From the docks, boats and fishing sheds tucked along the water’s edge to the surrounding streets of crayon-colored houses, the coastal villages of Newfoundland are packed with interest and charm.
Small places, such as Trinity, Bonavista, Twillingate and Joe Batt’s Arm, are rooted in the rich heritage and strong culture of outport life.
“Outports, or outharbours as they are sometimes called, are literally ports other than the principal port of St. John’s [Newfoundland]” explains the Newfoundland & Labrador Heritage website. “Outports were settled where families could get shelter, fresh water and access to the fishing grounds. Additional factors such as availability of shore space for the drying of salted fish, and timber for building and firewood, were also crucial in making some places desirable in which to live.” The Natural History Magazine article, Outport Life elaborates, “outports sprang up in coves and bays along the coast near good cod fishing grounds, sometimes in places only accessible by boat”.
“Originally, outports were intimate communities of close-knit, extended families who lived in simple, two-story square salt-box houses perched near the water. Scattered among the houses and along the shoreline was the material culture related to fishing: boats, nets, sheds, stages, and fish flakes for drying cod.”
Much has changed since the early days of outport life but evidence of the fishing culture is still visible. This scene on Fogo Island is a case in point.
The “simple, two-story square salt-box houses perched near the water” may be more colorful than they were originally but they are still very evident today. As an eager shutterbug, I found the combination of Newfoundland’s sea-faring traditions and brightly-colored houses irresistible. You can see both in this scene across Fisher Cove in Trinity.
Apparently, I’m not the only one inspired by these sights. We saw an impressive variety of artwork—illustrations, paintings, pottery, fused glass and more—reflecting the same theme. It reminded me of a fantastic exhibition I’d seen previously in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
“The Very Mention of Home features a series of 22 hooked rugs from the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia’s Permanent Collection, created by one of Nova Scotia’s most celebrated rug hookers, Deanne Fitzpatrick.” As described on the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) website “Deanne Fitzpatrick is a fabric artist, rug hooker, and writer based in Amherst, Nova Scotia. She is widely recognized as one of the world’s prominent modern rug hookers. … Completely self-taught, she uses rug hooking as a means of storytelling and finds inspiration for her work from observation and memories of her own experiences.”
I’ve written about Deanne Fitzpatrick and her gorgeous hooked rugs before. In the post, Rug Hooking in my Home Province, I share my experience visiting her studio in Amherst, Nova Scotia. One of the best things about visiting her Studio was the legendary Maritime hospitality. Where else would you be given free rein to wander around the entire studio and invited to enjoy a cup of tea with delicious oak cakes? Plus you’re encouraged to learn to hook. Deanne, herself, showed us how.
This piece, We Belong Together, showcasing three saltbox houses surrounded by stormy skies and seas is a great example of Deanne’s work from The Very Mention of Home.
It’s not surprising the scenes of Newfoundland reminded me of Deanne’s work—she was born and raised in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. The exhibition overview explains: “Each of these images features saltbox houses that sit between crashing waves and windy skies, and illustrate Fitzpatrick’s relationship with, and ideas about, the notion of home.”
As noted, many of the homes depicted in Deanne’s work are salt box houses. Here’s another example. Salt box and Starry Sky #3 depicts a green salt box house behind a white-capped wave and under a vibrant night sky.
This piece, Mystery in the Sky, with its rich indigo salt box house and moody, swirling, blue skies was my favorite.
Interestingly, the salt box house is perhaps the best-known category of Newfoundland heritage homes. According to the Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage website article Newfoundland Folk Architecture, “A traditional folk house type all over Newfoundland, the Salt Box style, named for its shape, which resembled the boxes used for … salt … was one of the earliest forms of house construction.”
A little online digging provided some insight into those boxes used for salt. Referred to as “hanging salt boxes”, they typically had a hinged lid and were designed to hang on the kitchen wall. They were hung near the stove for easy access while cooking but also to keep the salt dry. You can see the similarity between the slanted lid of the hanging salt box and the sloped roofline of the salt box house when viewed side by side.
In this piece, Floating in Paradise, Fitzpatrick placed three salt box houses amidst colorful waves and skies. The houses are depicted in rich hues of red and orange.
I have a new appreciation for the crayon-colored houses in Deanne’s work after seeing Newfoundland’s outport communities. Here are a few colorful examples from Trinity where egg yolk yellow, pumpkin orange, Caribbean Sea turquoise and cow barn red houses sparkle with personality.
Exactly why Newfoundlanders paint their houses bright colors is unclear but several sources suggest it makes them more visible from the water. Or maybe Newfoundlanders simply have a flair for the dramatic use of color. How else would you explain an orange house with turquoise trim?
Or a navy-blue house with lime-green trim?
Or a mint-green house with orange or plum trim?
“Fitzpatrick’s remarkable ability to tell a story shines through her work, offering an important link between contemporary craft and her personal vision of home.”
In her book, Mediation for Makers: Daily Affirmations for a Creative Life, Deanne shares this insight: “A house is a container for a life. It is not only an object, or a building on a piece of land. It is a place of belonging. A place we make our own. We need to nurture it so it can nurture us.” It’s a compelling thought—we need to nurture our place of belonging so it can nurture us.
This turquoise salt box house overlooking the waters of Sandy Cove may be a captivating subject to me but, more importantly, it’s home — a place of belonging — to someone else.
Salt box and Starry Sky 1 also features a turquoise salt box house.
“For years I lamented leaving Newfoundland at sixteen. That loneliness, that absence of belonging… it was at the root of my art. But I came to belong again.”, Deanne reveals in her book. “Mostly I belong to art, rather than to a place. I finally have shelter again.”
Perhaps those thoughts sparked her work titled Between Two Places.
In the video, Virtual Artist Tour and Demonstration with Deanne Fitzpatrick, Deanne says the houses in the below piece were inspired by the architecture of Amherst, Nova Scotia. So, these are Nova Scotian houses in a Newfoundland setting. She explains “When I go home to Newfoundland, I feel like I … belong but I’m out of place because nobody remembers you… The place doesn’t remember you but you are constantly remembering a place.” She goes on to wonder “Does the land ever miss you?” or, in the words of the popular folk song Farewell to Nova Scotia, “Will You Ever Heave a Sign or a Wish for Me”.
The authors of the Natural History Magazine article, Outport Life, report: “Newfoundlanders are fiercely attached to place.” They attribute this to the traditional outport way of life. “The subsistence economy of rural Newfoundland tied people to the land and surrounding sea in a unique way. People dealt with the uncertainties and hardships of outport life and developed an unspoken pride in surviving it. The harshness of the climate and precariousness of the economy, as well as family members’ tight ties, bound the residents together. As a community, people weathered the ups and downs of outport life.”
More Info
See the previous post, Rug Hooking in my Home Province, about my visit to Deanne Fitzpatrick’s studio in Amherst, Nova Scotia.
To learn more about Newfoundland’s outport communities, check the following resources:
… Outports article on the Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage website
… Outport Life article on the Natural History Magazine website
… Newfoundland Folk Architecture article on Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage website.
See the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia website for more information about “The Very Mention of Home” exhibition.
Farewell to Nova Scotia is a popular folk song from Nova Scotia, Canada. As noted on Wikipedia, “It was written sometime before or during World War I and popularized in 1964 when Catherine McKinnon used it as the theme song for the Halifax-based CBC TV program, Singalong Jubilee.”
I’ve created a new travel category on the FanningSparks blog. Check out the Travel > Canada > Newfoundland category index to learn more about my adventures on The Rock.
Today’s Takeaways
1. “A house is a container for a life. It is not only an object, or a building on a piece of land.
2. It is a place of belonging. A place we make our own.
3. We need to nurture it so it can nurture us.” Deanne Fitzpatrick
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