Artist Ken Lum made these scale models of squatters' shacks that were in the intertidal areas of North Vancouver and Burnaby from the railway-building days through the early 1970's. These ones were owned by Malcolm Lowry, Tom Burrows and Paul Spung, a noted author, artist and environmentalist, respectively. The models spent some time on display in downtown Vancouver, but then they were donated to the District of North Vancouver, who installed them near their original location at Maplewood Flats. The high tide comes well up the pilings, just like in the originals. While I was drawing them, I met a lady who remembered them from her walk across the railway bridge to school (I don't think kids that any more...) She says they look right, except the real thing looked a lot more lived-in, with collected driftwood and junk, crooked chimneys, hanging laundry and haphazard walkways above the mud.
And an older drawing of the mudflats themselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment