Candaian Pulse compositions

Woman of the Alberta Badlands, 2009
Bruce Thomas
48 x 60
Multi-frame amalgamated monoprint on canvas with pastel, spray acrylic and oil, pigmented resin and stencil applied.

The term "badlands" represents a consensus in North America: the Lakota called the topography "Makhóšiča", literally bad land, while French trappers called it "les mauvaises terres à traverser" all in all the pictorial beauty far outweigh any “bad” classification. Hoodoo’s, fossils, cati and brilliant skies are among some of the highlights of these “badlands”, different times with different eyes, I guess.

What do you like best about Canada?





Burning Plains in Memory, Saskatchewan, 2009
Bruce Thomas
30 x 40
Multi-frame amalgamated monoprint on canvas with pastel spray acrylic and oil, pigmented resin and stencil applied.

This is a portrait of the nomadic life. People were always on the move. Half a million people lived on the plains and moved with the seasons. Everything had to be portable. Everything was used.

What are your thoughts on our origins as a nomadic species?






Furtile lands of Osoyoos, 2009
Bruce Thomas
48 x 60
Multi-frame amalgamated monoprint on canvas with graphite, pastel spray acrylic and oil, pigmented resin and stencil applied.

One of the most important fruit-growing centres in Canada, Osoyoos produces irresistible soft fruits like peaches and cherries. Roadside stands, orchards and the main markets are picturesque. Nk’Mip Cellars is North America’s first Aboriginal owned and operated winery located in Osoyoos. Note: Not Canada’s first, but North American’s first aboriginal winery.

What’s your favourite Canadian winery?





Visions of Vancouver Island, BC, 2009
Bruce Thomas
30 x 40
Multi-frame amalgamated monoprint on canvas with,pastel spray acrylic and oil,pigmented resin and stencil applied


So many great memories of our treasured isle on our western shore, not just mine…other than the Jasper Banff highway, it was the “most beautiful place in Canada.” Answer in this journey. The Sooke, Tafino, Salt Spring they’re all great! But I found quite quickly BC meant “Bring Cash”.

What is your greatest motivation?




CALGARY SCRIPT a wordplay:
A night out.Gates to the West from the road east...of the open roads traveled in from the Paris of the great plains. It’s from an old train trudging towards distant horizon... It’s of yesterdays and the brand new millenium. It’s born from the depths of Black Gold... Watching from its perch.... still there until dawn,by then I'm long gone.
If you could sleep anywhere in Canada where would it be?

Nella from Agawa, Ontario
2009 22x28
Multi-frame amalgamated monoprint on canvas with,pastel spray acrylic and oil,pigmented resin applied


Who was Nella?
She was one of the last interviews I almost did. She spoke in a tongue I couldn’t understand and said: “Nella. Nella. Nella.” She smiled at me. Then, my tape ran out. So instead I began to sketch. When the ink wasn’t fully dried and I happened to set it down on the tree stump beside me to attend to my son. The ink absorbed the grain. Nella was my inspiration for all the portraits in this show. The medium was simple and ultra-modern and her spirit encapsulated the landscape around there. Her ancient image captured an indigenous aspect.



Her Heart Is the field that grows, 2009
Bruce Thomas
48 x 60
Multi-frame amalgamated monoprint on canvas with pastel,
spray acrylic and oil,pigmented resin and stencil applied


Fertile: Producing fruit or vegetation in abundance; fruitful; able to produce abundantly; prolific; fecund; productive; rich; inventive; as, fertile land or fields; a fertile mind or imagination. One interviewee asked me: With so much fertile land in Canada how do people still go hungry?

What do we do to get food into the cities more cost effectively?




Owl with Kite at Midnight on Falcon Lake Manitoba
2009 20x24
Multi-frame amalgamated monoprint on canvas with,pastel spray acrylic and oil,pigmented resin and stencil applied


“Been on road 16 days and 11 hours. We found camp grounds but we’ll never get in there. It’s a long weekend. Yet, 2 people are just leaving: can’t believe our luck. Wanted to talk to them but they’re off.
There are two deer in our campsite. We walk into this field where a large rock juts out into Falcon Lake like our own private granite dock! Best campsite ever, and they just checked out, very cool how timing works. Night on the lake. Stars are everywhere and I see a glint on the wind… I see a white kite. Mist across late and an owl flies right through the dense air. I see the kite again—I can't figure it out—in the morning, it turns out to be some sort of weather flag. Oh yeah, this is a mystic place. In fact it actually is the site of a credible UFO sighting... Look it up under "Falcon Lake incident". 1950’s. The guy had multiple radiation burns. Quite plausible according to the RCMP report. What’s his name? Stefan Michalak… Fun place. Manitoba looks to me to be Ontario in the 70’s. Adidas shorts and mustaches.”
strong>What is your opinion on extraterrestrial life?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_Lake_Incident



Homestead near Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba, 2009
Bruce Thomas
32 x 38
Multi-frame amalgamated monoprint on canvas with,graphite,pastel spray acrylic and oil,pigmented resin and stencil applied

It is the largest lake within the borders of southern Canada its one of the countries largest undeveloped watershed.. Henry Kelsey was the first European to see the lake in 1690. He adopted the Cree language name for the lake: wīnipēk… Lake Winnipeg lies along one of the oldest trading routes in North America to have flown the British flag. For several centuries, furs were traded along this route between York Factory on Hudson Bay which,incidentally was the longtime headquarters for the Hudson's Bay Company.

What is your favorite Canadian sport and Why?


Faint Memories of Maritime Fisheries, 2009
Bruce Thomas
30 x 30
Multi-frame amalgamated monoprint on canvas with graphite, pastel spray acrylic and oil, pigmented resin and stencil applied.


What can we personally do to replenish our waters?

This is a memory of our fishing industry. Who is leading us to fish sustainably? I’m certain there are good things being done and I sure hope fishing is around for my kids. A guy from the Maritimes told me they have to import cod now from Europe… I heard another story that a main tourist attraction in Newfoundland was a museum to preserve the fishing practices of our Maritime ancestors… A museum! For a resource-based economy, we might need to think about how to sustain our resources and build on successful traditions.





Born Midnight on the Alberta Badlands, 2009
Bruce Thomas
24 x 36
Multi-frame amalgamated monoprint on canvas with graphite, pastel spray acrylic and oil, pigmented resin and stencil applied.


This is a turn-of-the-century picture. The early days of cattle farming. The farm was the epicentre. It was the homestead. The workplace. The grocery store. The hospital. Many people were born at home.

What does that say about early Canadian settlers?




Ode to the Canadian Wild Mushroom, Ontario, 2009
30x40
Multi-frame amalgamated monoprint on canvas with,pastel spray acrylic and oil,pigmented resin and stencil applied



This was taken from my travel journal:
“Day 9… Still somewhere in Northern Ontario. Last night we had thunder and lighting. I did not quite expect the severity of the storm we had on Saturday either, very very wet. The kids are holding up well, Cari has her brave face on…. It is now looking to be a beautiful day and should be good for looking at plants, animals and mushrooms.”
Really, they are so interesting here, the colours, the shapes, the sizes… they’re endless. Just don’t try them unless absolutely cleared by an expert!

What is your favourite mushroom and how is it best served?






Spirit of Ontario Hardwood Forest, 2009
Bruce Thomas
48 x 60
Multi-frame amalgamated monoprint on canvas with pastel, spray acrylic and oil, pigmented resin and stencil applied.


This was in my field notes from interview #66: Fredrick from Ottawa, ON. A German-born, government geologist.
RE : The transformation of a northern Ontario hardwood forest by aboriginal (Iroquois) fires.
“There existed a period of Iroquois occupation when cultivation coincides with pollen evidence for transition from northern hardwoods to white pine/oak forests. Charcoal data reveal that this transition was attended by increased charcoal accumulation, sufficiently high to suggest vegetation fires. Results support the notion that Indian burning is capable of producing dramatic changes in forest composition spanning centuries.”

What do you believe is Canada’s greatest asset?







Spirit of the Grasslands, 2009
Bruce Thomas
48 x 60
Multi-frame amalgamated monoprint on canvas with graphite, pastel, spray acrylic and oil, pigmented resin and stencil applied.



The female-exclusive laws of this Clan remain shrouded in secrecy. What happened to the men, why they have been outlawed, and how they continue to reproduce are never revealed -- According to legend, there is an all-male village known as Sheown Step that serves as a counterpart to Alma Kinan -- Despite males seemingly being outlawed from their clan, the Alma Kinan show absolutely no ill will, distrust, or an air of superiority towards men who visit.

What is your opinion of uni-sex schooling?




Crystal Waters of Lake Okanagan, 2009
Bruce Thomas
24 x 36
Multi-frame amalgamated monoprint on canvas with pastel spray acrylic and oil, pigmented resin and stencil applied.



Clean, fresh drinking water is essential to all lifeforms. Access to safe drinking water has improved steadily and substantially over the last decades in almost every part of the world. However, some observers have estimated that by 2025 more than half of the world population will be facing water-based vulnerability. Water plays an increasingly vital role in the world economy, as it functions as a solvent for a wide variety of chemical substances and facilitates industrial cooling and transportation.
What was the best water you have ever drank or swam in?



Revelstoke Rains, BC, 2009
Bruce Thomas
36 x 48
Multi-frame amalgamated monoprint on canvas with graphite, pastel spray acrylic and oil, pigmented resin and stencil applied



A mist emerged
Then a downpour followed
As a planet’s lifeblood
Weather is a variable thing
Influenced by latitude
Or a change of attitude

What is your favourite quote, motto or limerick?






Prairie Salt Pelican Overhead, 2009
Bruce Thomas
28 x 36
Multi-frame amalgamated monoprint on canvas with pastel, spray acrylic and oil, pigmented resin and stencil applied.


The title’s words are amalgamated quite literally:
Salt deposits on the prairies appear as snow in July,
There are pelicans flitting around like bright sky,
Prehistoric birds fishing in salt lagoons ahead,
They appear to dive and swim overhead.

We stayed in what seem like a forest from the Jurassic period.
A Sask-Hydro linesman told me it survived due to its elevation (110 metres above sea level) still standing from the last ice age almost twelve thousand years ago.

If you could live at any time in Canadian history when would it be?








Decline of the Western Birch, BC, 2009
Bruce Thomas
36 x 28
Multi-frame amalgamated monoprint on canvas with pastel spray acrylic and oil, pigmented resin and stencil applied.


I intended to show the beautiful botanical diversity in our country. But, instead got wrapped up in an overlooked issue I learned about in an interview: the disease in our trees… Apparently, there’s a disease that’s moving east—a fungus that makes birch trees black at the top. It’s the end of the birch. Silver, bronze and white. They’ll be gone—all of them—within 15 years. It’s like the pine beetle without all the attention but it’s a big problem.

What should we do when a species is threatened? Do we plant more birch trees?






Ballad of Early Grace, Saskatchewan, 2009
Bruce Thomas
24 x 36
Multi-frame amalgamated monoprint on canvas with graphite, pastel spray acrylic and oil, pigmented resin and stencil applied.



One of my favourite scenes was the Saskatechewan Prairies. Most of us can picture the big skies and driving around the prairies and at that time of year in the summer there was a lot of diversity in colour, in texture … And in the distance, I see this farmer on a tractor. Now I’m expecting an old-time farmer. But, in fact, what I run into is an ultra modern, 21 or 22 year old farmer with a brand new pick-up truck parked further up the road. In our interview, he talks about the survival of farming. The fact that he spends half of his year in the city in order to make his family farm work… Now that could be kind of sad, but we also spoke about the creativity of farming—anticipating weather and choice of crops to get the maximum yields… somehow I feel that we are all so lucky.

How could we better support Canada’s family-owned farms?
All our Canadian farms for that matter…




Ambrose from Woburn, Ontario, 2009
Bruce Thomas
Multi-frame amalgamated monoprint on canvas with graphite, pastel spray acrylic and oil, pigmented resin and stencil applied.


Ontario goes on forever. You wouldn’t believe how big Ontario it is until you drive it. We were north of the Sioux and met Ambrose. He was the town’s cab driver. In response to my questions, he said: “Canada has the most freedom. I go and walk around when I want to. The lake is close by and I fish when I want to… My favourite place is in and around Banff because the mountains are so beautiful.” We went on chatting about his work and how interesting it must be driving a cab. He said: “Well, there are 5 roads here... But, you do run into interesting folks now and again. I drove Shania Twain once. She was like Banff. Beautiful.”

Who would you like to drive around town? Where would you go on a roadtrip in Canada?


Abby from Calgary Alberta, 2009
Bruce Thomas
18 x 24
Multi-frame amalgamated monoprint on canvas with graphite, pastel spray acrylic and oil, pigmented resin and stencil applied.



Outside of a night club, we spoke of the many issues facing young people today. New peer pressures, complex sexual identities, high cost of education and the difficulties of a newcomers to the work force…Couple that with saturation of mass media ideologies concerning image and you have the high pressure social life of the teen and tween youth culture.

What is the difference between youth today and when you were growing up?