Bonnie Blink Project Events

Ongoing:

Self-guided historical walk

Rue Studio Tour and Viewing of Artist works in progress

Free entrance to Centennial Museum

Community mapping at Rue Studio

October 13

10:30-12:00 Bonnie Blink House and Manitoulin Gardens Tour

Join Diana Parill, owner of the Bonnie Blink House on a tour of the house and the gardens.

12-2:00 Local Foods a La CARTe at Rue Studio – various prices

Have lunch with us - local foods and yummy treats

1-2 Lead Artist Talk with Michael Belmore – RS

Michael will talk about his work, his approach and his vision for the Bonnie Blink project. Slide show and Q & A.

2:15-4:30 Workshop Series ($8 per person, $5 per person for families) RS

·       Outdoor Creations: Kids (ages 8 and up) – with Michael Belmore

·       Print-making: Kids (ages 8 and up) - with Ruta Graveolens and Lupe Perez - 

         learn print- making using natural materials in a real-life artist’s studio!

·       The Science and Art of Fields - $10 – RS

·       The Science and Art of Fields with Neal Scott and Heather Thoma (For kids, teens and  

          adults) - Learn about local plants and their biology through observation and drawing.

October 14

10-3 Land Art Workshop for teens and adults with Michael Belmore - $20 – BB

Teens and Adults: Join professional visiting artist Michael Belmore on a day-long workshop learning about outdoor installation, creating with found materials to build site-specific art works. Bring a packed lunch or treat yourself to some yummy local foods a La CARTe.

10-12:00 Community mapping workshop for kids and adults

Where do you hang out, swim, fish, live, play, hike, bike? What places have strong memories for you? Where did important events happen? Come along and join Sophie Edwards and Heather Thoma for some fun community mapping!

12-2:00 Local Foods a La CARTe at Rue Studio – various prices

Have lunch with us - local foods and yummy treats

2-4:30 Story Social and Tea– CH (free; desserts various prices)

Do you have a memory or story about the Bonnie Blink House, Manitoulin Gardens, or the Sheg Townline? Come along and swap memories, contribute to the community map and have a nice cuppa and treats.

2-4:30 Photography workshop with Danielle Bourgeault Kids 8-12 $10 (RS)

Bring along a camera and tramp about the farm to create a photo story and learn photography tips from photographer Danielle Bourgeault

October 16

7-9 pm Talk: Historical Sheguiandah + Using Archives in Land Use History – CM

What are the histories of Sheguiandah? How are archives used in land use mapping and cultural geography ?

Alan Corbiere, Historian

Sandy McGillivray, Historian

Dr. Anne Godlewska and Dr. Neal Scott (Human and Physical Geographers, Queen’s U)

October 17

10-noon Geographer Tag-along: field research experience

Want to see what physical geographers do in the field? Tag along with some geographers for the morning.

October 18

12-1 Dr. Patrick Julig, Laurentian – The Archaeological Importance of the Sheg Paleo-Indian Quarry

Bagged Lunch Lecture (BYOLunch – coffee and tea provided, donations gratefully accepted)Join Archaeologist Patrick Julig on a fascinating history of Sheguiandah and its earliest peoples.

October 19

4-6 pm Students and Artists Share their work – RS

So, students and artists have been working on projects all week. What did they learn? Who did they talk to? What did they create and why? Come on out and hear their stories, and see their works-in-progress.

October 20

 10-noon Local and Historical Foods Brunch Fundraiser - $11 per person CH

It’s Queen’s students turn to host you! Students will be up at the crack of dawn, along with the help of our gracious volunteers, to make a scrumptious and hearty brunch will local foods. Our thanks to the donations and discounts by local folks: Burt Farm, LoonSong Gardens, ValuMart, Noble Alpaca Farms

October 23

6-8 pm Art workshop for kids: working with clay $10 RS

Get your hands dirty while you work with clay alongside professional potter Lynda James.

6-8 pm Writing Workshop: Telling Stories about Place: $5 BB House

Want to write up some of your memories? Want to create a story about Sheguiandah? Join writer Sophie Edwards to write about place.

October 25

7-9 pm Rue Studio Open House – Project Close – See the art works and slide show documentation of the project

All events free, except where noted. Donations at all events gratefully accepted.

Registration for Workshops in advance is highly recommended.

CM = Centennial Museum

RS = Rue Studio

BB = Bonnie Blink House Townline Rd.

CH = Community Hall, Townline Rd/Hwy 6

BB Project Artist Profiles

LEAD ARTIST Michael Belmore is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and graduated with an A.O.C.A. in sculpture/installation from the Ontario College of Art & Design in 1994. Belmore employs a variety of media in order to investigate our use of technology and how it has affected our relationship to the environment. It is through his use of materials that Belmore brings into account how we view nature as commodity.  Belmore's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is represented in the permanent collections of various institutions and numerous private collections. He feels that the process of art making, more specifically the creation of outdoor art is a responsive action and is personal and often deeply rooted history. http://nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/hide/michael.html

Ruta Tribinevicius is a multi-faceted, Manitoulin-based artist, working mainly in textile, print, and installation work. After completing a BFA at OCAD, with a major in printmaking, she relocated back to Manitoulin and runs Rue Studio, a multi-functioning arts centre in Sheguiandah.  Ruta cites garbage dumps, strange plants, fermentation, and unfathomable symbiotic behaviour as sources of inspiration. http://ruestudio.ca/

Lynda James: Since 1988 Lynda has maintained an active studio and teaching practice and participated in numerous local and regional shows. She was trained in Fine Arts at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia, Berkeley, Melbourne Australia, and at several colleges in Ontario. She is interested in using her knowledge of pottery to inquiry into the historic site of the Bonnie Blink house to understand stories of domestic and social activity.

Sophie Anne Edwards is an award-winning writer and artist. Her work explores the relationship between self/body and land/landscape. She is interested in troubling the landscape tradition by integrating historical, social, political and cultural texts and readings into her work. She works with site specific elements (geology, found materials, landscape images, cultural and settler history and texts. http://www.sophieanneedwards.blogspot.ca/

Heather Thoma has been a practicing weaver since 1995. Since 2010 Heather has been working on her Expressive Arts Certificate Program through the Haliburton School of Arts, and developing an artistic practice in textile art and installation/land art. Heather is interested in exploring the possibilities for low impact outdoor installations which will reveal, in an artistic way, the work that has taken place through the hands of farmers and gardeners within that landscape.

Kate Strickland was trained in the Fine Arts Program at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, has taught at The Southampton Art School, Manitoulin Island in Hudson Quebec. She is a mixed media sculptor who creates and collects objects and then assembles them to express the essence of an experience, a memory, an idea, an emotion, or a place; she plans to develop a series of installed assemblages throughout the Bonnie Blink site. http://artveinstudio.com/

Lupe Pérez is a Montreal-based artist working in the fields of mixed-media drawing, collage, graphic and web design. Currently pursuing a Bachelor in Fine Arts she takes inspiration from the presences—both animate and inanimate, social and spectral—that comprise and emanate from the built environment. Her practice seeks to channel the use of textures, patterns and structures into emotional and social narratives, making use of traditional and digital tools in miniature-scale creations.

Danielle Bourgeault works as a photographer engages recurring themes of landscapes, old and derelict buildings and barns, vacant building and cityscapes.  Her work centers on themes of history related to spaces and places.  Danielle works at capturing the evidence of lived-in places; old or broken down barns, buildings, old gravestones and graffiti fill her photos. 

Bonnie Blink Project

The Bonnie Blink Project

Sheguiandah, Manitoulin Island

October 12-23

23 geographers 8 artists 1 site

Full day and part-day art workshops for Kids and Adults

Talks: local historians, researchers and artists
Site Visits: Physical geographer Tag-Along

Story Social: Bring your memories and stories of the Sheg Townline

Activities range from FREE to $20

The Bonnie Blink house was one of the first settler houses built on Manitoulin. The name Bonnie Blink means 'beautiful view'.  When the Robinson-Huron Treaty enabled white settlement on Manitoulin,  the original 15 acres of the farm was  purchased  by James Lewis in 1880, and stayed in the family until 1930 when it was purchased by Douglas Murray, who started Manitoulin Gardens, purchasing additional property until it was 100 acres. The house on the property variously housed its owners and descendants, as well as local and migrant workers. Located near the Sheguiandah First Nation, the property and this project present an important site from which geographers and artists will be able to interrogate land use history, immigrant and worker issues, and community stories about agriculture, culture and community. 

Diana Parill, the current owner of the house approached 4e with a vision of running an arts project about the Bonnie Blink house and farm. After three years of dreaming, planning and co-ordination, we have an exciting, multi-facted community project. 

Artists and geographers will be researching and mapping the physical history of the site, working with local archives and talking with community members about their knowledge of local histories. Community members are invited to share their stories, contribute to the mapping project and participate in the various activities that run throughout the program.

Drop in for a visit to see what the artists are up to. Talk to geographers about how they figure out land use history, and tag along with them on the site. Sign up for a workshop. Come to talk. Drop in to the Story Social and share a memory.