Maritime Interlude
| I was stationed in Newfoundland in the Navy, and got a taste for that stark landscape. Later Peggy and I went into the Canadian Maritimes to do her anthropological fieldwork (on women's roles in the Magdalen Islands), and a teaching stint at Memorial U. in St. John's Newfoundland. In the islands there wasn't much demand for wooden toys, so I went bush, and became Peggy's male informant. I built boats, joined a sealing crew, and worked as a commercial fisherman for two years. In St. John's I took on the role of Toymaker of Newfoundland, until we were expelled as undesireable aliens. (Santa has an exclusive in those parts.) We lit in Jonesport, Maine, in the middle of a blueberry barren, where we lived off the land (and sea) for the next seven years. These images are some of the carvings and compositions I made chronicalling those episodes. |
 Closeup in Color |
 Swiler (Step & Copy) |
