becoming a romanticist painter

i find this quite amazing. an ehow.com explanation of how to become a romanticist painter...

the BC archives, part 2

back from the city

"Conceptual artists are mystics rather than rationalists. They leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach."

(Sol Lewitt, Sentences on Conceptual Art, 1969)
SAME YEAR THE BROTHER XII FILM CAME OUT

spend some days in vancouver, back on the island now for the final stretch... wow time flies. had a good trip. lots of thinking, talking to people. have been reading more on the history of romaticism and some exhibitons catalogs at the ECI library. re-visited the catalog to romantic conceptualism and a big light went on when i read the sol lewitt quote. too tired to elaborate on that now but i think it is important for me and this project... hmmm.... more very soon.

"brother xii" (1969) digibeta copy

the infamous film made in 1969 about brother 12, a docudrama with local actors.

there are only two copies-- one at the bc archives and one at the malaspina university library in nanaimo. very happy i was able to track it down and actually be able to take it home (!!!) for a few days. this is actually really amazing, because the original that these copies were made from burned in a fire at yellow point lodge in the 1980s. gery hill, the owner of yellow point lodge, had actually known brother xii and a serious interest in telling his story. he sunk 30000 dollars into this film in the 60s, which was a lot of money back then for an obscure story in a small island community that would never make any money back.

does this all sound like twin peaks to anyone?


the owner of yellow point, gerry hill

the BC Archives, Victoria

first visit to the archives today. actually a good feeling to know that my initial research last year was fairly thorough... i think i have seen/heard most of what they have on the aquarian foundation. except for some court records (there were two trials in the 1930s in which bother xii was accused of various charges). these are stored offsite and i was able to order them today-- will be able to view them next week.

i also found out i am actually allowed to take some pictures in here with a special permission, so that is great news. i am bringing my camera next week.

Cover Design-- I like this

I have been thinking about my compilation of materials, and i really like this cover design. the film about brother xii that i found at the malaspina library also has a similar red text in the opening credits...

De Courcy Island brochure

John Nayler gave me this brochure. It was from the 1980s when the shareholders (they've had the property since the late 1960s) decided to subdivide part of the island property and sell smaller lots...

the area marked "the farm" on the big map is the former heard of the aquarian foundation-- with four original buildings still standing (i took some photos of those).

the first paragraph of the written exert (2nd picture) mentions brother xiis gold, and the fact that the bigger treasure was the land itself (yes, they were trying to sell property).

pictures of my trip to de courcy

just uploading some images from my trip over to de courcy island (one of the three locations where the Aquarian foundation settled). a difficult place to get to-- had to go to nanaimo, take the ferry over to gabriola island, then drive to the other side of the island and was taken over to de courcy in a small fishing boat.

on de courcy, the boats pull in to a bay called pirates cove. john nayler, one of the four shareholders of the property that once belonged to the aquarian foundation, met me there and showed me around... this is an honor few people get! john is in his 70s (as are the other three owners) and not too keen on publicity. i took photos but had to work very quickly as we were constantly walking...

i don't think i will have time to actually edit these until i get to germany (am working ona very old and sloooooow laptop here) but at least they're on flickr for now.
you can click on the link below to see the full set...

i've also handwritten a short text about my day there-- seemed appropriate. i want to type that out once i have access to my typewwriter again...

www.flickr.com

AnnikaRixen's De Courcy Island photoset