Prince Edward County

 

Alchemy Artists Residency is all about food and the sense of community that is generated when people gather together to make and share good food. Naturally when artists gather together with a focus on food it is always a creative adventure. My experience in Alchemy 2023 did not disappoint. This is the third time I’ve participated with Alchemy in Prince Edward County. Each visit has been different as Alchemy’s program has evolved in response to the interests of the artists and the needs of local community.

Ontario’s Prince Edward County (PEC) is an old agrarian community in a rural setting, just sound of Bellville Ontario. The beautiful summer weather, long sand beaches and many farms and wineries all contributes to the charm of the place. There is something deeply restorative about the wide horizons everywhere. We entered the county at Carrying Place, the shortest crossing between two bodies of water as named by the original People in the area. We were mindful of the presences of the First Nations for millennium in this special place.

http://pectrails.ca/trail-info/history/first-nations-in-pec/

This year, my partner Dan Sharp, who is a painter, joined the group as a participant. I was paired with Thyme Again Gardens and Dan was paired with Broken Stone Winery.

What a thrill it was for me to be able to spend two weeks photographing such a dynamic couple as Lori and Lorraine at Thyme Again Gardens and see their life’s work in action. My inquiry is a continuation of the project that began last year Sowing the Future: Women Farmers + Eco Agriculture with Farmer and Artist Jess Weatherhead and Eco Poet Diane Perazzo. Sowing the Future is a survey of seven women farmers engaged in sustainable farming practices in the Ottawa area. This year I had the opportunity to make an in-depth study of one farm and the two women farmers who run it.

At the residency we had a weekend to get settled and to get to know the Alchemy participants through a classic Alchemy activity of making pasta featuring farm fresh county eggs. This year’s learning was ravioli stuffed with home made ricotta and served with sage brown butter.

Back at the residency we gathered most evenings to cook together and debrief on the days activities. The conversations were wide-ranging and always topical, touching on the new learning and the struggles of the day. Some days ended with a visit to the local beach where there are almost always waves to jump in.

As the days passed, a focus came to the various artists’ work. Dan began making and painting with the local “mud” from the winery he was paired with. Adriana gathered plants to see what colours they would offer for dying fibres. Patti made a series of cyanotypes with the local plants and taught some of us how to make a cyanotype. Annika experimented with ways of tinting her dumpling dough with colours found in the processes of wine and cheesemaking at her winery. I photographed the seeding, transplanting, planting, weeding, harvesting and processing of food and flowers at the farm.

The days were full and so were the evenings. It was an intense two weeks and a stark contrast to the mostly quiet days we have at home. It took some adjustment but was a very welcome time under the wide open skies of the County.

On the last day I asked the two farmers to work with me to make a staged composition that reflected the various activities they carry out in their gardens. The results ended up being what I choose to exhibit in their farm stand. I made an image that had seven versions of Lorraine working in her gardens. Tending Kin shows the repetitive gestures of caring for the plants. It’s a kind of compressed version of my time at the farm.