Elizabeth Wilson - Afton: A Place in Time

Great article on Elizabeth Wilson the co-author of Afton a Place in Time.

As published in The Guardian - Jan 10, 2013

In the years before the West River Bridge was built in 1958, winter travel was tricky for people living along the south shore of P.E.I.

The existing roads were often of little use, so ice travel became popular and petrifying.

As soon as the roads filled with snow, travel to the capital city was mainly on an ice road, marked with brush to show the safest route across the Charlottetown Harbour.

On a December afternoon in 1936, Vera (Alchorn) MacEachern and her sister, Aletha, were on their way home to Fairview, after visiting their brother Lloyd, a patient at the Charlottetown Hospital.

“There was nothing we could do but set out by foot across the treacherous ice,” says MacEachern, during a telephone interview. Suddenly, a squall came up. “The sky turned from pale gray to blinding white. Very soon we couldn't see the shore. Then the footpath we were following vanished in the swirling snow. We walked for what seemed like hours and luckily stumbled onto the shore of New Dominion, made our way home and lived to tell the tale,” says the 89-year-old.

It’s one of the stories in Afton: A Place in Time. Launched last month, the community history covers the south shore neighbourhoods of New Dominion, Fairview, Rocky Point, Rice Point, Nine Mile Creek and Cumberland. With chapter titles like Pre-Settlement, Afton Pioneers, Seafaring and River Travel, Industry, Community and an entire section on Afton's soldiers, the 207-page book contains narratives and historical information on the area and its settlers. Afton: A Place in Time is receiving positive reviews from community members.

“It’s a great historical document for the community,” says Errol Taylor, chairman of the board of Afton Community Centre.

“The fact that it has been pulled together by a committee is great. It honours our veterans and the residents of the community and records the history of various cultures like the Mi'kmaqs that have been a part of Prince Edward Island," Taylor says.

Gina Rankin, chair of the Community of Afton, is also happy with the book.

“I'm pleased for the whole community. I’m also pleased for the co-authors Natalie Carragher and Elizabeth Wilson and everyone who has worked on it,” Rankin says.

The project has been a “labour of love” for Wilson.

“For me, it’s a way to give back to a community that has welcomed me, because I'm not from here," says Wilson, who was born in Ontario, raised in Alberta, moved to P.E.I. in 1976 has been living in Rice Point since 1980.

The book was also a great way to engage young people.

“Whether they were involved in putting the book together or will be using the book in the future for a school project, it's important to engage youth... and help them develop a sense of community,” says Wilson, one of a dozen people who worked on it.

Her co-author agrees. “I felt privileged to be on the receiving end of the stories (during the) interview process,” says Carragher, who is from Cumberland.

As she edited and pieced the book together, she realized the contribution she was making to her community.

“A lot of the history dies with the community members, unless it's captured and written about. So without anyone to capture them, these stories were soon to be lost," says Carragher, currently enrolled in the masters of communications program at Ryerson University in Toronto.

But there were other reasons Wilson started researching the book in 2010. She had gathered information on the veterans from the community of Afton and had written part of the manuscript.

“It was important to honour the soldiers that fought in the First World War, Second World War and Korean War," says Wilson who in her personal life was fighting a war of her own.

“I was diagnosed with cancer in the fall of 2010. Somehow, working on this project motivated me, making my life more purposeful. So it become one more thing that needed to be done. Co-writing the book helped keep my mind off personal matters," she says.

What's next?

“History never ends. We're always finding more stuff. The committee received more information after the book was printed. We did our best, but I’m sure that as people read the book they'll have more things to say.”

AT A GLANCE

Fast facts

What: Afton: A Place in Time

Completed: By the Afton Computer Resource Club.

Researchers: Andrea Angus, Kristin Nicholson, Jennifer Fanning, Bobby McNally, Natalie Carragher and Alicia Carter.

Editors: Marie Nantes, Elizabeth Wilson, Sydonia Kerry, Patti Machell, Natalie Carragher.

Funded by: P.E.I.'s department of innovation and advanced learning and department of innovation and advanced learning and Skills P.E.I.

Copies: Available at P.E.I. bookstores.

Great article published in  in The Buzz in December 2012 on Ron Arvidson, who had been the pottery instructor at Holland College School of Visual Arts.

Ron Arvidson, The Art of the Organic

Profile by Jane Ledwell

The first time Ron Arvidson saw a potter transforming an unformed lump of clay, the young art student knew it was a “magical” art he wanted to master. After creating pottery professionally more than 40 years, the soft-spoken potter makes modest claims for his magic. “I try to grow from one piece to another,” he says. “One [piece] has to be better than the last… There’s no fun doing it the same again and again.” Ron says, “I like the whole thing to be brought together—colour and texture matched to the organic form of the clay.”

Ron says that to support this evolution, he tends to “work in series, evolved from a particular image.” An avid birder, he says, “Bird images come up again and again and again. Landscape is involved in a lot of them too.” Though the landscape used to be “really literal,” more recent pots subtly build from earth imagery at the foot, through lines of overlapping glaze, towards sky at the top.

His current work is a series of plates in black-and-white based on drawings of birds—crows, heron, osprey. “They are more realistic,” he says, and yet, “drawing with white is not just lines developing: it’s removing the black. It’s like a wood cut—a process of taking away.” His hope is each piece will be “a drawing you don’t have to frame.”

The plates capture Ron’s love of birds. “Birding is a great occupation,” Ron says. “People can bring birds into their life… Even a backyard birdfeeder can develop into something beyond that; it can lead to an understanding and appreciation beyond that. You can develop a sensitivity to nature.”

Such sensitivity takes effort to value in a mass-produced consumer world. Examining the serviceable mug and cutlery before him at the café where we meet, Ron comments practically, “It’s getting to a point you don’t really need the item that is handmade, that has a design component or decoration.” The mass-produced stuff, though, is “pretty sterile, pretty much the same.”

He muses, “Now that you can go to a computer and create a design on the computer and have a 3D image printed, it’s hard to justify making something that starts with a ball of clay. But,” he says hopefully, “I think there’s a growing movement to appreciate nature”—and along with it, the organic, handmade, and artisanal.

“Plan B” protests against highway development and habitat destruction underscore this for Ron. “Plan B shows it has gotten to a point things have gone a little too far. Making products has gone too far.

“People are not happy with things being imposed on them and want to take control of their environment and what they have in their homes. They want not just mass-produced [stuff], but more and more people appreciate the hand-crafted item, the homemade loaf of bread, the homemade meal. They appreciate [things that are] locally made from local products.” He feels sure “this is going to become more central.”

The work of a potter is often solitary, so connecting to others through teaching is “essential” to Ron. He says, “It comes back to the fact that working in the studio, I didn’t like working alone all the time. I like the idea of working with other people and talking to people on a regular basis. I like working with others solving problems, and getting others’ input.”

Beginning a career in the handmade, Ron says, “is like a young farmer—it is not an easy pathway… You’re going to have to grasp a path and take it on yourself to explore.” He speaks admiringly of the new generation of Island artisans doing exactly that.

Ron now reflects on one of his biggest early influences, Saskatchewan potter Jack Sures, and realizes his hallmark was “he approached it as an artistic endeavour.” Pressed to suggest how he wants his own work remembered, Ron Arvidson says, “I want people to appreciate it for the quality of workmanship, and for real growth and development and change over time.” Clay doesn’t change or grow without the potter’s hand, the artist endeavouring.

Katharine Dagg featured at Details Past and Present Gallery

Details Past and Present Gallery on Richmond St. in Charlottetown features the work of Katharine Dagg, who was a design instructor at Holland College School of Visual Arts in the 1970's. A biography of Katharine is located on the gallery site

Katharine is a resident of PEI, having moved here over 30 years ago. She holds a BFA from the University of Manitoba, majoring in drawing and painting and minoring in ceramics. She has worked as an Arts and Crafts officer for the government of the North West Territories instructing, developing and promoting arts and crafts with the native people. She also worked for Canadian Arctic Producers setting up and displaying Inuit art shows in Chicago, New York, Minneapolis, Montreal and Toronto. Her dream was to live and work as a potter and hopefully, find time to paint. The pottery dream was fulfilled as a partner with Sandi Mahon at Stoneware Pottery, a successful studio business that they ran for over 30 years. She now finds time to pursue her passion for painting. Says Dagg, "I am mad about colour. There is no room for beige in my life! I'm inspired by nature and the human figure and faces that tell a story. I can be tempted by heady blossoms gossiping over a fence,or luscious fruits and vegetable overflowing in great crockery - abundance, beauty and colour.

Holland College Digital Archives

An amazing collection of material from the School of Visual Arts at Holland College which existed from the mid 1970's to the early 1990's is now available from the Holland College Digital Archives.

There are over 200 items related just to the School - and can be located by doing a search with the words Visual Arts as search terms.

A grant from the President's Innovation Fund allowed Library Services to pilot and test software for building a digital archive. We have digitized content and have started the process of transferring our digitized materials to the online archive. Please send your questions or comments to library@hollandc.pe.ca.

We'd like to thank the members of the Association of Holland College Retirees for their support of the project and Natalie Hunt, our summer intern, who digitized much of the material in the archive.

Bob Doddridge - A Legacy in Wood

Award winning chair designed and created by Bob Doddridge (wood) and Ian Scott (leather).

The legacy of Bob Doddridge, former Holland College School of Visual Arts wood instructor Bob Doddridge who died in 2005 remains a significant part of the arts and cultural development of Prince Edward Island. His life as an college instructor had a significant impact on his students at a time that the crafts industry was just emerging on PEI. His knowledge and “can do” attitude have been sited by industry leaders as having a major impact on their determination to succeed in a field where few had prospered previously.

Bob's commitment as an artisan himself during his teaching career and in retirement showed his students that understanding construction techniques while being of great significance, that it was the hands-on aspect of achieving high quality finished work that was the end goal.

His daily work ethic was exemplar in many ways and showed his almost undivided attention to detail and to practicing his craft.

Award winning chair designed and created by Bob Doddridge (wood) and Ian Scott (leather).

This collection of images are an indication of the beautiful work that Bob created and which still graces homes, offices and public building. Enduring - strong - natural wood - created to last and continuing to serve, these are words that describe Bob's work and also reflect his outlook on his work.

 Chair designed and created by Bob Doddridge.

 Assorted items by Bob Doddridge.

Lectern by Bob Doddridge.

Chancellor's chair UPEI -  by Bob Doddridge.

Crest of UPEI - carved by Bob Doddridge.

Bob Doddridge at work.

Mural for Canadian Coast Guard College designed by Henry Purdy, carved by Bob Doddridge.

Statue designed by Henry Purdy, carved by Bob Doddridge.

Bob Doddridge - Memorial Trees in Trust

Diane and Jacques Gaudreau of Gaudreau Fine Woodworking Artisans have made a donation in memory of former School of Visual Arts wood instructor Bob Doddridge. They writes "We invite anyone who wishes to dedicate a piece of island forest as a memorial to Bob to please visit: Memorial Trees in Trust."

Well done Diane and Jacques.

Holland College Launches History Book

Wayne MacKinnon, author of the newly-released A Record of Achievement, a history of the first 25 years of Holland College.

Newsrelease by Holland College

Wednesday, September 17, 2008. Charlottetown, PE - Former staff, students, members of program advisory committees and the public are invited to attend the book launch of A Record of Achievement - Holland College the First 25 Years on Thursday, September 25 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the cafeteria in the Charlottetown Centre.

A joint project of the Association of Holland College Retirees and the college, A Record of Achievement delves into the political, economic, and social motivation behind the creation of the college in 1968, as well as the college's revolutionary approach to learning. Well-known historian and author Wayne MacKinnon, who wrote the book, says the college was a trail-blazer right from the start.

"Holland College acquired an international reputation for its pioneering work in competency based education," said MacKinnon. "The success of its students is a testament to the way in which the college responded to the need for skilled workers in a changing economy."

Holland College President Dr. Brian McMillan says the publication of the book couldn't have come at a better time.

"The college is preparing to celebrate its 40th anniversary. This is an excellent time to acknowledge and honour the individuals, businesses, industries, and governments that helped to create an institution that has become highly recognized not only across Canada, but also on the world stage."

Davida Stewart, ASCHOR's History Committee convener, is pleased to see the project come to fruition.

"Members of the ASHCOR committee viewed the development of a written record and collection of archival material as a task in which they truly believed and wanted to see accomplished. This goal has now been achieved," she said.

In conjunction with the book launch, a collection of Holland College memorabilia will be on display in the lobby of the new wing of the Charlottetown Centre, at the Kent Street entrance, and the Holland College library will showcase the results of its digital archives project.

The book is available for purchase at the Holland College bookstores in the Charlottetown Centre and at the Atlantic Police Academy in Summerside, or may be ordered by calling the Holland College Bookstore at (902) 566-9548 or by e-mailing clambert@hollandcollege.com.

Sara Underwood
Manager, Marketing and Communications
Foundation and Corporate Advancement
Holland College
140 Weymouth Street
Charlottetown, PE C1A 4Z1
Tel: (902) 566-9695
Fax: (902) 629-4268