ogether water, colour, wind, and paddlers find and speak the lake’s language and tell its vital story.”
We were approached this spring about participating in an intriguing and ambitious creative project: Were we interested in helping tell the story of Lake Ontario’s shoreline through a performance art installation powered by paddle?
This was the vision of artist Melissa McGill. McGill was commissioned by The Bentway Toronto, whose mission is to transform urban space through the creative power of public art, and are responsible for revitalizing the public spaces beneath the Gardiner Expressway. The Bentway approached McGill seeking a piece that would celebrate Toronto’s waterfront as part of the inaugural Water/Fall festival, and A Lake Story was born.
A Lake Story artist rendering, by Melissa McGill
Taking place in Toronto’s Port Land’s, Melissa McGill’s A Lake Story is a large scale procession of approximately 120 canoes moving through the brand new Biidaasige Park and the Eastern Waterfront, each bearing a large, wind-activated colour field painting suspended above
Canoes make their way towards the lakefront from Cherry St bridge in Biidaasige Park.
To support this project and bring McGill’s vision to life, Nova Craft built 120 custom SP3 Prospector 16 canoes in a camouflage green colourway.
120 Prospector 16 SP3, lining the banks of the river in anticipation of the first performance.
The “colour field paintings” are silk flags dyed in collaboration with the Toronto Ink Company, using inks made from foraged natural and found materials from the waters and shorelines of Lake Ontario, including goldenrod, clay, algae, red brick, and wild grape. These silks represent the resilient and diverse landscape of the shoreline. Displayed on bamboo masts and supported by a custom yokes built for this project, when paddled the silks become wind activated brush strokes of vibrant colours dancing against the Toronto skyline.
Some examples of the ink materials used in the creation of the silk colour field paintings
Over 400 volunteers on land and water came together this past weekend at Biidasige (Anishinaabemowin for “Sunlight shining towards us”) Park for four performances of A Lake Story on September 27th and 28th. A handful of Nova Craft staff caravanned up to Toronto for Saturday morning’s performance. It was truly spectacular, a moving and beautiful experience that I won’t soon forget.
If you happened to miss the live performances, you can get a taste for A Lake Story in the video below, which documents A Lake Story in action and provides a peak behind the curtain at how the project came together.
