Creativity During Covid-19 with Mireille Eagan, Curator of Contemporary Art at The Rooms in St. John's

Mireille Eagan, Curator of Contemporary Art at The Rooms in St. John's chats with folklorist Dale Jarvis of Heritage NL about her work telling stories in the gallery space, her life as a curator, and about how the pandemic shutdowns have affected The Rooms specifically, but also the wider impact it has had on how we think about galleries, art, and creativity.

Living Heritage Podcast Ep075 What is an Art Hive?

Dr. Leah Lewis is an assistant professor, counseling psychologist, creative arts therapist and project lead of the Open Art Studio or Art Hive. Art Hives are forms of community based practice, grounded is social justice and art therapy frameworks. Also known as open studios, art hives create publicly accessible spaces for people to gather, exchange, and make art.

• Open studio, open heart
• 'Art hive' project fosters sense of belonging for immigrant, refugee teens

The art hive project at Holy Heart highschool is working with newcomer youth attending the ESL programming there, all of whom are immigrants and / or refugees. In this episode Leah explains Art Hives, the history behind them, and describes an great example found in Montreal. We also discuss the importance of arts in building community, and explore how to use the Art Hive as a place to learn leadership skills as well as practice creativity.

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The Living Heritage Podcast is about people who are engaged in the heritage and culture sector, from museum professionals and archivists, to tradition bearers and craftspeople - all those who keep history alive at the community level. The show is a partnership between HeritageNL and CHMR Radio. Theme music is Rythme Gitan by Latché Swing.

#Makersmonday Do you recognize these logging themed copper relief panels?

At our last meeting with the Grand Falls-Windsor Heritage Society, they brought out three prints they want to identify. The photographs show what looks to be copper (or similar) relief art panels. They show three different aspects of logging work. While they look very familiar to me, we have not been able to place the. Do you know where these pieces are or were displayed? Comment or email kelly@heritagefoundation.ca 

Living Heritage Podcast Ep035 Towards an Encyclopedia of Local Knowledge

Pam Hall is an interdisciplinary artist, scholar, film-maker, and writer. Her visual art has been exhibited locally, nationally and internationally and is represented in many corporate, private and public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada. She has won national awards for her work as a designer in film (for Rare Birds) and as a children’s book illustrator( for Down by Jim Long’s Stage) and was recently inducted into the Fortis Hall of Honour at the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council Awards.

In this interview, we talk about her work creating and curating the Encyclopedia of Local Knowledge, which explores art as a form of making and moving knowledge and reveals many ways of knowing that are local, living, and still fruitfully in use. Recorded on 21 January 2016.

Explore the Encyclopedia

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The Living Heritage Podcast is about people who are engaged in the heritage and culture sector, from museum professionals and archivists, to tradition bearers and craftspeople - all those who keep history alive at the community level. The show is a partnership between HeritageNL and CHMR Radio. Theme music is Rythme Gitan by Latché Swing.

Living Heritage Podcast Ep005 Museum Gift Shops with Kelly Jones

Kelly Jones has worked in the world of retail for the past 30 years as a sales associate, manager, merchandiser, and owner. Currently, she is on a contract for The Rooms Gift Shop, as Buyer and Product Development officer. She is also still involved in theatre and film on a small scale, having been a professional stage manager for 10 years. On this episode of Living Heritage, Terra Barrett chats with Kelly about the business side of running a successful museum gift shop. They talk about challenges faced by museum gift shops, how to link products to gallery exhibits, balancing the themes of collections with sales products, developing product for the Christopher Pratt exhibit, working with artists, popular price points for items, and tips for marketing your shop using social media.

Youth Contest for Aboriginal Arts and Stories

Aboriginal Arts & Stories is a national educational initiative that invites First Nations, Métis and Inuit youth (ages 11-29) to submit creative writing or two-dimensional artwork about their culture and heritage. Participants have a chance to win up to $2,000; a trip to the annual awards ceremony, and have their work published or exhibited. Finalists are selected by a jury comprised of celebrated Aboriginal writers and artists, including Shirley Moorhouse, Kent Monkman, Maxine Noel, Lee Maracle, and Drew Hayden Taylor, among many others.

The contest is an opportunity for youth to share stories of their families, communities, ancestors, as well as personal stories, with an audience across the country. Now in its 11th year, more than 2,000 youth have participated in the contest to date. This year’s deadline is March 31, 2015. Visit www.our-story.ca for full guidelines, prizing information, previous winning submissions, and to submit an entry.

Aboriginal Arts & Stories is a program of Historica Canada, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Canadian history and heritage.

Help identify this Victorian-era "open book and star" tombstone symbol

I love old cemeteries, and always enjoy poking around the older sections, reading the epitaphs and admiring the artistry of the old grave markers. I was exploring the United Church graveyard in Cupids, Newfoundland yesterday, and came across a tombstone symbol that I am unfamiliar with.

The tombstone features an open book with star motif, and dates from 1881. It marks the burial spot and final resting place of one Lorenzo Taylor, age 22. It is a paired tombstone, with two inscriptions, the partner inscription bearing the more familiar handshake motif.

Books are a common theme on gravestones from the period, and the symbolism of the book can represent many things. A book may represent a person's good deeds and accomplishments being recorded in the Book of Life, or perfect knowledge, or it may be a more literal representation of the Bible.

Often used on the gravestones of ministers or clergymen, a book is a fairly common symbol found on gravestones of very devoted religious people. In the Cupids UC Cemetery, there are numerous examples of book motifs, many of them featuring the same double page spread as the Taylor grave.

Stars, as well, have many possible meanings. A five-pointed star can represent, variously, the Star of Bethlehem, the Epiphany, the star of Jesse or Jacob, and/or heavenly wisdom. Stars can symbolize heaven, the spirit, or the spirit rising to heaven. One list of motifs states the stars can represent “piercing the darkness as an expression of their triumph against the overwhelming odds of oblivion.”

What is less clear is what a star on a book means. Was it simply a stone carver’s blending of two unrelated religious symbols, and then picked out of a pattern book by the purchaser? Or does it represent something specific?

Let me know your thoughts, ideas, and theories! You can comment below, or email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca.

Hi Ho Silver! Stories with metalworkers tonight at The Rooms

Tonight, Wednesday, May 1st, at 7pm, join the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (HFNL) at The Rooms Theatre for “Talking Shop: Metalworking.”

To highlight The Room’s new exhibit Silver: a Noble Metal, this Engaging Evening will explore the craft of metalworking. Folklorist Dale Jarvis will host Don Beaubier, Susan Lee Stephen, and Jason Holley, three local artists who work with metal, and who will join us to talk about their experience creating their pieces of art with silver and other metals.

The presentation is organized to coincide with a recent Rooms exhibit, “Silver: A Noble Metal.” In chemistry, silver is considered a noble metal; it is resistant to corrosion and oxidation and is considered precious due to its rarity in the Earth’s crust. From silverware to jewelry, pocket watches and trophies, silver was once mined and worked right here in Newfoundland.

Silver has been a status symbol for centuries, its artisans creating functional works of art but also paying attention to styles and trends. It has also been considered a great reward and is given as an award to important dignitaries, athletes and heroes on the battlefield.  The exhibition examines silver (sterling and plate), its uses and markings and its production within the province.

Photos courtesy Susan Lee Studios.

Tuesday's Folklore Photo: Woodcarvings by Kevin Coates

Kevin Coates is a talented local artist who draws inspiration from traditional Newfoundland industries for the subject matter of his work. Coates, who is self-taught, picked up caricature carving about 15 years ago after reading about it in a magazine. He had been looking for a new hobby and this style of wood carving peaked his interest. Much like caricature drawings, these carvings exaggerate the peculiar features of a person or object. Coates, who grew up and still resides in Winterton, is inspired by the fishery and the majority of his carvings reflect this.

When you first see a Kevin Coates carving your eye is immediately drawn to the face, which he works on for about a third of the time it takes to complete the rest of the carving. When asked where he gets inspiration for the faces, Coates replied, “it’s something about someone I remember, especially from back when I was a kid. We spent a lot of time down by the wharf, at this and that, with the fishermen and the old fellows.”

Coates mostly uses pine or fir along with several different tools to carve his pieces. Interestingly though, Coates' favorite tool is a modified right-handed filleting knife, or splitting knife, that he cut down to about five or six inches. As Coates describes, "where I'm left-handed and it's a right-handed splitting knife the turn is perfect for me."

For more information on Kevin Coates and his carvings, check out the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Researched and written by: Nicole Penney

Works Cited:

Penney, Nicole. Interview with Kevin Coates on the Subject of Wood Carving. Recorded April 26, 2013