Melanie Jackson - Creative Works

By Melanie Jackson msjacksonpei@gmail.com There’s a piece of artwork that stands out in Nora MacLeod’s memory. “One time I painted a picture of a rooster. You know with the big tail - all colourful,” said the 92-year-old resident of Colville Manor. “I was proud of that one.” As a child growing up on the Line of Lot Road in Fortune, Mrs MacLeod had very few supplies for expressing her creative side. She owned just a few small bottles of paint and had only one brush to paint with. And anytime she wanted to switch colours she had to wash the brush out. “We didn’t have the things to work with that they’ve got today,” Mrs MacLeod said. Although Mrs MacLeod’s creativity later turned to more practical crafts, such as knitting mittens and afghans, she had the opportunity to renew her interest in painting this past January when she was introduced to the LEAP program. The Learning Elders Arts Program gives seniors the chance to learn various arts and crafts under the guidance of...

By Melanie Jackson msjacksonpei@gmail.com There’s an experience many people from PEI share simply because they live in Canada’s smallest province, cradled between the Gulf of St Lawrence and Northumberland Strait. At some time in their lives, most Islanders have taken the ferry to travel to the mainland. Whether by way of the ferry, or some other less convenient mode of transport, crossing the Strait has played an important role in the lives of Islanders and northern Nova Scotians. The legacy of that journey will be commemorated next year as part of PEI’s 2014 celebrations with the release of a book entitled ‘Crossing the Strait.’ The story will be told through a series of vintage photographs, archival sources, personal views and anecdotes from people on both sides of the Strait. “It’s a history of the ferry, but not the corporate history,” Marian Bruce, the book’s author, said. Ms Bruce was commissioned by the Wood Islands Area Development Corporation, which received th...

By Melanie Jackson msjacksonpei@gmail.com Back when railways were still in use on PEI, the last train stop in Kings County was in Elmira, near the eastern tip of the province. The station quickly became known as ‘the end of the line’. “If you look out, you can see the tracks don’t go any further than this,” Lynne Morrow, site director at the Elmira Railway Museum, said, pointing to a railway track that ends abruptly near the edge of the museum property. To commemorate that distinction, the museum will present a theatre production of a historically based play entitled ‘The End of the Line’ as part of PEI’s 2014 celebrations. “The play depicts the Elmira station from the time of its construction in 1912 and goes through the different decades, right to present day,” she said. The play will be put on at the Eastern Kings Community Centre and will be presented by the Don’t Ye Know Theatre group, which is based out of the community centre. ‘End of the Line’ was written by ...

By Melanie Jackson msjacksonpei@gmail.com If, as the saying goes, music is the universal language of mankind then Montague resident Con Zaat is fluent in the art of conversation. The 85-year old has spent most of his life writing, playing and teaching music. Even up until just last Sunday, he was the organist at St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church in Sturgeon. He resigned not because he wasn’t able to carry out his duties any longer, but because he plans to move to Charlottetown this summer and thought the travel would be too much. In 1969, Mr Zaat was the music teacher at Cardigan Consolidated School. At the time, there was a significant number of children of Dutch descent attending the school - children with family names that are still familiar in the community today, such as Nabuurs and Van den Broek. That Christmas Mr Zaat was asked to organize the students for a Dutch-themed performance as part of the school’s Christmas concert. “Because there were so many Dutch students...

By Melanie Jackson msjacksonpei@gmail.com Some might say 11-year old Cam White is good at anything he puts his hand to. The son of Sandra and Blayne White of Pinette, Cam started playing hockey when he was just four years old. This past winter, his pee wee AA team made it all the way to the provincials. Last summer, Cam was junior club champion at Belfast Highland Greens, after playing the game seriously for just one season. “I got my name on that trophy up there,” Cam said, pointing to an impressive piece of hardware inside the clubhouse. Earlier this year, the Grade 6 Belfast Consolidated student discovered yet another of his talents. However it had nothing to do with a hockey stick or golf club, it involved a paintbrush and a palette. A few months ago, Cam decided to go to art class in Vernon Bridge with his mom. “The first night he said, ‘I’m coming too, Mom’,” Mrs White said with a proud glance toward her son. Mrs White said Cam’s request came as a bit of a surp...

By Melanie Jackson msjacksonpei@gmail.com Rilla Marshall has an unusual way of expressing her appreciation for Prince Edward Island’s changing landscapes. She does it through textiles. Inspired by aerial photos of shifting coastlines, Rilla translates her interest in erosion and rising sea levels through loom-woven tapestries and miniature three-dimensional dioramas - crocheted by hand - which depict familiar Island scenes, such as sand dunes and marshlands. She calls the handmade 3-D exhibits her “islands”. It’s taking something that’s scientific and factual and cold and translating it through all the connotations that come with textiles, like warmth and comfort and security,” Rilla says. Last spring, Rilla and her partner, Damien Worth, also an artist, purchased the old schoolhouse in Eldon. The couple are in the process of renovating the historic building and hope to be moved in this month. There, the pair will be able live and practise their art—all inside one expansive...