T V interview! - you can watch Lynn on-line now!

Click on the photo to go to NZ TV Channel 9!

It is available to view online from Sunday 26th for one week!
Lynn's interview is about 10 minutes into the programme!

On wednesday July 22nd at 5 pm Lynn will be on television - Channel 9 in New Zealand - live! It is a five minute interview and I was asked to send in 6 images of my art - so I have sent one of the beginning of the project showing the big brainstorm I did, 4 images from my log and one of paper boats so I can talk about Mary Ann's Cottage and the paper boats project.

Apparently this can be viewed from Sunday (for a week) on their website ch9.co.nz under Dunedin Diary. Charlotte from Channel 9 said it can be tricky to find but hopefully you can find the podcast. Already nervous.

95 - UK - Caithness - Ormlie Community Association

Sue Rainbow made paper boats with

boys and girls ( 7yrs – 12yrs ) from the CPP groups -

Ormlie Community Association, Thurso, Caithness.

Sunny in Caithness today!

94 - USA - Pamela Suzanne Gibson

On the 16th May, 1774, just months before the start of America’s Revolutionary War, a ship set sail from Stranraer, Scotland bound for New York. The “Gale” of Whitehaven carried a number of Scottish families from the Parish of Whithorn, Dumfries and Galloway, including a bachelor named George McWilliam (25) and the family of John and Elizabeth McCracken Milroy. Their daughter Mary, then just 12, was to become the wife of George McWilliam some nine years later.

At that time the new country was opening up along New York’s Mohawk River. Once the Scots reached Schenectady they packed their personal effecs and household goods on horses and began the treck, cutting their way through the forest. Many settled in what became known as Galway – they town’s name to remain forever mispelled – while others settled in what came to be called Charlton.

In 1776 the Scotch Street Settlement (West Charlton) developed as settlers from Scotand established farms along what is now Sacandaga Road. It was on this road that my immigrant ancestors settled a 114-acre tract; the title to the farm was held in the McWilliam family name until 1967. I was fortunate to see the handsome 22-room white clapbord home before an architectural salvager desmantled the structure in 2005.

The McWilliam homestead commanded a spectacular view of the Hudson River Valley and mountain ranges in the states of New York, Vermont and Massachusetts. Because of this , during WWII the home was chosed as an early aircraft warning observation post. When I visited this beautiful setting I was touched by a view of the spire of Scotch Church in the vallery below.

Along with many friends and family who sailed from Scotland, George McWilliam and Mary Milroy McWilliam, are buried at Scotch Church Cemetary, Saratoga County, New York.

Some family facts:
George McWilliam (s) b. 15Mar 1749, d 24 Nov 1812.
Mary Mil(l)roy b. 15 Feb 1762, d. 1 May 1840.
George and Mary – both born in Scotland – were married 6 Feb 1783 in Schenectady, N.Y. Some of their eleven children are also buried at Scotch Church. I descended through their son, Abner James, born 1797, New York.

Perhaps this wee boat will reach a dsitant cousin or a family historian who knows of the parents of George McWilliam or details of th eMilroy family. Like those who set bottles adrift in the sea, I am sending my boat off with a wish for correspondence.

All papers made by the artist; the boat is printed with a copy of the 1813 McWilliam Family household inventory.

Pamela Suzanne Gibson
Thistlepaper Press
Colorado

Boat book photographed on Caithness Slate.

93 - UK - Jack Smith and Rachel Hunter

Hi Joanne, determined to get these boats to you in time for the deadline. I hope the exhibition goes well and helps raise funds as hoped. Boats on blog look great – really exciting to see so many people getting involved and from so far and wide.

Three boats:
1.‘House boat’ by Jack Smith, Peebles, made from computer paper with ink stamps.
2.‘Love boat’ by Rachel Hunter. Peebles, made from a old workshop handout covered in sequins. I like the idea of converting something work-related into something art-related – and sequins are just an excuse for a bit of glitter!
3.untitled – by Rachel Hunter and Jack Smith. I printed out your instructions, so rather than waste the paper, Jack suggested making another boat!

Photographed on Caithness slate.

92 - New Zealand - Julie Whitefield

Ahoy there, Julie Whitefield’s boat sailing from Dunedin, New Zealand to you! My boat is based on the shrimp net experiments that my paternal grandfather (Eric Croft) did in the 1960s to create a more efficient design for catching ability and ease of escape for undersized catch. He was awarded the MBE for his efforts. All his life he was associated with the sea and lived in Pilling, Lancashire. This paper boat has an enlarged version of his original text which he wrote on his typewriter and the drawings of some of the trial nets. Walnut ink made from the walnuts in my garden has been used to introduce a New Zealand link to the boat’s construction.
Julie

91 - USA - Valorie Harlow

From right to left!! Click image to see details.

Green/black boat is made out of a silkscreen that I made. That has a wold image on in. Boat name – SEA WOLF.
SS.MIA – is made out of a Minneapolis Arts Institute Advertisement.
Fish Dream – Tin foil boat with purple fish.
Plain Manila envelope used for “House Boat” Me and my dogs at home.
Bone Adventure. Nikki and Max – cut out from black paper.

Good Luck!

90 - USA - Joyce Bamman

Click on images to see all the boats !!

Dear Artist, I hope this finds you well. These boats were made from a free publication called Skirt magazine. I found your request online one night when I could not sleep. I recently graduated with an MFA in Theater Costume Design form the university of Memphis. I hope you have a wonderful show and fundraiser! Oh, my husband and I watched Monarch of the Glen on netflix and we think your counry is beautiful and hope to visit the area where it was filmed. Joyce.

www.joycebammandesigns.weebly.com

89 - UK - Loretto Cloud (Nee Kaar)

Dear Joanne, I came across your website while searching my family name (maiden) recently. When I read about your residency in Taiwan I realised that you must be the relative an aunt in Ireland told us about – married to a cousin. My uncle emigrated to Manchester when I was a child and I haven’t met those cousins since. I myself came to London years ago.

It has been interesting reading about your paper boat project and I have a couple of boats for you. One is an A4 printout of a photo I took in the glasshouse of the Royal Horticultural Gardens at Wisley near where I live. As it is a ‘boat’ containing beautiful flowers it seems appropriate. The mini picture above helps to show that. I painted the other side with acrylics to match the flowers.

I made the other boat by printing a photo of the bark of a Scots pine tree at the end of my garden. Being wood it is a suitable material but with the added bonus of the name! Then, I lined the inside by pasting yellow tissue paper on the reverse side – yellow being my favourite colour. It conjures up the rising sun and is a warm and welcoming colour; good to imagine those people being welcomed in New Zealand In the nineteenth century.

The ‘golden’ boat’ is made from wrapping paper double layered. I include it to wish you good fortune in raising money for Mary-Ann’s cottage.

The sailing route starts on the River Wey in Surrey; this joins the River Thames and on out to the North Sea!

With best wishes Loretto Cloud (nee Kaar)

I photographed my husband, Joe Kaar holding the paper boats!

88 - USA - MaryLouise Ott

Hello from Portland Oregon!
I was captivated by your paper boat project for Mary-Ann’s Cottage after reading about it in FiberArts magazine and visiting your blog. What a lovely idea to bring people together from around the world for a worthy cause.

For several days now I’ve been creating paper boats. The group of five I’m sending were inspired by digital photos I have taken of Neskowin, a little village on the oregon Coast and one of my favouite places. The images printed on the outside are of sand, shells, grass, driftwood and sand dune plants. Those on the inside are of flowers growing in village gardens (and one of me with the ocean as a backdrop).

Your project connected with a message of peace that is dear to my heart. The words of the American Spiritual Peace like a River kept going through my head as I folded boats, so I printed some of the words on three of them:
Peace like a river
Joy like a fountain
Love like an ocean.

I also wrote a post on my blog www.seedsofcreativity.blogspot.com about your project. The following in an excerpt:
“The challenge of creating a little fleet to send off to Scotland made out of digital photos I’ve taken on the oregon Coast is only part of the allure. It has more to do with participating in something bigger than myself that brings together creative people from around the world who are forever connected by the simple task of folding paper. When we feel a connection with those in distant places we realize the differences between us are not what matters. Helping to save a cottage in Scotland by folding a paper boat touches on the essence of what makes us all the same.”

The digital iamges are printed on HP Presentation Paper uisng HP Vivera ink. All the best to you and to Mary-Ann’s cottage.
Blessings and Peace.
MaryLouise Ott Portland Oregon.

I photographed these boats on the turnip slicer at Mary-Ann's cottage.

87 - Italy - Elisabeth Oberrauch

Dear Joanne, Now I have made the ship for your exposition. I hope that you like it.
In 2005,2006,2007 and 2008 I have organised a workshop for visual artists, created works of art inspired by the rehearsals and concerts of the musicians of the Schlern International Music Festival. http://www.schlernmusicfestival.org/
We are six of these artists who are now exhibiting a selection of our work in a gallery. http://www.schlernmusicfestival.org/gallery/photo_gallery/art_exhibition

Nearly every day I remember to the beautiful and interesting days with you, your husband and your parents and Chip of course. I hope that you and your family stay very well. I thank you once more that it was possible for me to work one day in your studio and that you explain to me so much about the paper and your art.
Now I send you my best wishes. Please give my regards to your parents. I love to read the book by your parents, it is very interesting. Best wishes for your and “PFIATI” for your parents!!

Elisabeth.

PS You will be welcome to Italy , so you and your husband and your parents come to visit us in Meran!

Elisabeth's boat is on the peat stack at Mary-Ann's Cottage.

86- UK - Caithness - Sara and Maeva Donaldson

Here are our boats from not that far away – looking over Thurso Bay from Glengolly in Caithness. We are Saran and Maeva Donaldson, mother and daughter. After you taught me to make paper I have experimented a bit. The pinky purple paper is made from recycled envelopes with an inclusion of stamps. The white paper is a mixture of recycled paper, half-stuff and a few cinnamon tea-bags (paper tea and all!) Something exotic to hint at the travel by Caithness folk. One boat is made from plain A4 paper – on the side an example of fractal artwork which takes up most of my time, another is a sheet from a geneology night class I teach. Good luck with the fundraiser, Mary-Ann’s cottage is a special little place by one of the best bays in the couunty. All the best Sara and Maeva Donaldson.

I photographed the boats on the pig house at Mary-Ann's cottage.

85 - Ecuador/UK - Tatiana Serrano

One boat - back and front views!

Tatiana is originally from Ecuador and now lives in Dunfermline. She studied visual art at the Universidad Central del Ecuador, Quito in 1993 and more recently graphics/printmaking at Carnegie College in Fife. Recently she has become a full time member of the Fife, Dunfermline Print Workshop. Her piece was made using a lino print through the intaglio inking process plus a relief rolled collagraph. Finally some hand colouring using Stabilo Carbothello ( water soluble) pastel pencils , was added”. Here is a link to Tatiana's blog.

http://www.tatianaserranoartist.blogspot.com/

Ecuador/UK

84 - USA - Judy Wise

Judy made her boat with: paper, acrylic, amber shellac and encasutic medium. www.judywise.com

83 - UK Caithness - Sharon Pottinger

“Immigrant dressmakers such as Elizabeth Joyce, Ann White, or Julia Creasey, in choosing to emigrate, gambled on the unknown promise of a colonial future as the only alternative to deteriorating health and an insecure livelihood if they stayed behind.” A woman of Good Character: Single Women as Immigrant Settlers in New Zealand.

Sharon Pottinger.

82 - UK- Caithness- Angela Lewis

Dear Joanne, Here is a “Memory of the Westland” – as you said in your invitation to make a boat “….even knit it!”
The sail is undyed wool similar to that used to knit fishing boot socks. The ridge, pennant, ridge and rib pattern is from a Caithness Gansey – crewmember William Young would have worn one on the voyage. The full pennant design is the Thurso flag pattern; slightly different to the half pennant on the hull which is the Scottish flag pattern.. The ribbing at the head of the sail is the pattern used for a Gansey neck.
As the Westland sailed from here, then she just had to fly the Scottish Saltire at her mast head!
I also send a copy of William Young’s sea chest – the log book that was in it, is still in transit!
Very best wishes for your exhibition
Angela E Lewis, Caithness.

Message from the harbour master

Only 4 weeks to get your boats out of the boat yard and sail them off to me!

The harbour master needs time to organise this armada and get them ship-shape for the boat sale! Don't miss the boat!

Yes, that's me in the red! I started learning how to be a harbour master many moons ago!
Brough harbour in the 1970s'. My dad and brother are in the boat.

81 - USA - Diane Apple

My boat is made from teabag papers, sewn together. The “letter” paper is handmade by the artist of iris leaves, cotton linters and recycled papers. I am a mixed media artist from Lebanon, Tennessee.Diane Apple.

80 - Holland - Wilma Bouwmeester

Dear Joanne, This boat set sail from Holland, where my dear friend M. lives. He once sent me a recording of the (Scottish?) song ‘The False Bride’, which could have been an account of our own love, asking if “strawberries grow in the salt-sea”, and “How many ships sail in the forest”. The poem is written on the inside, the boat carries it’s forest on the ouside. Indeed our love seems impossible, as after 30 years it has yet to find a way of fully expressing itself………. Just let her go. Sailing off into the future. Wilma Bouwmeester, West Linton, Scotland.

79 - UK - Caithness - Castletown Primary School

It was a very high tide last night!!

Click on the photos to see the paper boats in more detail.

Photos taken at Castlehill Harbour, Castletown. Visit Castletown Heritage Centre for info about Caithness slate and more.........

Rhiannon and Leoni. We chose to do spots and stars because we like them. We chose to do it in the colours that we did because we like to use colourful pens.

Natalie S-W. I did lines, squiggles and swirls all over my boat.

Leoni S. age 10. I chose this pattern because it is my favouite and my best friend suggested to write L.S since it is my initials.

Emma G. age 11. I chose to use blue, red, yellow and orange for my boat because they are my favourite colours.

James G age 10. I chose the flag of New Zealand because my cousins live in New Zealand.

Connor F. I like patterns.

Alex F. age 10. I chose blue, white and purple because it is the colour of the sea and the white is an effect of waves.

Georgia McL. Age 10 . I chose these colours because they are my favourite colours. I chose spots because they are my favourite patterns.

Dale McP. Age 10. I made this boat because I like yellow. I used a recycled timetable.

Alex – has a red and orange boat.

Caitlin F. I chose contrasting bright colours and dark colours.

Caitlin F. Age 11. I chose the colours because they are really bright and colourful.

Rhiannon. I chose to use an olf athletics program because I thought it would be different.

Duncan D. Age 10. I called my boat “ Cool Boys” because I am a boy.

Greg S. Age 10. I wrote my name on my boat because I like writing my name on things and I drew the Scotland flag on it because I am Scottish.

Georgia McW. The reason I put Joanne Kaar, recycle and Mary-Ann on my boat is because Mary-Ann liked to recycle and Joanne is helping keep Mary-Ann’s cottage open!

Scott S. I used a scotland flag because I like drawing flags and I am Scottish.

Laura D. Age 11. I made my boat out of old magazines that I wove myself. I chose to reuse materials because Mary-Ann did a lof of reusing.

Jack M. Age 11. I chose to do my boat in a pattern because I like patterns.

Nicola G. Age 10. The WK1 Rainbow Rider is made up of lots of differently decorated paper boats in varied sizes. It is decorated with bright and colourful flags and is supposed to look like a boat in a gala or festival.

Sam A. Age 10. I picked black, red and yellow because they’re my favourite colours. I picked the size because I like little things. (look careflully in the photo to find these boats!)

Alex. I made lots of boats from work taken home from school!

Miss S. Watson (class teacher). My paper boat is made using a sheet of music manuscript. It contains the first two pages of a string quartet called “Mary-Ann Calder”, written by by sister Katrina Gordon and premiered in Wick in May 2009. She wrote the piece about a day in the life of Mary-Ann, after working as a volunteer guide at the cottage.

78 - Taiwan - class teacher Cheng and his pupils

Hello, I am a special needs class teacher. These kids graduated from junior high to senior high school , June 15th 2009. We made the paper boats together. In the Chinese saying “ every period of life is like a boat’s journey", and hope they journey of the kids can go smoothly. The paper boat are from the indigenous area in Taiwan, East Asia.

Dawang village in Taitung County.

www.dwjh.ttct.edu.tw

I photographed these boats on the official sign at Mary-Ann's Cottage.