Jo C. Willems: Wild Life Artist

A while back I introduced Jo to my blog followers, but there always more to come from my good friend, Jo C. Willems.. and take it from me, you better be quick if you want to get to know her, because she moves forward at lightening speed. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I met Jo four years ago while walking in the woods behind Alan's and my home in Reveltoke B.C.,  where she was sweeping the trails clear of debris.  We struck up a conversation about art, and found out we had not only the love of the trails in common, but that we both had been deeply immersed in the academic art world of the 1970's, not an artistic venture for the feint of heart.  Art students in most North American art institutes during the 60's and 70's, as you can well imagine, were in for the artistic ride of a life time.  Anything was art, and art was everything.  Marcel Duchamp unleashed a veritable avalanche of found art upon the unsuspecting world, and Robert Rauschenberg and his colleagues in Black Mountain College took it to the heights of American culture from there. As students we were thrilled and baffle-gabbed by all the excitement, and completely and utterly cut adrift in the ocean of artistic possibilities.  Minimalism, Conceptualism, Performance Art, Dada-Doers, Tough Art, No Art.. it was all part of the mix, and mixed-up we were. So Jo and I understood very quickly upon that first meeting, that we had the unlikely distinction of being art students during a period when the world of art had gone 'Carnival', The World-Turned-Up-Side-Down.  We had a lot to talk about. As I got to know Jo, I discovered she had far more than our shared travels on the planet 'Contemporary Art' to her credit, she had some accomplishments under her belt that very few would be able to match.  I was stunned when I learned what Jo and her sister, Mugs, had already achieved before I met her.

Jo walked the Pacific Crest Trail in the early 1970's with her sister, Mugs, 'Wild' style, and were credited as the two shortest people to have hiked the trail, beginning to end, New Mexico to Alberta. They were recognized by Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Trudeau for that feat of strength and perseverance, and then the sisters hiked The Continental Divide, barely a concept let alone a trail, in 2 sections, north to south midway, then south to north the next year.  Jo and Mugs also rode their bicycles across Canada, Victoria to Newfoundland, and, if that wasn't enough, Jo rode her bike from UCLA Irvine Campus (where she was completing a MFA)  to Victoria, B.C.   The changes sculpted into her body during the ride became the subject of her thesis masterwork. She was both a performance piece and a kinetic sculpture. And then, as Jo says, "Like Forest Gump, I got tired and went home."  Jo is an indominable force, and one of the kindest, gentlest and most generous people I know.  And, she's outrageously funny, as deep as the mountain vistas she paints, and very, very astute.

Jo with her husband, Grant and their dog, Kita

Jo paints as well.  I posted a drawing she sent me for my blog after I met her of the trails I walked daily, and that had become the subject of her art, and still are to this day.

pencil drawing 16" X 20"

Graphite painting 20" X 30"

  Jo paints now in guache, a medium that affords the intricacy of her landscape subject matter with the richness of color they merit. She was working in watercolor when I first met her, and had been for 20 years, and she pulled out a stash of over 80 watercolors for me to see,  most about 16 x 20" and some as large as 24 x 30",  that hadn't seen the light of day for far too long.  I don't know what she had in mind for them hiding behind her dresser, but I immediately saw the talent and the beauty of these works and insisted she haul them out and start exhibiting them, starting with the Revelstoke Public Gallery.  The Director of the gallery, Jackie, was equally impressed, and she guided Jo's ascent into the mainstream of local artists after that first meeting.

Watercolor 20" X 30"

Jo's recently been asked to show her new guache work at the Surrey Art Gallery as well as the art gallery in Golden.  Revelstoke has been a good start, but Jo's powerful visual language will spill over the boundaries of local art and artists.  Guache is a medium that illustrators use.  It's rich in pigment, like watercolor but dense and thick.  Jo says it's like pushing mud around, but the mud in this case is a medium that is densely saturated in color - reds are vibrant and deep, blues have the resonance of true indigo , black is as lightless as a lump of coal.  Jo moved into her expertise with this new medium instantly.  She thought it would take her three years to get a grasp on it, instead it was three months.

'Becca's Way'  24" X 30" guache

Just Need To Get Through February.....

Sailing up Bull Passage, Lasquiti Island.  Can't wait for more .... 

My Three Sons

Gordon, Becca, Alex and David 2011

Gordon 2010

Alex with Alan on Columbia River Flatlands

David on Spring Moon February 2011

In August of 2013,  my sons, Gord, David and Alex joined me at Anderson Lake for two weeks to install a new roof on our cabin.  The crew was led by our eldest son, Gord, and assisted by his friend, Steve, a contractor each of my sons had worked with at various renovation sites over the years.  Gord's good friend, Bill joined us from Calgary.  Gordon had spent the previous four months cooking the whole plan up, and he and Steve calculated the costs, the materials and executed the transition from tearing off the old shakes to cutting the tin (always on a diagonal).  It was an ear-splitting task using a skill saw and ear protection, as well as goggles and gloves. They had to cut each and every saw-fit individually, and custom cut all of the eaves and fachia board as well. The cabin is an octagonal times two. One octagonal for the living space and another for the master bedroom.  Two giant umbrella roofs joined together with a flat roof covering the hall between. There isn't a right angle in the whole structure, inside or out. The job took well over a month, so youngest son, David stayed on with Steve to finish it up. For David, the line 'Blood, Sweat & Tears', took on new meaning.  It was a hot summer and working on a tin roof was hotter still, but the roof went on, and the cabin is much improved as a result.  No more leaks coming through dried up cedar shingles, and an added bonus is aesthetic, an eave around the cabin where none existed before.  I hated the old roof line, and was beyond ecstatic to see it go.  We choose deep red for the color of the tin and the fascia board, and we love the results.  Yahoo!!!

New deep red tin roof

Respite inside.  A haven.

Our Jewel.  Outside on the deck over-looking Anderson Lake

Before any work could begin on the roof, Gord, Steve and Alex had to set the new mooring buoy for Sasperella.

Huckleberry Finn style

And it's not coming back up...

Now the real work could begin...

And we all rejoice in the tranquility of our cabin paradise.

Hawk in Coal Harbor, A Tribute.

This past summer I had a short but sweet love affair with a very special man. Meet Bob McKnight.   This entry is my photo essay of Bob's passion for wooden boats, in particular, Hawk, a 49' wooden racing sloop  designed by William Roue, of Bluenose  fame and built in 1929.  A Canadian sailing icon on  the Westcoast, Hawk was in dire need of repair and Bob took on the job with the intention of returning her to her former glory.  The restoration began in the dead cold of winter, on the hard in a North Vancouver shipyard, replacing one rotten plank after the next.  A close friend of Bob's, Jan, who worked side by side with Bob on this job, mid-way through the grueling work grabbed Bob by the shirt collar (yes, she is a very powerful woman) and told him, through clenched teeth, IF HE EVER FUCKING TOOK ON ANOTHER JOB LIKE THIS AGAIN SHE"D KILL HIM.  Unquote.  Physically it would be akin to pushing a large bolder uphill with a toothpick. Twelve to thirteen hour days, seven days a week.  After steaming the oak planks, fitting them,  recaulking and sanding (imagine holding a long board covered in sandpaper over your head and moving it back and forth, then repeat motion 3,000 times),  they painted the hull Electric Blue, a deep, dark stately color that befits her elegant lines.  A marine rich yellow line engraved in the length of her hull enhances her sheer line, and Jan's painstaking care on her topsides brightwork polished her off. The result? Stunningly beautiful. Sheer elegance.

On a brilliant sunny day in August, 2014, Bob brought Hawk into the mast tower at the Vancouver Rowing Club to step her mast. 

Tough Dude

Loving father: Bob working out plan with his son, Will.

Hosting the mast from the tower pulley

Rick prepping Hawk

Adding the spreaders. Bob's crew: David, Bob, Rick and Bob's son, Will.

David guiding the mast to the deck

Stepping mast on top of the keel

And they do!

Celebrating success with a beer

Bob, bringing in Hawk To Step Her Mast, 2014

Jan on her restored gill netter/ river boat, Vesta. 

 

The End

  Tranquility.  Tender Series.  More to come...

                                             Meet Rose.

Rose was already featured in an earlier photo sitting in my car wearing what looked to be laser luminescent goggles of an ungodly green color.  That's Rose. Full of surprises, mostly of my invention.  Rose is, really, at heart, a straight shooter.  I've been tempted many times to change her name to Earnestina.  I am pretty sure her serious take on life is the result of living her first year on a cattle ranch north of Cranbrooke, B.C.  As much as Rose is a diligent dog, she was no cow-puncher.  I think Rose took one look at the hooves on those gigantic bovines and decided if she wanted to have all of her teeth in her old age, she'd best get off the ranch.  So she got herself fired.  Refused to co-operate with the Boss.  Got the Boss so riled up he chased her right off the property, which is where some hiker friends of my rancher friend Margie, found her.  She was cowering (no small coincidence there) under a horse trailer miles from her tormentor.  They called him up and he admitted Rose was not working out as a herding dog, and he needed a home for her.  That's where I came into the picture.  Margie knew I had to give Caleb up, and before Caleb even saw the Zehnder Ranch and met John, I had a second dog in the back of my car. I paid that rancher $400, a peach pie (Margie's idea) and a painting of his favorite dog, Parker (Margie's idea) , for Rose.  I should have given him a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.  As it turns out, Rose is the meekest border collie in B.C., and if the meek shall inherit the Earth, it's all Rosie's.  The flip side of this is that she was so danged grateful to get off that ranch that she is willing to go to any lengths to please me.  Rose, as Margie predicted, is a very good dog.  A willing dog, a dog who is done with cowering and has taken on the role of Best Dog on Earth. Sit Rose and she sits. Come Rose and she comes. That kind of thing.  Simple but effective.  Rose has become a no-nonsense, ball-crazed, obedient model of canine compliance. She's quick, but there is also something heavy about Rose.  The rancher, Hugh, thought maybe she was retarded (How retarded can she be?  She got herself out of that god forsaken place.).  But there is something 'heavy' about Rose, in spite of her prowess at ball catching.  It's hard to put words to, but she's heavy on the lead, where all my other collies were a light touch.  She's slow to pick up on stuff, dogged once she gets it.  She reminds me of kids I knew in grade school who sat at the back of the class, didn't say much, tried to stay out of trouble, but didn't really get what school was about.  That's Rose, slow to pick up on what life has to offer.  But she's catching on, and now she plays with other dogs (didn't for a whole year) and knows what a ball is for (not a hurled projectile at her) and knows what a stick is for (not for hitting her) and has lightened up a bit.  And Rose is my mostly companion.

See how proper Rose is?  She knows well-brought -up ladies cross their legs when they sit.  Didn't even need to teach her this... she must have picked it up on her own.

Big Gord

My new (2002) Honda CRV which LOOKS LIKE BRAND NEW.

Rosie looks like a dog from Planet Zephron. Where'd she get those flashy goggles?

Thank you Big Gord.

Big Gord with his son, Gord (also my son)

I haven't introduced Big Gord to the Blog.  So much to say.. so many years.  We met in 1976, I was 23 and Gord was 22.  We both rowed for the University of Western Ontario, and we dated for a year, then moved in together while living in Vancouver, the summer of 1977.  We were married on February 18th, 1978, and our son, Gord Jr. was born on May 22nd.  As you can see from the photo, Big Gord (that's what my younger 2 sons call him) is in a wheelchair, and has been since November 1, 1977.  It has been an adventure through the years.... although I'm not sure Gord Sr. (Big Gord) would describe it that way.  Our marriage went under, but we both stayed afloat.  Barely.  There was a lot of room for growth.
 It's been 37 years since Gord's car accident, and he is one of the bravest, strongest,  kindest and most generous people on Earth. He is one of my closest friends & my biggest fan.

Mandalas

I've been painting Mandalas.  I had read about them, seen them and studied them for inclusion in my Near Eastern art history classes, but now I feel very compelled to actually create them.  When I do, I feel steadier, more composed, centered in myself and settled.  No small change.  I just finished my fourth one... but I'll begin with the first, which I posted earlier.

Christmas Mandala

oil pastel and oil paint on poster board

18" x 22"

                                                                 
                                         

Baby's Breath Mandala

Guache on wood panel

12" x 12"

Celebration of New Life Mandala

acrylic on wood panel

12" x12"

                                                                       

                                                             

New Studio / Juniper Gallery at Artisan Square on Bowen Island

I've taken a sub-lease along with Jane Dunfield, another Bowen Island artist, of Juniper Gallery, in Artisan Square. Painting and showing our work, as well as original works by Vikki Fuller (who has the  lease on this space)  and Jo Wilhems of Revelstoke.  Loving it.

'A Tenuous Hold'

acrylic on board

16 "x 20"

'Healing Mandala'

oil and oil pastel on poster board(!)

(not for sale)

(detail)

'Let's Meet At The Field and Walk To The Lake'

acrylic on board

10" x 12"

'Lead Dog: Tess, of Muskrat Ranch'

(Detail and Full Size)

guache on board

8" x 12"

'Bob'

acrylic on board

6"x 6"

'Bob's Tender'

guache on board

6" x 6"

'So Many Horizons and Each One is Beautiful'

acrylic on board

16" x 16"

'Hawk:  Bob Approaching Wharf To Step Her Mast'

(unfinished)

acrylic on board

10" x 14"

'Ghosting'

Oil pen on board

12" x 14"

'The End'

Photo