A Sticky Story

This past Saturday I was at Sandbanks New Waves music festival, providing some children's programming. Between painting murals and helping make puppets, I took a quick break to go to the beach. You see, our annual Festival of the Stick was on Sunday, and I thought we could use a few more sticks. The beach is a great source for sun-bleached, bark-stripped sticks, and within a couple of minutes, I'd loaded up my arms with a bounty. I headed towards the parking lot, taking a shortcut along a narrow path through the sand dunes. I was almost there, when lo and behold, two policemen were walking straight towards me. I smiled as they approached; I knew they were looking for people doing less-than-legal things away from the main festival site. But I was not to get off so easily. "You're not supposed to take sticks from a provincial park" one of them said, "It's part of the ecosystem." Uh, whoops. "Do you want me to put them back?" I asked, still smiling. "No, you can just throw them in the bushes here." I did as I was told, but I held out the other treasure I'd found. "Am I allowed to keep this?" I asked.

My treasure

The cop admired my find, speculating that the jawbone was probably from a deer. "We'll pretend we didn't see you with that," he said, and we went in our separate directions. 

Thankfully, when Sunday rolled around we weren't faced with a stick shortage, because those who attended Stickfest were well aware of the cost of admission: one stick. Two by two and four by four, they pulled in to Small Pond, got out of their cars and climbed off their bikes, approaching the Museum of the Stick with sticks in hand.

Wood carving from Ghana depicting women making Fufu with... big sticks 

We had lots of new acquisitions to the Stick Museum this year, including many sticks in our International Collection. I wonder how many were acquired in less-than-legal means...

Young and old enjoyed perusing the museum, and enjoying the classic Stickfest activities of stick painting, and stick-snack eating. Dogs frolicked with sticks, kids ran back and forth to the silo, and people had the opportunity to try out stilt-walking.

It was a glorious day, filled with friends, laughter, and lots and lots of sticks. Our museum will be up for the next few weeks; if you'd like to check it out, just get in touch. We always welcome donations to our permanent collection if you've got a special stick that needs a home. Until next year, remember to stick with love...

- Martin Luther King Jr.

Our Cousin Amitesh

Thank you, o miraculous internet.  Thank you for connecting us with Amitesh Verma, Small Pond Arts’ first international resident, who is spending two months with us on the farm, making art.

Amitesh comes to us all the way from New Delhi, India, where he is a full-time painter.  He is one of India’s most exciting young artists; his work has been exhibited in some of the country’s most prestigious galleries, and has been sold at auction houses including Christie’s. 

Amitesh has taken over our horse barn as his studio space, and the suitability of this locale is not lost on this artist who is so well known for his paintings of horses. 

We recently visited The Academy Gallery in Bath.  Amitesh enjoyed the picturesque ride on the Glenora Ferry.

Amitesh brought with him a large selection of drawings from his personal collection, drawings that were created over the last four years during his travels in Turkey, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, France, Italy and Russia.  These works were displayed for two weeks in the Small Pond Gallery, alongside Milé’s work, for a two-person show they called Cousins.  The title of the show reflects the familial bond that was created between the two from the moment they met.

Starting August 21, 2010, Small Pond will be showing From Chapra to Canada, a series of new paintings that  Amitesh has created during his residency.  They will be on display until September 6, when Amitesh heads home.

This 5'3" x 5'3" oil on canvas is one of many works created during Amitesh's residency

Undertaking international artist residencies profoundly informs and influences Amitesh’s work, as new locales and relationships fuel his imagination. After a brief stop back in New Delhi, he’ll be heading to California State University in October, where he will be a visiting lecturer/artist and will have a solo show in Sacramento.

No trip to Prince Edward County is complete without a visit to Sandbanks Provincial Park

Amitesh is not only a magnificent artist, he is also a fabulous cook, an excellent dancer, and quite possibly one of India’s most eligible bachelors.  We are lucky enough to call him our friend, but also the newest member of our eclectic artistic family.  If you are in our area in the coming weeks, please make sure to stop by and meet Amitesh and see some of his wonderful work.