Travelogue: Cape Breton
chowder-a-day, life-changing folk art, other indulgences
A few weeks ago, we took my mother-in-law to Nova Scotia for her 70th birthday. We flew into Halifax and did a 5-day road trip around Cape Breton Island, about 3 hours away. I’ve never been to the Maritimes and it was predictably stunning.
The scenic drive around Cape Breton is called the Cabot Trail, and unbeknownst to me at the time, there are tons of independent artisans with shops and studios along the trail that you can stop into. Art seems really ingrained into the culture, which I loved!
I tried to make a point of eating seafood every day because I understand that is what you do in the Maritimes.
I ordered clam chowder whenever I saw it on a menu (the best one I had in terms of “best chunks-to-liquid ratio” and also “bigness of chunks” was, interestingly, at a pub in Inverness), and we had an incredible, no-nonsense, all-you-can-eat lobster and crab dinner at Baddeck Lobster Suppers.
More than just the food, i was CHARMED TO DEATH by the incredible carved animals decorating the restaurant.
Perusing a gift shop the next day, I was DELIGHTED to see sculptures by the same artist for sale:
and even more delighted to learn that the artist, Reed Timmons, is a 74-year old retired lobster fisherman who would carve these sculptures in the off season, and now does it full-time from his home in Cape Breton.
Reed’s studio is in Pleasant Bay, and I made a point of stopping there as we passed it on the 4th day of our road trip. Incredibly, Pleasant Bay does not have cell service, but we followed a road sign that just said “FOLK ART” to this little hut:
filled with MYRIAD TREASURES.
I have never been so delighted. Everything was so joyful and funny and beautifully crafted. It almost makes me want to take up carving! (except I will never because knives = my untimely death — but, sculpture in general!)
We could not leave empty handed and procured this lil (huge) guy who is now the mascot of our household.
Also brought home this gull who stares at me from the corner of my desk.
THE LAST DELIGHTFUL THING in a week of delights was that I managed to squeeze in a coffee with Cape Breton’s own Kate Beaton! We talked shop, her daughter drew a beautiful lady in my sketchbook, her dog is a potato.
Kate’s Patreon is my favourite email to open, and i’m sure everyone reading this has heard of and read her acclaimed graphic memoir Ducks (and if not, do read immediately for a very good, very Canadian story). In April, I also wrote a little about her excellent Kreisel lecture, which you can watch for free!
UGH, WHAT MORE CAN I SAY, CARTOONISTS ARE THE BEST. Knowing that there are little bits of community in faraway pockets of the world is such a cool, cool thing.
Back in Halifax, I went to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and saw Maud Lewis’s house:
Maud Lewis was an iconic Nova Scotian folk artist born in 1903 who sold art out of her tiny, brightly painted house her whole life. After her death in 1970, the house and all of the painted surfaces within it were painstakingly restored, and it now lives inside the museum.
I wasn’t at all aware of the folk art tradition here and it MOVES ME TO TEARS to be reminded that making joyful stuff for its own sake has always been and continues to be a thing.
I didn’t have much time to draw on the trip, but here are a few sketches:
Til next time,
Zoe
I love this post!
That little guy is to die for