Winter E-News

After closing out the largest solo exhibition of my career at the John M. Parrott Art Gallery here in Belleville, Ontario, Canada in March, the remainder of the year remained high energy with travel, exhibitions, home renovations and painting. 

Picking up in April, I would spend the next month preparing for two U.S. exhibitions opening in May. 

May 2nd to the 4th , 2008 -  Exhibition in Nappanee, Indiana – a three day group exhibition entitled “ Spring into Art”.  I was hosted by Nappanee residents John and Jan Tobias who offered up their beautiful home in the downtown area for my stay. It is truly one of the largest residential homes that I have been in and the home had a whole history of its own. It really touches my heart everytime I receive an email from Jan and John, as they sign it off as from my Indiana family. Nappanee is located in the center of Amish country in Northern Indiana.  I took every opportunity to travel the countryside taking photographs of the area and its people with its enormous Christian foundation.  One of the most incredible sights that I saw was the damage that was created by the October 18th, 2007, F3 tornado that swept through the town and with it, the story of its townspeople rising up to help each other in rebuilding the damaged homes and businesses.

I returned to Belleville, just long enough to unload and reload the shipment to Boston and spend one day of needed downtime.  Then it was off to Boston and four solid days of adventure and photography.  After dropping off my originals at the Yawkey Center in downtown Boston, I headed to Cape Cod and spent time immersed in the history of this area from Hyannis to Provincetown. After two days on the peninsula I headed back north through New Hampshire, Vermont and northern New York.

Upon my return to Canada, it was time to complete some minor renovations on my home for 2008, before setting out on one of the greatest adventures of my life, Destination Montana, to attend and photograph the three day, Custer’s Last Stand Re-enactment in Hardin.

Rather than narrating the story of this most incredible adventure, I will use several pics as highlights of this trip.   I was able to collect over one thousand digital photographs and over 3,000 35mm pictures.  The list of new Watercolor paintings from these images could carry me for many years for subject material.

I arrived in Chicago on June 19th and left the Windy city the following day for Iowa City.  I had my heart in helping with the sandbagging operations for the worst flooding disaster across the Midwest that had occurred in my lifetime. When I arrived, the floodwaters had receded but the obvious devastation was beyond anything that I had ever seen.  Disaster and Emergency teams were still on the scene for clean-up operations. Sandbags were still in place and holding back the river in some of the lower lying businesses areas.  The University of Iowa’s football field was still under four feet of water and many streets were still unpassable with only stop signs still visible.  Heading north to Cedar Rapids, the devastation was just as prevalent here.  I am attaching a Youtube link if you are willing to see what the people of Iowa went through.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxq8BbtOxSo

Then it was almost straight north through Iowa into Minnesota with its prairie feel with  its perfectly flat lands.  Windmills were everywhere across the horizon.  I took this picture through my sunglasses an hour out of Wilmington, MN.

Wind power generation could be seen in every state that I was through in the Midwest and it made me curious as to why we get lost in politics in pushing forward with clean energy in my home region.

Next day, it was straight west into South Dakota.  Amazing pics in Sioux Falls and then continuing on to the Badlands National State Park.  This place was truly a walk on the moon.  Actually did some mountain climbing for the first time and always on the lookout for rattlesnakes.  Spent a whole late afternoon and evening cruising through the park  Finally bedded down in Wall, famous for its Wall Drugs store mall.  No relation to Walmart that is for sure.

Next day it was on to Rapid City located in the Black Hills of South Dakota and to take in the famous Mount Rushmore.  Unbelievable work of art.  You could take the Presidential path just below the heads of the presidents and you could appreciate just how big these granite carvings were. Work on it as carried out between 1927 & 1941 under the direction of Gutzon Borglum.  His studio is at the base of this mountain.   The four presidents are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln with each representing in this order, Independence, Democratic Process, Leadership in World affairs and Equality.

Leaving Rapid City the next day, it was northwest to Sturgis and as most of you know…reknown for its annual motorcycle  rally week. Fairly uneventful place, but gotto see the Knuckle Saloon.  Probably a lively place at night after a few beers.  Had to take a slight detour through the north eastern sector of Wyoming to visit the famous “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” Devils Tower. No synthesized music could be found and no aliens,but what a majestic view to be in the presence of this natural formed tower.  If you are heading for the tower, do not count on your GPS navigation system to take you there….directly at least.  Hilarious and eerie travels through some of the most back roads I have ever traveled.  Stay on the main highways.

 From the Tower it was north west towards Montana through Wyoming.  It is always thrilling to see the magnificent Rocky Mountains on the horizon. It was on to Hardin, Montana to the home of the famous Custer Battlefiled.  The picture to the left is one I took of the actual spot that Custer fell in the famous battle of Little Bighorn.  Each stone marker was placed for a fallen soldier of the Seventh Calvary. To stand on the side of this hill and look across the Black Hills and the Bighorn River, with the unbelievable scent of sweet grass filling the air, will surely touch you as it did me.  You will be profoundly carried to a moment in American history that no matter which nation you are from, you will have heard the stories of Custer’s Last Stand. This was the reason I came to Montana. To see and witness it all with my own eyes.

 I really had to share this picture that I took during my five day stay in Hardin, Montana.  To take a picture of a lightning bolt with a 35mm camera is almost like winning a lottery, but this shot above the Western Motel where I stayed for five days, certainly amazed me when I had my film developed. If you ever decide that you would like to take in the re-enactment at the end of June,  make sure you get on the internet and make your hotel booking well in advance.  History seekers and tourists will pour in the day before from all over the world for this event. 

 Next it was on to Billings, Montana for shopping and then westward before cutting south back into Wyoming and into the famous Yellowstone Park. I drove through the landmark gateway into Yellowstone. There’s the For Freedom mobile on the far left of the stone gateway.  I could write a book on what there is to see in Yellowstone after spending two days there.  The Yellowstone Lodge is amazing and the view across Yellowstone Lake is spellbinding.  No TV’s in the rooms though and this should come as no surprise with the breathtaking views and the snow covered mountains. 

Take the time to visit Mammoth Hot Springs and Old Faithful and take your time driving through this immense park, you will not want to miss a thing. Stand at the Continental Divide, the point  where the rivers of North America  will flow east to the Atlantic or west to the Pacific. The herds of Buffalo, wolves, deer and grizzlies abound in this natural protected environment and the surreal landscape and natural wonders will leave you breathless.

Leaving Yellowstone through the South Gate, it was straight into Grand Teton National Park with Jackson Lake in the foreground.  In taking this picture, movement in the grass caught my eye.  The two young grizzlies emerged and one of them stood up and sniffed the air. One more picture zoomed in and it was time to leave because I had no idea where Momma bear was and I am certain she would not have cared if I was an Artist from Canada.  Leaving the Grand Tetons, it was diagonal across the state of Wyoming. If you have ever seen the  red rocks of Sedona, Arizona, you will love the landscape of Wyoming.  Severe storms moved in upon arrival at Rawlins.  A friendly little city that serves up a breakfast fit for a Cowboy.

 Then it was south into Colorado and straight for Denver to visit Invesco stadium, the home of the Denver Broncos.  I had this picture taken of me with a Denver Broncos leather helmet so I could share the moment with a friend of mine back home, John Murphy, who had purchased a Polaris four wheeler. I had kidded him about wearing a leather helmet during his four-wheeling excursions in the backwoods of Ontario.  This one is for you John.   

Then my final goal of this voyage was to take pictures of a tornado, so it was straight east into Kansas and into the Tornado alley.  It felt as though you could see a thousand miles across Kansas and you could see at least half a dozen separate storm fronts.  Veering north now and with nightfall approaching, it felt good to finally find a hotel in McCook, Nebraska.  The next day it was a day of shopping across the State.  First in Ralston and then on to Lincoln and then through Omaha, before settling back into Iowa for the night.  Another trip back into Iowa City was amazing to see the changes that had occurred in the two weeks since my last visit.  With cleanup operations still progressing, the city had come back to life and it was virtually business as usual.  It makes you appreciate the resiliency of us human beings eh!

Arriving back in Chicago, it was time for some relaxation and celebration for the 4th of July with friends and my Chicago family in Bolingbrook. After a fantastic afternoon of Canadian barbequing (guess who manned the BBQ) and nightfall setting in, we headed to the burb of Lyons, and took in the most spectacular display of fireworks I have ever witnessed.  Every suburb of Chicago had their own fireworks.  The intensity of the explosions from every direction in the night sky, exploding into a million different colors, showed me the patriotic love that Americans have for their country. It is worth the experience to be in a major U.S. city like Chicago on the 4th of July and it was the perfect ending to my most incredible journey.

Back in Canada, it was time to get the renovations completed on my home and it would take me two more months to finish them off. There are many advantages to being a designer and a carpenter, but time becomes a luxury thing in my life.

September would take me to Boston to close out my part in the Illuminations Exhibition.  This month would also see me in business meetings in Dayton, Ohio and in October I flew into San Juan, Puerto Rico for a week.

Upon returning from Puerto Rico, I had one weekend to prepare for my second return visit for the Frankfort, Indiana exhibition. 

After returning from Indiana, it was a time to settle in and to focus just on painting for the next several months and also to continue with the interviewing of Artists for the Group of Twelve.