In 2019, I spent two weeks as Artist in Residence at the Wallace Stegner House in Eastend, Saskatchewan, Canada.

 

The small town of Eastend is located in the deep, open-mouthed Frenchman River Valley in southwest Saskatchewan. The valley was formed 10,000 years ago during the retreat of the last glaciation.  An "ice stream" cut into the land along the southern edge of the melting ice sheet creating a valley which, today, ranges in depth from 30 to 160 metres and is some 340 kilometres in length. The Frenchman River is but a remnant of what it once was, but it shaped the landscape into coulees, creeks, hills and ravines.

 

“... the plains are so dominant and simple, so geometrical a world, that you feel yourself noticeable even when you're small.” Wallace Stegner

 

Standing on a height of land called Jones Point overlooking the Frenchman Valley, I felt on top of the earth not “in” the prairies as many people say. Before me were rolling curves of colour and cloud patterns in endless sky. It is a simple landscape, but brings out complicated feelings. I have a love/hate relationship with the prairie – I grew up on the Regina Plains and appreciate how difficult living in a climate of blizzards, -40C and relentless wind can be. But when I go back today, the prairie never fails to stir me at some level...it grounds me.