Custer's Head Road (Water Woman)

 

                                          Custer's Head Road, oil on canvas, 40" x 90", Steven Rhude


 

 Timeline Hant's Harbour

  • 1697 – Abbe Baudoin reports that there are four houses at Hant's Harbour.
  • 1801 – Five families are listed as living in Hant's Harbour.
  • 1813 – T.E. and Mary Pelley die. The gravestone recording this still stands.
  • 1820s – The first known church is built in the community.
  • 1830s – The population consists of 400 people.
  • 1847 – Ten vessels carrying 271 men are engaged in the seal hunt.
  • 1853 – Eight vessels totaling 767 tons carry 294 men to the seal hunt.
  • 1868 – 1870 – A second and much larger church is built, serving the circuit until 1907 when it is destroyed to build a new one.
  • 1871 – Lovell's Newfoundland Dictionary lists 81 of the 104 householders in Hant's Harbour as fisherman. Two others are listed as farmers.
  • 1880s – The population grows to its peak of about 750 residents.
  • 1961 – Fire destroys the vegetation which formerly covered the low hills which surround the harbour.
  • time line ends

An alternative narrative. A woman walks the shoreline up to Custer's Head Road. Her bucket is her cultural container - her identity, outside of her generational personality. It is a banal community object, weathered and utilitarian. We don't know if she was good or bad, salient or indifferent; or even if she ever worked in a coffee shop. She just continues to navigate her way to her objective - she is on no ones historic time line.  

 

  • Steven Rhude, Wolfville, NS

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Saving of Everett Lewis

Image
“One believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved” (St. Paul, Rom. 10:10). On October 23rd, 2018 I met and interviewed Reverend Stephen Wade in Paradise, Nova Scotia. In 1978, New Years Eve day, Reverend Wade met and provided spiritual consolation hours before Everett Lewis was murdered. Port Lorne, Nova Scotia, 2013 - a power outage owing to a winter storm. He went out to his garage to start up his generator which was in need of fuel. The power was out and emergency sirens could be heard through out the region. It was one of those winter nights.  I'm reminded of the power of gasoline, my own can stored in a shed ... pull back the plastic lock to release the cap into motion and then turn the cap counter clockwise to expose the flammable agent... did it a thousand times. The odour staining my nostrils, as I eventually fill my lawn mower gas tank to cut my grass and maintain a common, and collective suburban exercise. An im...
Read more

What really happened in Marshalltown?

Image
"In 1851 including idiots and imbiciles, there was one insane person for every 593 of the population; in 1861 this ratio had risen to one in 504; while in 1871 there was no less than one to 309." He further noted that "the advance of the population was at 40 percent, while the number of those with unsound mind increased 169 percent in the same period."  - Dr. DeWolfe, Report of the inspector of Humane Institutions April1, 1955 to March 31, 1956, Province of Nova Scotia Poor Farm, oil on canvas, 60" x 128", Steven Rhude      This time of year dodging the weather is an art form in itself - the two hour journey from Wolfville to Marshalltown on a two lane highway must be timed accordingly and approached with caution. Winds from the north mountain can easily buffet a car as one contemplates their destination. On other occasions, engulfed in white outs, I've turned back; "keep your eye on the road mister." That said, driving through...
Read more

Scene of the Crime (My trip to the AGNS)

Image
Installation view of Maud Lewis House, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, photo, Steven Rhude Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Whenever the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia is mentioned, invariably the Folk Art painter, Maud Lewis and her house comes to mind. Probably the most photographed house in Nova Scotia, this quaint little dwelling was restored to its former glory beginning in 1996 with funds from the federal Department of Canadian Heritage, and a little help from Scotia Bank.  At the time, Scotia Bank was on a marketing quest to show a new regional face to the world. An image of connection with the common folk that was certain to garner a favorable response as the big bank aligned itself with arts and culture and the roots of Nova Scotia. And yet ironically, nothing was mentioned about the origins of the house to the public. Rather, the marketing campaign was designed to focus on resurrecting Maud Lewis’s colourful home and her cheerful disposition for an eager pub...
Read more