Visiting Artisans Program

December 2002 - January 2003

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
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by Jeremy Ward

Rhonda MacIsaac and Jeremy Ward sewing sheets of side bark as the hull takes shape. Soft Science Associates photo

The Canadian Canoe Museum is hosting a new Visiting Artisans Program to preserve and promote cultural understanding and the teaching of traditional knowledge.

Last summer, the museum piloted this program when we began the construction of a 36 foot birch bark canoe under the glare of hot lights, movie cameras and the watchful eye of our patient visitors.

Great sheets of bark, many of which measured over twenty feet in length, were peeled from trunks of mature white birch trees slated for harvest in the Haliburton area. Back in the museum's Preserving Skills Gallery, these sheets were staked out and carefully formed as the bottom of the canoe's hull. With two runs of bark stitched in place along each side, the full volume and scale of this long-haul carrier of the 18th and early 19th centuries has begun to take place.

Construction of the canoe is expected to carry through the summer of 2003, after which this fully functioning replica of a Montreal Canoe will be tested with a cargo and crew of four tons! Visitors to the museum's website can follow progress of the canoe over the next months.

Following this, through the development of solid partnerships with communities in the North, the museum will host Inuit builders who will construct a traditional kayak as the next feature demonstration of the Visiting Artisans Program.

Museum audiences will enjoy the rare opportunity of a first hand encounter with these valuable traditions and with the people who practice them. They will be able to witness the remarkable conversion of natural raw materials into the sophisticated craft for which these builders are known. Moreover, the cultural context and stories embedded in these arts are to be a featured element. The visitor will also come to understand the value of traditional kayak building today, which has largely shifted from that of a practical skill born out of need, to a powerful symbol of cultural pride, expression and renewal.

The documentation of this exciting initiative will be published through various media, including a film documentary, print material and an online exhibit through our website:www.canoemuseum.net.

The Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ontario is known internationally for holding the largest and most comprehensive collection of traditional canoes and kayaks in the world. Since 1995, it has worked to advance knowledge, increase access, and promote awareness and understanding of unique and diverse indigenous cultures. The museum has successfully interwoven a rich cultural tapestry of stories, living traditions, skills, and knowledge around its comprehensive collection of watercraft. This is accomplished through new and compelling ways, using the canoe as the unifying link between the people and the country.

© Jeremy Ward is Supervisor of Artisan and Public Programming with the Canadian Canoe Museum.

Web: www.canoemuseum.net