Artist Statement<\/strong><\/p>\n During the pandemic my artistic practise led me to an investigation of the cedar trees along the shores of the Belleisle Bay in Erbs Cove and the Dutch Point Trail in Hampton. In these past years of turmoil, tragedy, and despair I was able to process all this emotionally, mentally, and spiritually by walking every day. When I remembered to remain present, I could feel the energy of the white cedar course through me. When I was with them, I felt serene and connected. I hugged them, I sat in the hollow beneath their roots, I ran my hands over their textured bark, I inhaled their aroma and marvelled at their ability to cling to the rocky shore.<\/p>\n It all started with a poem and a painting as a response to the isolation of the pandemic. Each painting that followed is from a photo I took on my morning walks. This body of work is thematically linked by the subject of cedar trees. During the forced isolation of the pandemic, I experienced a real shift in my artistic practise. I hope this body of work remains as a visual prayer of thanks for the wisdom and sacredness of the cedar. Many Aboriginal cultures refer to the cedar as The Tree of Life and it is an important part of protection ceremonies as a purifying herb. It is used as part of the sweat lodge ceremonies and is included in medicine bundles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This show is a record of me looking outward and then inward. It is a record of my desire to communicate how the landscape of New Brunswick has become such a huge part of who I am, a record of the sadness I feel at all that we have lost, and a record of all that I have learned from the natural world and my part in it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It all started with a poem\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n Processing Cedar<\/p>\n I<\/p>\n On the bay gulls scream no need to listen II<\/p>\n a quarantine III<\/p>\n today IV<\/p>\n isolation no need to practice the world shifts none of us can breathe<\/p>\n V<\/p>\n A hummingbird VI<\/p>\n on the shore chainsaws in the distance you have captivated me oh cedar Biography<\/strong><\/p>\n Melanie Craig-Hansford lives in Hampton, New Brunswick.<\/p>\n Melanie has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (1984) and a Bachelor of Art Education (1985) from NSCAD University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1982 she studied art at Fortman Studios in Florence, Italy. She taught high school for 27 years in Kingston, Ontario and retired in 2014 when she moved back home to New Brunswick.\u00a0 <\/span>Since moving back to the Maritimes, the landscape has been a huge part of her artistic practice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n She spends her time now painting and writing poetry. Her first illustrated poetry collection was published this year by Chapel Street Editions in Woodstock. It is called Tonight We Sleep with the Window Open.\u00a0 <\/span>The poem that was a catalyst for this exhibit called Processing Cedar appears in this book as well as the ink drawings that are on display in the gallery.<\/p>\n In 2016 Melanie had an art exhibit called Stone by Stone at The Arts and Culture Centre of Sussex where she showed her landscape paintings with the stone sculptures of Sheila Watters.\u00a0 <\/span>She was part of a group show at the Arts and Culture Centre of Sussex in March of 2022. Melanie also had a show at the Grand Manan Art Gallery from June 25-July 15, 2022. \u00a0 <\/span>She does commission work and has taught painting, drawing and water colour workshops at The Arts and Cultural Centre of Sussex and Hooper\u2019s Studio in Hampton. She has shown her work at many festivals and markets including Hooper\u2019s Studio, Hampton\u2019s Bloomin\u2019 Artists, and The Summerville Arts Festival. She would like to acknowledge the financial support of ArtsNB, In 2020 she was awarded an Emerging Artist Grant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Processing Cedar \u00a0| \u00a0City Gallery \u00a0| \u00a0January 13 – March 10, 2023 Artist Statement During the pandemic my artistic practise led me to an investigation of the cedar trees along the shores of the Belleisle Bay in Erbs Cove and the Dutch Point Trail in Hampton. In these past years of turmoil, tragedy, and despair<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonathanselig.com\/sjac-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonathanselig.com\/sjac-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonathanselig.com\/sjac-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanselig.com\/sjac-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanselig.com\/sjac-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanselig.com\/sjac-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23547,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanselig.com\/sjac-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23546\/revisions\/23547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonathanselig.com\/sjac-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanselig.com\/sjac-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanselig.com\/sjac-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI became less concerned with the subject matter and more concerned with communicating the feeling I got when I was emersed in the cedar forest. The shift was a very intuitive one. Still relying on the photo as a reference, I would ponder the image and the painting would start to communicate to me how it wanted to be painted. I started to think about how I could emphasize the texture of the bark, its beautiful aroma, its perseverance, its energy, and how it fit in the larger ecosystem of New Brunswick. Most of all I wanted to share the feeling of being around these majestic trees in the landscape.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nice as thin as patience
\neverything is grey
\nthe ice
\nthe fog
\nthe lichen covered cedar<\/p>\n
\nthemselves hoarse
\ndeer paw
\ntheir hooves raw
\ncrows flap
\nthemselves spent<\/p>\n
\nfor the news from birds
\ntown criers declare
\ninvisible microbes
\nhave arrived on our soil<\/p>\n
\nseal up your houses
\nmark your death door
\nfor fear spreads faster
\nthan fleas
\nadd the departed
\nto the death carts
\nrecord their names
\non the bill of mortality
\ndip their coins in vinegar<\/p>\n
\nwe make masks
\nturn whiskey stills into vats
\nof assassin gel
\nvilify bats<\/p>\n
\nforces me to stay
\nat the water\u2019s edge
\neach day
\nlike the last \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\na safe distance
\nI am the only one
\non the shore\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nthe moon has turned red
\neven the wind has stopped
\nseeking branches to break<\/p>\n
\nin our garage
\nhas never experienced ceiling
\nis baffled by
\nthe concept of doors
\noh how can
\nan exhausted
\nhummingbird
\nbe the thing
\nthat finally breaks me.<\/p>\n
\na cedar
\nI kneel before her
\nremove a rock beneath her root
\nsit in the hollow\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nyour bark coils inward
\nyou know naught of fear
\npain\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>
\nyes
\nfor I\u2019ve heard your fallen cries
\nhave watched your broken limbs
\nsuccumb to gales<\/p>\n
\nyour lower branches
\nbleached titanium in the sun
\nlike brittle bones under foot<\/p>\n
\nteach me how to resist
\nthe world’s propensity for rot\u2014
\nhow to stop this erosion
\nhow to be still<\/p>\n
\n