News
The magic of an established garden is visible in the way plants settle into a landscape and spread in swathes of colour. In April, it’s the hellebore and the curly lilies that stand out.
For a number of years, the McLoughlin Gardens has been relying on our neighbour and caretaker Barry Godfrey to check the reservoir at the top of the steep hill and then run the pump to fill it. At last we have installed a new system, with a submersible pump that runs on electricity and goes directly to the house. Many thanks to James Powell, a McLoughlin Gardens volunteer, for doing the research and finding the right company to undertake the project - McGill’s Well Service and Supply. They completed the work in record time and did an excellent job. Below is a photo of the old pump, which continued to start every spring, over many seasons.
Our first studio residency of the season wrapped up on Sunday, April 21st. Muriel Marc returned with two fellow creatives, Vanessa Groult and Angélique Germain, both of whom were working on literary projects. All three are Francophones currently living in the Comox Valley.
In April, artist Holly Friesen arrived from Montreal, no doubt hoping for mild West Coast weather. In her reflections, Friesen writes: “The flocks of hellebores were the first to greet me as I descended the moss-carpeted driveway. Like small winged fairies they fluttered everywhere on this wondrous piece of land. They appear fragile but I watched them withstand torrential rain, fierce winds that topped an ancient fir tree, and even a morning of snow.”
“The wild diversity of weather kept me indoors, working by the fire more than I expected and it turned into a beautiful introspective and exploratory time. The charm of solitude is in how much more present one becomes to the non-human world…”
Tale Spinners Writing Group
Local writer Janet Miller was in residence in the last part of April. Fellow writers Kim Letson and Ian McIntyre joined her daily for critique sessions and writing.
Miller’s words speak to the healing power of the setting: “Quiet hours of writing and gazing at the view have really helped me in a personal way.” In her report, she writes: “Loons, seagulls, eagles, the dog-like heads of seals, a fish boat, and a tug with its container barge, are there to be seen on this late April morning. When I turn my gaze back to the work at hand, and re-enter the world my story, I find I have discovered the right beginning of my manuscript, and the right ending.”
Letson spent her time revisioning her book of walking adventures — Canterbury and Other Tales: Treading Ancient Trails. She may have some exciting news about this project to share soon!
Ian was also working on a piece of non-fiction: “In this tranquil, lovely setting that is already in the midst of spring blooming, I am tackling the story of my father as a motorcycle despatch rider in World War II as he trains in the United Kingdom and moves to the continent on D-Day plus thirty with the Canadian Corps Headquarters. The death and injury rate for despatch riders in all theatres was horrendously high, counted in terms of thousands and he managed to survive for the duration of the war and into the Occupation Force.”
Muriel Marc
Comox artist, Muriel Marc left her reflections in French: “C’est un rêve qui se réalise pour moi - un espace et du temps pour avancer sur mes projets artistiques. Et quel endroit! Une confortable cabane nichée au creux d’un merveilleux jardin. Le McLoughlin Garden restera à toujours gravé dans ma mémoire. Entre forêt et océan j’ai vécue une semaine au paradis où j’a pu laisser ma créativité et mon inspiration exploser: dessiner, graver, écrire, réfléchir, contempler, prier, marcher…et se sentir connecter à la nature si présente, si forte.” (Between forest and ocean, I experienced a week in paradise, where I was able to let my creativity explode: drawing, printmaking, writing, reflecting, contemplating, praying, walking and feeling myself connected to the strength and presence of nature..)
Jane Munro
Poet Jane Munro expressed her appreciation for the soundscape at the Gardens: “Living in the city with its river-roar of traffic—go somewhere, do something—such happiness this week to be here—my full self fully happy just to be here—reconnecting me with possibility, promise, and joy. A frog lingering legs wide, toes spread on bracken; the swoop of a raven; bumblebees attending tiny blossoms on a red current; a sea lion’s gruff snort. Even how the brown grass greens in patches after a few rain showers.”
Fabric Artist and Writer, Jessie Schut’s reflections on the creative process
The week before the retreat, friends had been asking me what I was planning to do. In my application, I’d stated that I wanted to spend time reworking my family story. I’d written about 100 pages but it didn’t feel right, and I knew I’d have to make changes. And I was also working on a large mural using fabrics, felted wool, and other fibre art techniques. I began compiling bins of papers and photos, art supplies, the tools for creating fibre art. They formed an imposing pile in the hallway by the door. These were the raw material I’d need to produce something meaningful, to have something to show at the end of the week.
And yet, these expectations could also be the undoing of me. I was feeling an uncomfortable resistance within me to spending a week with such goals. And so, instead of asking myself what I was planning to do, I asked myself a better question: why was I longing to take this retreat?
I had applied to this opportunity because I needed a time of solitude. Studies show the ability to tolerate alone time has been linked to increased happiness, better life satisfaction, and improved stress management. It also sparks creativity. I’d found all of these things to be true in past retreats. Perhaps solitude was all I would get out of this retreat, but it would be enough – enough to fuel more creative endeavors going forward, enough to get away from the incessant demands of everyday life and engage with bigger questions about meaning and values, enough to rest and be restored by nature’s beauty, to evaluate what was happening and what was important in my life.
And so I told my friends that I was planning to do nothing: nothing that smacked of goals and strategies, nothing that had a deadline, nothing that would create anxiety and pressure. Instead, I would be open to what came. I would be open to the creative spirit, to insights, to listening to my inner voice expressing its needs and desires. Spending time at McLoughlin Gardens would remove me from my everyday life and give me freedom to explore.
It was a great week!
This is what I wrote in my journal on my last day: “August 5: My last full day in this magical place. I feel sad and anxious about leaving – it’s just not long enough! And then I decide to turn that thought around: I feel deep gratitude for having had this experience – the deep peace I feel as I look out over the water, the time I took to reflect on my life, the insights I reaped because of that. May bit and pieces of this experience stay with me and bless me as I move forward.”
Ruby Singh
This year, for the first time, McLoughlin Gardens hosted a musician and composer. Ruby Singh is a Juno-nominated composer and the winner of a Western Canada Music Alliance award in Global Music. In his report he explains the art and technology of bio-sonification and includes links to several compositions.
Ruby Singh’s report from the field: ”In my time at the residency I was working on a couple of projects, kraKIN, a more-than-human hip-hop collaboration with Dr. Michael Datura , and a boom-bap menagerie of West Coast flora, fauna and fungi.”
In an age of ecological crisis, we created a multi-species assemblage aimed to decompose human dominion and reintegrate our minds with the resonant ecology of a living world. We were putting the final touches on a book that will accompany our place-based hip-hop album which incorporates both field recordings and “bio-sonification”—a technology that translates the bioelectric signature of flora, fauna and fungi into musical information. The other 1/2 of this book is an ambient and poetic offering, Polyphonic Garden Suite II, which intimately explores our relationship with this living, breathing and animate world. I created the album and accompanying poetry over the course of two years of travel to six biomes throughout so-called ‘british columbia’. I used field recordings, bio-sonifications, unique instrumentation and tempered keyboards with the songs of coastal wolves, orca, and birds (western screech owl, thrush, robin, song sparrow). To further deepen these sonic landscapes, the midi data of plants and fungi trigger the songs of their animal cohabitants: a Cottonwood tree triggers the call of the Song Sparrow that lives within its branches; bull kelp triggers the song of orcas. The time at the McLoughlin residency allowed the space and time to contemplate future iterations and writings for both these projects, while also providing a space for final editing and some image creation too.
Janis La Couvée
Poet Janis La Couvée wrote: “This studio residency has been a balm to my spirit, provided me with insight on how to structure and shape my poetry collection(s) which was my main goal. Sometimes answers come in a flash — this was the perfect place to foster that flash of inspiration - particularly on those liminal days when earth and sea, water and islands dissolve into one another and you feel as if you are living in a bubble—somehow completely apart, adrift in a world of your own but connected intimately to all of creation, the wonders of the planet.”
Vivian Vaillant
Writer Vivian Vaillant arrived at the Gardens with a children’s picture book project in mind. During her week, she met with her illustrator to talk about the characters in her story. In her reflections, she outlined eight steps for a successful writing retreat.
Step Seven: Bathe in the Flow State.
Vaillant noted in her journal the impact of the setting:
”I’ve never retreated to a place where books are so abundant. I suppose that is the difference between going it alone, and going alone together. This space feels special. From my flow state I feel somehow connected to the people that have been here before me. Iimagine the conversations that have happened through the years to make this place possible. Where might people have been sitting on the day they decided to gift this land? Who sat in on the very first meeting that decided to create a retreat space?”
Amy Crook
Fabric artist Amy Crook returned to the Gardens this fall, accompanied by her mother Veronica. Together they worked on an intergenerational quilt, the centre square of which is a square quilted by Amy’s grandmother.
Angelika Forray
Artist Angelika Forray came to the Gardens with an idea for how she would spend her time - exploring a particular concept:
“How Shapes Shape Us - We Are Not Separate From The Container We Are Contained In.”
She writes: “The first couple of days I spent exploring what shape means to me. Loosening up and trying to access what was inside me.”
She continues: “I did small studies and tried many different techniques. I then began to explore how the shapes are interconnected. Through exploring shapes I explore my own techniques, methods, practices and places of holding to discover what feels right. As I break out of my own restrictions and comforts into what I am to become- the shape that suits me best, now. ”
On Sunday afternoon ten poets gathered to learn about ekphrastic poetry from writer-in-residence Yvonne Blomer. How might visual art be a catalyst for creating poetry?
The sky was a little hazy. The shredded remains of a wasp’s nest hung above us in the rafters of the shed. We began by looking closely at a pencil drawing by Sarah McLoughlin. The sketch shows a weathered stump out of which a few stems of beach grass are growing, their leaning angular shapes revealing the presence of a southeast wind. A dark sea and mountains are visible in the background.
Some examples of what came out of this first prompt:
by Kelly Madden
He could not
find anything
tall enough
for a flag - an S.O.S
so he arranged
the grasses
just so-
perhaps
a passing ship
would see
this part
of the beach
was sketched
long after
he decided
to swim across
in search
of fresh water
by Marvin Haave
Life persists
persists in presence of water and air,
persists in old rotting stump,
persists by means of rotting stump
that freely gives of self
to tender grass that will persist.
by Janet Bartier
and grass grows out of its hollow
and the sea is calm and the mountains
roar in the silence you are gone
and grass grows out of its hollow
where are you where are you
there is calm and a roar and a stump
and grass grows out of its hollow
and the sea is calm and the mountains
On Sunday, May 7, board member Glenn Gustafson led a garden tour and bee program at the McLoughlin Gardens. Starting at the gate, we walked down to Gardens, looking to see what kinds of flowering plants, shrubs, and trees the bees were attracted to. Below are some of the strategies he shared to create bee-friendly gardens.
Gardening for the Bees!
Did you know that there are more than 800 species of bees in Canada and at least 450 species of bees in BC? We are actually very dependent on bees as 75% of the fruit, nuts and vegetables we depend on are pollinated by bees. The good news is that in spite of bee populations struggling in recent years, there is a lot urban and rural gardeners can do to support the survival and increase of native bees.
There are three basic needs can you provide for in your yard or garden to help increase native bee populations:
o Food – flowering plants provide the nectar (sugar) and pollen (proteins and fat) that bees need for energy and to feed their young.
o Fresh Water – Puddles, muddy areas and shallow water in between rocks provide accessible water sources for bees
o Shelter – Bees need areas protected from cold, wind and flooding. Sunny, bare areas of soil in out-of-the way places in gardens are attractive to native bees for nesting. Some native bees also nest in rotting logs or hollow stems.
Consider the following when selecting flowering plants for your location:
o Native plants (wildflowers) and heirloom plants (not hybrids) on average attract four times as many pollinators as non-natives. Use as many native plants as possible.
o Many ‘weedy’ plants such as dandelions and buttercups are early and important food sources for bees.
o Plant several colours of flowers – blue, violet, white and yellow flowers are the most attractive to bees.
o Plant many varieties to attract a diverse range of bees
o Provide a range of plants that bloom in succession throughout the season for your own enjoyment and to provide for the bees.
o Plant flowers of various shapes as bees of different species have different tongue lengths.
o Plant in sunny areas with some protection from wind as bees prefer these areas.
So when you’re next buying plants for your garden, think of the bees and choose something they will love too!
Note: This post was written while Uclulet artist Carly Butler was in residence at the McLoughlin Gardens.
Carly Butler in the studio: “I brought a small press with me and set it up on the sturdy workbench and used the remaining tables for papermaking and type setting.”
It’s September 30th, Truth and Reconciliation Day, and I’m sitting enjoying the sunrise and the early morning wildlife as a settler at a settler’s cabin, both products of the 1970s. In fact, the wifi password here is the year I was born, which is a good reminder that this isn’t an ancient homestead, but belongs to an era of which I was part. Back in the mid 1970’s when these gardens were started and this home was built, no one thought much about the politics of plants, the invasiveness of species brought in from afar to ‘beautify’ the landscape (i.e. ‘make more European’). But the things we took for granted are no longer so, and much, if not all, of this new reckoning/reconsidering/reconciliation has occurred in my lifetime – which honestly, doesn’t feel that long. So it still feels tentative and uncertain, as does my work in this area. I came thinking that I would skewer George Fraser, plant hybridizer and occasional ‘eco terrorist’ in Ucluelet, but upon reading his letters, I started to like him. Yes, the letters are often dull lists of plants and seeds and descriptions of the weather, but he was a man passionate about gardening and growing, who cared about his friends, and who genuinely simply loved rhododendrons and wanted to take care of the land that he later called his ‘heaven on earth’. I think he actually would have been horrified to learn that he might have negatively disrupted the landscape and ecosystem. So, he’s a complicated figure. And in terms of the contracting of history, 8 years after his death, Queen Elizabeth took the throne – and I’m here using newspapers to light the woodstove that are reporting on her funeral that was just last week…
We are only beginning to scratch the surface of how to think about and articulate our own histories and preconceptions. It will be a while before we truly understand what it means to reconcile, never mind confront the truths of the past. In many ways the founders of this property, Sarah and Brian McLoughlin, were ahead of their time in understanding this. The generous act of gifting this property back to the town, to be enjoyed by the public and used by artists to create, think and learn, is a beautiful and tangible #landback action, removed from politics and publicity; just a simple act of humanity and respect. In Sarah McLoughlin’s own words:
“Our good friend, conservationist and activist Melda Buchanan, inspired us to remember that you never really own the land, you just take care of it.”
Sophie MacNeill, a fabric artist who grew up in the Comox Valley, returned to spend a week at the Gardens in September.
In her project proposal, she wrote:
The project I hope to pursue would be an exploration of the themes of home, landscape and the threads that tie us to time, place and each other. I’m eager to take advantage of the space provided to explore larger textiles, using fabric sourced from my mother’s wardrobe to represent “the ground” (the technical term for the surface of embroidery works) from which this work will bloom. I would imbue the fabrics with further meaning by utilizing natural dye respectfully sourced from the landscapes of the valley. I have no doubt that working within the context of The McLoughlin Gardens will be incredibly inspirational. I recognize that gardening, like craft, is a conversation between ourselves and the material world. Each act requires deep attentiveness, a lot of tender touch, and the ever-delicate balance of mastery and surrender.
The final work will be a softscape, a garden grown from the fabric of my mother’s life, perhaps resembling a cloak, a blanket, or some other textile that evokes both domestic utility and care.
Sophie piecing together strips of dyed fabric on the porch.
In her process journal, on the first full day of her stay, Sophie recorded the following:
Monday, September 19th,
Afternoon:
Soaked my mom’s clothes in water
mixed from ocean and the creek
behind our old home. I had needed
to wash/scour her clothes to prepare
the fabric for dyeing and wanted to
“re-infuse” them with something that
felt like her - the water of this place.
Thought about the alchemy of grief
and place while her pants dried in the sun. The sight of her pockets turned inside out was especially moving as I thought about her hands and the things she may have carried or held.
Explored the forest, looking for what plants were available for dyeing. Gathered some alder cones and peeled bark from fallen branches.
Guided by Nancy J. Turner's book, Plant Technology of First Peoples in BC, Sophie gathered lichen, hemlock, alder cones, and peeled bark from fallen branches to create dyes.
On Friday, she wrote:
Afternoon:
Continued letting fabric dye while I cooked up another dye bath with the lichen and mixed some other dye baths togeth- er to get more variety. I spent a lot of the afternoon arrang- ing fabric as it dyed and imaging what kind of piece/collage would come out of this fabric. The colours were more bodily and feminine that I was expecting, and so beautiful and soothing. I took a long walk
in the trails as it misted a
very light rain, revisiting
the plants that gave me
colour.
Evening:
I worked late into the evening, ironing, trimming and stabilizing fabric., and arranging pieces trying to imagine what they wanted to be.
Saturday’s journal entry, handwritten:
Today was about soaking it all in before I left. Did nothing but sit and stitch in peace and quiet.
It was a packed house at the Comox Valley Art Gallery to hear Don McKay read from his work. He read several poems from his most recent collection Lurch. Comox Valley poet Carol Neufeld introduced Don with a poem, her title playing off the title of many poems Don has written celebrating the unique song of Canadian birds:
Song for the Songs of Don McKay
O for the loneliness of your
tomato soup lunch
at the Haig Brown House,
the Campbell River
carousing beside you.
O for the holiness of
St. Peter’s Abbey.
Bells tolling, cheerful monks
leaving the radio on for the chickens.
O for the loftiness of
the Banff Writing Studio
overlooking the Bow Valley.
Then hiking up, through deep snow,
to the Lake Agnes tea house.
O for the trinity of your
intelligence, humour and kindness
kept under your vest,
yet ever ready to receive
the surprise in someone else’s words.
Looking and listening.
For six decades: an educator, essayist,
editor, publisher,
and one of Canada’s finest poets.
The first resident artist of the season was Amy Crook who arrived on April 17 to spend a week at the Gardens. In her artist statement, Amy wrote: “I am an emerging textile artist. For me, working with textiles is about enjoyment, the quiet pleasure and presence of working with soft, natural materials. I am fascinated with the alchemical side of art making and follow my creative curiosity into new mediums and techniques, from block printing and hand stitching to eco-printing, paper making, and dyeing fabrics. I love the unique one-of-a-kind results of working this way and the surprises it brings.”
Courtenay artist Amy Crook, setting up her supplies in the studio at the McLoughlin Gardens
