An evocative painting by Victoria artist Laura Harris (Laura Harris Studio) graces the cover of A Métis Man’s Dream. Her painting "It's Like Searching for Gold" feels like it was meant to be the cover, but like much else in the writing and publishing of this book, fate, coincidence, or synchronicity played its part.
When the book about Gordon Gill, Métis Shipbuilder, was being prepared for printing, the publisher came up with three proposals for the cover. They all seemed a collage of modern symbols in soft blues and reds, and frankly, to me, quite nondescript. After rejecting those suggestions, I received an email from Canada House gallery in Banff, Alberta. Featured in the email, and then examined in more detail on a personal visit was a series of abstract paintings by Laura Harris. One colourful combination of yellows, oranges, and browns with what looked like billowing white clouds above, captured my attention. The longer I studied it, the more I re-thought how to approach the cover for Gordon Gill's story. The painting itself is modern, and abstract, the texture deep and intriguing and ethereal. It was just the opposite of a detailed biographical history in many ways. Laura’s painting lured me along a mysterious passage way, toward a white fog-shrouded river, and into the unknown, so appropriate for a book about northern tugboats and arctic mists, and exploring deeper into Gordon’s story. When I showed the image to my collaborator and advisor, Loretta Bertol, she immediately saw…a ship in the mist, which I had not seen myself. We presented the idea to Gordon and he loved it, not because of the passage way into the unknown which I saw, or Loretta’s ship in the distance, but because, as he said right after looking at the painting, “The birchbark, that's a great idea!” Gordon went on to explain how important birchbark was to Indigenous peoples in the bush and to him in particular. Not only was it a material used for baskets and decorative work by his relatives and ancestors, so too was it used for making canoes, and other vessels and in Gordon’s case, crafting moose callers. In one of the photos of Gordon we didn't use in the book, he is standing in the bush, a big section of rolled up birchbark - his “Texas Moosecaller” - held to his lips, looking like an old town crier making announcements in a square. Then I sought the opinion of others, 6 or 7 all told, and always with the question… “I am thinking of using this for the cover of A Metis Man’s Dream; what do you see?” Everyone liked Laura’s vibrant and mysterious image and the glorious colours, of course and the deeply grained texture. But as to what they saw, ah, well that was another matter altogether. One friend said immediately, “Oh, I can see the canoe”. Another saw a tugboat and another a sailing ship. Still another knew quickly that the painting was of power lines crossing a deep forest, and another saw the outlines of a small town in the mist. Yet another saw brown dry ranch lands rising into a bank of cloud held in place by the Rocky Mountains of Western Alberta. That was enough for me. Even today, the painting draws me in. Gordon has the original painting by Laura Harris, although I suggested I was intended to be the buyer. Gordon has prevailed. So far. And as to the title of the painting “It’s Like Searching for Gold”? As you will see in the book, Gordon spent significant time searching for gold himself, both figuratively and literally. It was an important part of his life, his hobby. One of the book’s photos shows Gordon with Chief Antoine and a front-end loader searching for gold near Lillooet in the Fraser Valley country of south west British Columbia. Another reveals the Gill-built gold dredge operating on the Liard River below the outflow of the famous, apparently gold rich and deadly, Nahanni River in the Northwest Territories. How could we not use Laura's wonderful image? It's all there, all in one painting. Comments are closed.
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AuthorNeil Gower is a writer living in Edmonton, AB. Archives
February 2025
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