National Aboriginal Day 2015
Chips galore
Today (June 21st) is the day to celebrate National Aboriginal Day in Canada. Tansy is celebrating by showing pictures from her visit to Master Carver James Hart’s carving studio near Old Masset. She was allowed to sit amongst the wood chips, listen to the carvers, and admire the partly completed carvings.
woodcarving tools
Tansy is familiar with woodcarving tools on a much smaller scale. These ones are so comparatively gigantic that she didn’t feel nervous at all sitting next to them. She couldn’t help but admire the skill of the carvers as they wielded these implements and changed cedar logs into amazing forms and designs, all surrounded by piles and piles of chips.
a perfect nest
Tansy inhaled the sweet, sharp scent of freshly carved wood while resting in this Tansy-sized nook.
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texture
She happily watched the carvers create different textures in the cedar, which were accentuated by the reflected light.
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Canoe
She sat on the upturned Haida Canoe that will form part of the Reconciliation Pole destined for the University of British Columbia campus.
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Jolly boat
And perched on the end of it, the better to admire the grain.
A house
The carving studio was busy with the master carver and apprentices working on a variety of commissions. Tansy contemplated the scene and felt extremely lucky to be invited to the carving studio. When finished, the perspective of the carvings will be so very far removed from small doll’s point of view, she very much appreciated being given the opportunity to get a rare glimpse of them, even unfinished, and from this close up.
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Flight
For a few minutes, she felt like she could fly!
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Fly indeed. What a special outing that was for you both….your photos are gorgeous…Tansy melds in well.
Tansy went on this trip with the Quimper Hittys favourite photographer, so in this post all the photos are his…Just by chance her outfit blended in with the freshly carved cedar. Usually I send her to Haida Gwaii in jeans and a checked shirt with raingear, but she stowed away in the camera bag before I got a chance to discuss her wardrobe!
The carvings are majestic! Thank you!
It was so fun for her – I am glad that her favourite photographer immortalised their visit!
Wow! What an honor! My dolls are looking reproachfully at me. They never knew carving could be so BIG!
It was a real honour! Tansy is so lucky, and we are grateful for permission to share the ‘in progress” pictures! You would really appreciate watching the carvers wielding their implements – it would give a whole new feeling to doll-making.
That was a grand experience. At first I was worried about Tansy and her dress matching the carved wood so closely, hoping the carvers didn’t think she was a “chip”.
Tansy stayed Far Away from the active carving zone!! The dress colour was serendipitous!
what a great experience and such an honor to be in their studio and to see the art being created. Wonderful photos. Tansy was very brave to sit amongst all those sharp tools.
Tansy tells great stories after she gets back from her little jaunts. I am happy to say she has learned how to shop for tiny things as well – she came home with a little paddle, and a couple of berry baskets…
Wow, what a great way to celebrate National Aboriginal Day and such lovely woodwork. Lucky Tansy!
She was very very lucky!!! The other Hittys envy her, but she is very generous with her story-telling afterward!