canoe maker

A previous post describes the dimensions of Voyageur Paddles typically used by canoemen of the Hudson's Bay Company. It appeared in an article in the HBC's company journal, The Beaver. The September 1922 edition features a fur trade canoe with narrow paddles and an improvised sail from a scarlet red HBC point blanket.

Artist Robert Griffing is well known for his historical art depicting Eastern Woodland peoples and the 18th Century Eastern frontier. Many of his paintings feature bark canoes and decorated paddles. One of his new releases is entitled, "The Paddle Painter" and features a calming scene of a how a paddle might have been decorated with natural pigments in years gone by...

A few years back, I posted an artist profile on John Buxton. Much of John's work feature birch bark canoes and images of various paddle shapes and decorations. He is still very much actively painting wonderful historic images. Here is a new 2013 piece entitled "Night Rain" which features 2 prominent canoe paddles with painted decoration and distinct grip styles.

Last week I posted R�jean Roy's wonderful vimeo vid, "Le Peintre, le canot et la for�t" . It's a six minute video about his wilderness canoeing art and his traditional means of canoe tripping for inspiration.

After seeing all that wonderful canoeing equipment, I happened to get in touch with him hoping to get more info about his light blue canoe. I just found the colour such a lovely contrast in the deep green forested region of his journey. Turns out the canoe is "Al Gordon" model ( 14'6" ) built by McCurdy and Reed out in Nova Scotia. It just so happens there is a wonderful backstory to his canoe built for him in 2013 which  R�jean wrote about in an post HERE

R�jean  also sent me a few thumbnails of his canoe-specific paintings and with his permission, I've posted them below.

Just stumbled upon a fantastic video showcasing the wilderness art of French Canadian Rejean Roy, who travels by wood canvas canoe to gather inspiration for his artwork. What a treat this video is - a beautiful production with traditional gear, wanigans, canvas packs, a campfire baker tent. Enjoy!

A recent posting on the Canadian Canoe Museum blog asked readers to help identify a historical print featuring a trade canoe with a serpentine decoration and some accompanying paddles...



My French is quite rusty but the paddle on the left seems to have some measurements. I believe the  "5 pi 2 po" corresponds to 5 pieds 2 pouce which roughly refer to feet and inches (this page on french measurement terms mentions the pieds is equivalent to 1.066 ft and the pouce equal to 1.066 inches)


The other paddle oddly features a caption that reads "pagaye de la Martinique" and looks quite exotic...nothing like the paddles used in the birchbark canoe trade. Maybe just a bit of artistic license to add some flair to artwork?

While searching the web for pics on wanigans, I came across the artwork of fellow Toronto resident Graham Robinson. His "Coureur Des Bois" series showcases a seasoned paddler (who looks a whole lot like a paddling friend Rob S from the WCHA) using a mix of traditional and modern canoe gear.  Hope you find Graham's artwork as inspiring and appealing as I do!

Robinson takes his artistic inspiration from classic scenes of Canadiana. An avid adventurer, his paintings and illustrations are inspired by his travels across Northern Canada. Robinson works with a skewed and somewhat surreal approach to memories past where wanigans, barrels, canoes, and paddles all appear in familiar yet fictitious stages. His work often contains fable like narratives which reflect on the solidarity of the human psyche and consider the fragile state of our natural environment.

Graham Robinson was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in 1987. He is currently enrolled at the Ontario College of Art and Design and has exhibited his work in galleries across North America since the age of 17. 

Looking forward to more cool canoe related art. In the meantime, anyone wishing to contact Graham can find his email address on his blogspot profile page HERE.

Came across a colourful image of some old-school standup paddling. This piece, entitled "Indian Canoe Race" was painted by William de la Montagne Cary (1840-1922).


The scene looked familiar. Earlier I posted about an engraving of a similar scene by the same artist featured in Harper's Weekly (1874)


INDIAN SKETCHES, INDIAN CANOE RACE
Harper's Weekly, June 1874.

Here are some vintage Ivory Soap ads featuring a canoeing theme. This first one features some paddles. The slightly flared blade design looks similar to the Attikamekw design (one of my favourites for soloing). Is it me or are the women doing all the camp chores while the men lounge about?



This next ad features a more rustic camp with an overturned canoe and paddle. Of course, back in 1912, washing up right by the shore with soap was considered acceptable. Turn away if this offends any modern day Leave No Trace folks where washing needs to be done 70 meters away from a water source...

Here is an amazing piece of art from Illustrator Harry Fenn (1845 � 1911). It features some scenes of Moosehead Lake region in Maine.



The center piece is a fantastic image a Guide poling a bark canoe up the river while the Sport tries his luck fishing. Really like the detail on the canoe and the vivid portrayal of the rapids. The Guide is leaning on his pole hard (note the flex in the pole) and the artist has really captured the muscling power it takes to hold the canoe steady.



Similar illustrations of the region can be found in Hubbard's 1883 publication Woods and lakes of Maine and Thomas Sedgwick Steele's 1882 publication, Canoe and camera .

Katie Ohlke of Stone Ridge Art Studio  has created some wonderful paddle art reflective of the historical impact of Tom Thomson in Canadian Art. Below are some pics of her paddle creations. The first is an evocative piece that carries some of the mysterious symbolism of Thomson's death on Canoe Lake in 1917. Thomson's facial profile is carved into the blade and the base of the grip is wrapped 17 times with copper wire.

 The Backstory: When his overturned canoe was found floating on the lake, one of the two paddles he carried was lashed to the thwarts for portaging...the other paddle was missing and never found despite a thorough search for weeks after. Wood paddles float so finding it shouldn't have been much a challenge according to search parties. When Thomson's body was discovered some distance away, a large wound was found on the side of his head while his left ankle reportedly had 17 wraps of fishing line tied in a very deliberate fashion. All this created the suspicion of the paddle used as a murder weapon thereby adding to the mystery.

Issac Walters runs a site devoted to the history of The French in Wisconsin. I stumbled across his 2009 post showcasing his bark canoe and some decorated paddle blades...



Here are some extra details he generously provided...

The two red painted paddles are carved from white cedar and were made by John Beltman of Northern Minnesota. The decorative designs are fusion of different patterns from researching images of historical artists Thomas Davies (circa 1737-1812), James Peachey (active 1773-1797), Louis Nicholas (see my Codex Canadiensis post) and some museum canoe models.

The blue paddle in the picture was one that Scott Bowen (Southern MN) started carving and was going to throw out because it was cracking in the blade. Isaac finished the carving adding a Cross of Lorraine on the grip, then painted it blue. To combat the crack, the tip was reinforced with some copper.

Came across this interesting bit of canoe related art in a family crest that features a muscled arm holding a canoe paddle. Kind of a neat way of saying, "Don't mess with us because we'll get medieval and beat you silly with our weapon of choice - a canoe paddle."





The Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada has a write up page regarding these heraldry symbols registered to the Mackendrick family. Apparently the canoe paddle alludes to the great success that family members over five generations have had in the sport of canoeing, beginning with the international success of the three sons of Mr. MacKendrick�s great-grandfather.

Curious to learn more, I searched a bit and came up with this info:

Harry F. MacKendrick (1866-1950), a prominent citizen and physician in Galt for many years, brought considerable fame to his city and to himself as a canoeist. In New York in 1890 he set a new record in winning the World Championship and with his brother, John, also won the tandem championship. Previously, when only twenty years of age, he won the American Championship at Sturgeon Point and upon his retirement it was said that he was never defeated in 122 races in "singles" competition.

His father, two brothers and he as a team member won four world titles during that era. He was talented in other sports and was a member of the Canadian all-star team which won the World's Soccer Championship in 1885.

Check out this awesome Woodpecker paddle art piece made by Joanna Haslem at Owl's Pen.


Carved Woodpecker Paddle


Closeup


Closer Closeup

Check out this great pic from Life Magazine featuring a cedar-canvas canoe after a run down some wicked rapids...she's still afloat! Some thick branches have been layed across the hull forming temporary thwarts and a long piece has been lashed to left side forming a temporary gunnel. Amazing that the canvas appears fully intact.


Canadian woodsman Robert Rock, in a battered canoe that is leaking furiously but still afloat.
In this photo: Robert Rock
Photo: Wallace Kirkland./Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Nov 01, 1953

Came across this historical illustration of a Beothuk canoe and paddle dated from 1773. It may be the source documented by Adney and others as the representation of paddles for the exterminated Beothuk tribe of Newfoundland. Notably, this style of paddle has a very elongated, narrow "willow leaf" style blade with a pole grip, the length of which (to the scale of the canoe) seems to corroborate its usage as an paddle for the uniquely designed seaworthy canoes of the Beothuk.


Beothuk Canoe & Paddle Sketch


Paddle closeup
My own, reduced sized interpretation of a Beothuk paddle with a cherry laminated bobble grip is still awaiting some woodburning decoration.

Newell Convers Wyeth Wyeth (October 22, 1882 � October 19, 1945), known as N.C. Wyeth, was an American artist and illustrator. According to Wikipedia, this prolific artist created over 3,000 paintings and illustrated 112 books! Here's a painting featuring a decorated paddle blade...


The Indian in His Solitude
NC Wyeth
1907


Paddle Closeup
The paddle decoration seems very similar to Indian Maiden by Moonlight by Charles Realyea that I posted about here. The 2 artists seem to have been contemporaries so might've influenced each other.

Here's a shot of Bob Timberlake's 1993 painting entitled Indian Summer which features a bark canoe, pack basket, and green painted paddle.


Indian Summer
1993


Paddle Closeup
Description from his site...

Indian Summer was painted at Bob's new studio at the rock wall to the right of the guesthouse. The term "Indian Summer" refers to the mild, warm, hazy days of autumn that usually occur before the chilling frosts arrive. The birchbark canoe is just one of Bob's large collection of canoes and boats which is said to be one of the finest in the Southeast.

The paddle in the painting looks similar to this antique Maine paddle posted back in 2008. Not only did he capture the general shape of the grip, blade and spine, but even the weathering of the paint is visible in the artwork.


Antique Paddle from the Cherry Gallery