating.  Assignments could include working in research, museums, heritage sites, festival planning, visual media and radio, tourism or entertainment.

Wage subsidy funding may be available to organizations hiring co-op students, through the provincial SECPAP program or the federal SWPP program.  Details about both programs can be found here https://www.mun.ca/coop/employers/funding/. 

If you’d like to learn more, please get in touch with Rebecca Newhook at: rnewhook@mun.ca

Women's Labour Scanning Party featured on CBC NL

Heritage NL's scanning party focusing on women's labour was recently featured by CBC NL!

Daily mementos of women's past labours are being preserved for future generations thanks to a scanning party at the Torbay History House. From family photographs and film negatives, to journal entries and newspaper clippings, CBC's Julia Israel watched as keepsakes were collected and documented so they could take their place in the history books (CBC NL).

Check it out here: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.7079418

Photograph of Mary Liddy outside Liddy Hotel and Lounge in Torbay.

Basic Folklore and Oral History Interviewing Course

 

Join Heritage NL for this four-week course to learn all you need to know to get started on your oral history projects!

Basic Folklore and Oral History Interviewing Course

This course is offered as a WHAM! partnership and is considered a core course for MANL’s Museum Studies Certificate Program, but you do not need to be enrolled in the program to participate in the workshop.

Calling all budding folklorists and armchair historians! This workshop is open to anyone with an interest in local history, culture and folklore, and who wishes to learn more about safeguarding our cultural heritage through the medium of oral histories.

The course will give a background on conducting research interviews in the field. It will provide an overview of the methodology and explore the practical matters of creating, designing, and executing effective oral history research projects, project planning, interview questions, ethical issues, and recording equipment.

Over the four week course, participants will conduct an interview, prepare archival metadata, and work collaboratively to create a finished oral history project. Participants will need to bring their own laptop/tablet, all other materials provided. If you have your own digital recording device (tablet, iPhone, mp3 recorder, etc) you are encouraged to bring it, but it is not required.

The workshop will be taught by folklorist Terra Barrett, Intangible Cultural Heritage Program Planner for Heritage NL. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Folklore and a Master of Arts in Public Folklore from Memorial University. Terra sits on several boards including the Mummers Festival, and has experience working with Memorial University’s Folklore and Language Archives, Them Days, and The Rooms.

Click here to register!

Monday Nights, 7pm-9pm
February 9th-March 2nd, 2026
Workshop fee: $100 (preregistration required, limited to 8 participants)
Location: Newman Building, 1 Springdale Street, St. John’s
(This is office space which is unfortunately located on the second floor of the building so it is not fully accessible. We will be offering a digital version of the course in the future so stay tuned.)

For more information, contact Terra Barrett at 709-739-1892 x2, or email terra@heritagenl.ca

In which we celebrate our 100th edition of the Heritage Update newsletter!

 In our 100th (happy anniversary to us!) issue, the Heritage Update has stories on:

• Conference Tips and Tricks
• Youth Heritage Forum 2026
• The Torbay Scanning Party coming up on February 7th at the Torbay History House
• the Hant’s Harbour Old Post Office 
• A look back at our 2025 Heritage Plaques
• Commemorating Louise Saunders
• and the return of our popular Basic Folklore and Oral History Interviewing Course!

download the pdf newsletter here

A Note on the Architecture and History of the Nurse Myra Bennet House, Daniel’s Harbour

The home of Nurse Myra Bennet, known as Newfoundland’s Florence Nightingale, is a testament to her and her husband, Angus’, dedication to their community. The house was built by Angus in 1922 and was a two-storey with a low pitched hipped roof, and on the front, had two two-storey bay windows. 

In a submission to Downhome Magazine by Myra and Angus’ daughter Grace, wrote about the house:

He [Angus] had seen a house in Halifax with four bay windows on the front, one for the dining room and one for the living room and two upstairs for the bedrooms. He had to go into the woods, chop down the trees, and saw the lumber in the saw mill and using an ox and sleigh haul it out to the site in which he was doing the building. He had put a verandah on the back, it had four bedrooms, a bathroom, a place for linen, and two clothes closets. There was a space for a bathroom but indoor plumbing wasn’t used in Daniels Harbour, that would come later. Large kitchen and a pantry was built and in the pantry he found a running spring. What a find!!! We had fresh water without going to the well under the hill to bring buckets back to the house. He put a pump in and it served us very well.

Grace’s full letter can be found here: https://downhomelife.com/submission/nurse-myra-bennett-as-told-by-daughter-grace/ 

When Myra first arrived to Newfoundland from England in 1921 through NONIA, she was appointed to the North-West coast as the only medical caretaker in a nearly 320 kilometer region. Even after the two-year contract was complete, she continued her role despite the low–and at times, non-existant–compensation, and when patients could not pay, Angus helped by footing the bill.

As the nearest hospital was in St. Anthony (260 kilometers away), the kitchen of the Bennett home became the medical clinic. This set up continued until 1942 when Angus added a separate clinic space off the kitchen. Sometime in the 1940s, plumbing was installed to the home, but upon being designated by Heritage NL in 1991, the house remained mostly in its original state. 

Over her official career that lasted from the 1921 until 1953, Myra recorded that she delivered  5,000 babies and pulled 3,000 teeth, however these numbers are certainly higher as she continued working at least into the 1970s.

More details about the house and the Bennett Family, you can check out our webpage: https://heritagenl.ca/heritage-property/nurse-myra-bennett-house-registered-heritage-structure/ 

Report Available! Measuring Muntins: The First Steps in Creating a Chronoloy

Since June of 2025, we have been visiting properties around the Avalon to measure and profile muntin bars from historic wooden windows. We did this because wanted to know how the shape and size of the bars varied, and whether we could find patterns in their style.

In total, we recorded 42 muntin bars, and none of it would have been possible without the help and eagerness of the owners and caretakers who welcomed us to their properties. We want to give a BIG thank you to everyone involved who took the time to share the histories of their properties and their passion for preserving heritage.

In case you're wondering, yes, there was a pattern to the style of muntin's found around the Avalon.

You can check out the details here: https://heritagenl.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/045-Measuring-Muntins.pdf

Newest fieldnote: An Architectural History of Bleak House, Fogo

We've been talking a lot about Bleak House in Fogo lately, and we've recently published a fieldnote focused on its architectural history! In it, we discuss the purchase of the Fogo Harbour premises, the building of Bleak House, the transfer of ownership, and more!

Check out our newest field note here: Architectural History of Bleak House, Fogo!