Yesterday, we drove up to New Glasgow. En route, we stopped at the Teichert Gallery in Halifax. It was the opening day of the exhibition “Footsteps East, en Plein Air, Nova Scotia to Lake Superior by Anne and Edward Wedler”. This collection of oil and watercolour landscapes is the culmination of a two- year journey, inspired by locations visited by Canada’s Group of Seven artists.’.
Unfortunately, the gallery was still in the process of hanging the paintings. We did bump into Edward and Anne. We promised to return when the exhibition is underway.
The previous afternoon, I attended the AGM of CANMAP Research Institute. Historically, CANMAP has funded awards for best student in various programs at COGS.
This reminded me of the Story of COGS.
t was initially the Nova Scotia Land Survey Institute (NSLSI), then the College of Geographic Sciences (COGS) (1986), then the Centre of Geographic Sciences, a sub-campus of the Annapolis Valley campus (Middleton), NSCC.
On September 15, GoGeomatics and others are attending a Back to school social at COGS. This raises a number of questions in my mind.
- Given the increasing online learning, what happens to a ‘sense of place’?
- Where did the Geography go?
- What happened to Lawrencetown when they closed the co-op?
- What will happen to COGS when all the programs are online?
- What happens to ‘place’? Viz-a-viz Lawrencetown?
- The same as when they closed the co-op?
- When did Geographic Sciences turn into Geomatics technology?
Returning to my relationship with Edward. We have shared (supported) a number of common experiences.
Ride the lobster
An international unicycle relay around Nova Scotia from Yarmouth to Baddeck, Cape Breton.
Road to Georgetown
Walking from the Annapolis Valley to Georgetown , PEI for a community development conference.
Footsteps East
Road trip from Nova Scotia to Lake Superior.
Postscripts
I received a newsletter from the Shorefast Foundation. It includes an interview with Zita Cobb at the Fogo Island Inn. This is an excellent example of place-based, Community tourism.
Once in a blue moon.
I photographed the blue moon from our deck before dawn on September 1st.
At the New Glasgow library, I found three books.
Joan Baxter, 2017, Seven Grains of Paradise, Pottersfield Press.
Gary Saunders, 1989, Alder Music: A Celebration of our Environment, Breakwater Press.
David Hamilton, 2023, Energized Poetry, Pictou Library.
Acknowledgements
John Wightman organized the CANMAP AGM. Edward Wedler added the links and graphics. Heather Stewart shares the journey.
Ernest Blair Experiment 