Wayne Wilson, a long time voyageur brigade paddler from the Okanagan, artist and geographer, has offered a set of prints from his 2017 Paddling with the VBS Brigades across Canada. The Ceyana Canoe Club is now auctioning off these prints as part of our fundraising for a new Voyageur 2 Clipper Canoe. Below is a listing of the prints, with descriptions and the original picture the scene is from. Through this form you can register your bid for one, two, three or all four prints. This auction will close after our Trent Severn Waterway Brigade (August 8th). Winning bids will be notified and will have five days to complete payment by email transfer to our Ceyana Treasurer, or as arranged. If no payment is received, then we will notify the next highest bidder. Highest bids for each print will be posted on a regular basis, active bidders will be notified, and additional bids will be accepted from bidders.
Paddle Canada 150
4 Limited Edition Art Prints
Each print signed and numbered by the artist, Wayne Wilson
Limited to 50 of each print
Framed (10 ¼”h X 10 ¾”w) and ready for display
This special series of block prints was based on images from the voyageur canoe brigades that paddled to Ottawa to celebrate Canada’s 150 anniversary in 2017. Each scene depicts one leg of that epic journey as crews paddled a selection of Fur trade Rivers between Fort St. James in British Columbia and Ottawa, Ontario.
Nechako River high bid to 08 Aug - $400
One of British Columbia’s most iconic rivers, the Nechako drains huge stretches of the Province’s northern lands. The scene here shows two of the 12 voyageur canoes coming to shore, river right, at Isle Pierre between Fort St. James and Prince George.
This was a challenging section of the journey and swept the brigade through some of the most exhilarating rapids of the entire journey across Canada. In fact, the next morning one of our canoe crews tipped over just downstream from Isle Pierre! Fortunately, no one was hurt and everyone regrouped to continue on to the destination at Exploration Park in Prince George.
N. Saskatchewan River high bid to 08 Aug - $400
The crews paddled the upper-most reaches of the North Saskatchewan River for a few days - all of it lead by two seasoned paddlers; Merle Pedersen and Walter Wright. Their intimate knowledge of the river guided us through rushing and narrow channels and around gravel bars left behind from the huge freshet of 2017.
On one section of the river, Merle’s crew spotted a special point in the fast moving river. He felt sure his crew could paddle into the special rapids and simply let the flow of the water hold them steady in one place - surfing. This scene shows Merle’s crew paddling back up river to try and catch the wave. In the end, the river was flowing just too fast to make it the full way into the reversing wave, but it was an exciting prospect to watch as we waited for them on the river bank.
Assiniboine River high bid to 08 Aug - $150
The Assiniboine River is a winding and lazy river. There were short portions of it that had some current, but for the most part it simply meandered through the flat prairie landscapes that stretched wide on either side of the river. These quiet prairie rivers gave the Paddle Canada 150 crews time to reflect on the life and time - our own and those of the early voyageurs.
To me, the riverbanks were intriguing. At various places they were home to muskrats, colonies of river swallows, and mysteriously layered sediments that spoke of eons-old floods and freshets.
Rideau Canal high bid to 08 Aug - $80
This scene shows our final day’s paddling down the Rideau Canal into downtown Ottawa. The canal itself varies considerably in width in the section we paddled. For much of that length, joggers, families pushing strollers, and morning walkers waved to us and called, ‘Happy Canada Day’ as we passed.
The scene here shows us turning the final bend in the Rideau Canal as we passed under a bridge at the top of the locks that would let us down to the Ottawa River. We had a reservation for the locks at noon, so we paddled passed dozens of waiting boats to meet the Canal Master and get our instructions. As it turns out, there were extra security precautions for Prince Charles and Camilla, so we had to pull the canoes from the canal and portage them down to the third lock, slip them back into the water and climb aboard for the remainder of the locks (8 in all).
Wayne Wilson
Ephemeral art, landscape and panoramic imagery clearly dominate my current artwork. For the most part, this grows out of a strong notion that there is something attractively primal in the panoramic format. The eye, sweeping side to side, pays a kind of homage to the horizon – and in every culture, it seems to me, the horizon both pushes and pulls us to its brink and beyond. Some of my other compellingly strong tendencies, however, are more strongly drawn toward the eclectic and bring influences from still life and the abstract.
As a geographer by training, it has always struck me that the nature of space and/or place are never merely important to the expression of who we are; they are critical. I try to find that in my art; to distil the place and reveal its own rhythm.
My latest work revolves a lot around Travel Journals and efforts to get more people using their travels as a wonderful way to capture memories that will last longer and remain clearer for years to come.
Biography
I was born in Lillooet, BC in a house my father built out of railway ties. He had grown up in the Okanagan (Oliver) and, after moving around British Columbia as a school teacher, we moved back to the Okanagan (Kelowna) in the 1960s. I have worked as a cowboy, truck driver, lounge singer, purchasing agent, college professor, film and talking book narrator and at many other jobs – I spent most of my career, however, in the Museum field and loved every day of that work.
Sketching and other artwork have been part of my life since I was a teenager, and since then I have taken a sketchbook and paints with me wherever I go.
http://www.traveljournal101.com/
k.wayne.wilson@gmail.com
1 - By bidding, participants are agreeing to pay the amount bid if they hold the highest bid at closing.
2 - All sales are final, no returns, no refunds.
3 - Bids with incomplete contact information, will be deleted.
4 - Shipping will be included in the bid price, paid for by the Ceyana Canoe Club. Shipping details will be arranged with winning bidders.
5 - Ceyana Canoe Club executive with access to our Wild Apricot accounts are ineligible to participate in this auction.
for further information please contact Mark Lund <lundmer@gmail.com>
