After my work stint in Gros Morne, I tagged along with my favourite geologist and one of his graduate students as they headed down the west coast of Newfoundland to do some research.
Our first stop was a remarkable place called Boswarlos. Not much there in terms of population or amenities … but we were there for the rocks, and they were spectacular!
While my companions were busy trying to figure out the structures in the cliff face, I spent some time exploring with my camera, and then turned my attention to making something on the beach.
I’d been thinking about the history of “The Rock” and it’s people a great deal since I arrived, and wanted to make something that addressed both the Newfoundlanders’ ongoing relationship to the land & sea, and my own feeble understanding of all that encompasses. Every time I have been out here, I have been struck more deeply by how rugged this place is – how tough one would have to be to make a go of it, what strength of spirit it must have taken to settle here, to stay on, to work on and with this land and the sea around it. There’s nothing romantic about how difficult that must have been – and still is – in many places here.
So – A small tribute of sorts, I guess.
I am Prairie born and raised. I’ve lived in that flat(ish) landlocked part of the country most of my life. No sea, no tides, no mountains (within about a 4 hour drive).
So what does a Prairie Artist make to acknowledge how out of her element she is on “The Rock” – but how much she loves it there as well?
A Stone Boat.
What else?
I like this – a not overtly sentimental response. It’s a grand place. I spent a lot of my childhood on the rock.