20 July 2010

Bet you wish you knew a Guy like him‏

We’ve mentioned Guy Doucette in a number of previous posts, and with good reason. Guy is living with us at Small Pond all summer, and he has been an invaluable help to us in this important first year of pond life.


I met Guy three years ago while I was working at Clay & Paper Theatre. I was leading a stilt-walking workshop, and he showed up to learn how it was done on the same day that we were joined by a journalist from the National Post. A few days later, Guy’s picture showed up in the newspaper under the headline “They Just Want to Get High.” A-hem.

Guy makes sand angels at Sandbanks Provincial Park

From this unusual beginning, Guy and I became fast friends and artistic collaborators. He spent a year working with me as an intern at Clay & Paper, where I tried to impart some of my knowledge of producing to him – although he’s been producing his own festivals and plays with Back Burner Productions for years. Guy and I have developed and performed a number of shadow puppetry plays together: Dreams-A-Go-Go, Leap Year Pudding, and Wolf/Flow. Right now we're working on our next shadow show, Doubt Seed, which we’ll be performing at Small Pond in August.

So what does Guy do at Small Pond, you might ask?

Guy gardens, he cooks, he plays guitar, cuts trails through the woods, and makes sculptures out of the plethora of found objects that turn up around the farm.

Guy's scarecrow has been mighty effective in fending off critters

He’s continues to be a stilt-walker...


… and is also a bat-catcher…


... a puppet-maker...


… a snake-handler…


… and generally just helps out with whatever needs to be done. He’s got a killer sense of humour, inimitable fashion sense, a ready laugh, and is one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met. You couldn’t ask for a more devoted friend.


Guy's crowning achievement this summer has been the creation of what we call Salon du Silo, an elaborate landscaping and gardening project which involved unearthing the floor of the long-gone hundred-year-old barn next to the silo. The Salon is now one of the most magical spots on our property.


Now don’t you wish you knew a Guy like him?

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