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Weldon Tracey
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Noreen Bramhill-Tracey
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The Lake of Bays Marine Museum
and Navigation Society is pleased to announce a partnership
with one of Canada's most accomplished wood carvers,
Weldon Tracey. Weldon is very excited about the Bigwin
Steamboat project and has agreed to create some very
special and limited edition carvings in aid of this
project. A significant portion of the price of this
art will be used towards the Bigwin Steamboat project.
If successful the program could raise $125,000 for
the Museum.
Weldon left Toronto in 1980
to set up his studio at Long Line Lake near Dorset.
Here he pursued his dream to carve wildlife as he
saw them in the wild. Noted nature photographer, Dan
Gibson, once commented "Weldon Tracey skillfully
blends the sensitivity of the artist with the scientifically
detailed accuracy of the Ornithologist". CBC
produced a documentary for the program "This
Land" which featured Weldon in "A Portrait
of a Wood Carver". Weldon has won over 30 ribbons
in competitions here and in the United States including
firsts at the World Carving Championships in Maryland
and the Canadian National Exhibition.
Weldon's main carving will
be of the Bigwin Steamer (circa 1933). This will be
a 12" replica wall mounted on a 16" plank
salvaged from the original hull. This limited edition
carving will be individually hand carved, and an inscribed
brass plaque is attached to the plank.
One of Weldon's trademarks
is the loon. He has created "The Bigwin Loon"
for this project, in two sizes. The large loon is
11" and smaller loom 6". These hand carved
loons are individually mounted on a salvaged plank
from the old steamboat. Again, these items are a limited
edition and feature an inscribed brass plaque.The
uniqueness of these carving coupled with Weldon's
reputation will ensure that they appreciate in value
over time.
Joining Weldon in this fundraising
endeavour is his wife, Noreen Bramhill-Tracey. Noreen
produces artwork referred to as LathArt. Painted lathe
inlays, pieced together in a 3-dimensional form, comprise
her unique paintings that are fast becoming her trademark.
The Bigwin Steamboat crossing from the Bigwin Inn
to Norway Point, showing the Bigwin Inn on the horizon,
is the subject of this limited edition LathArt. It
measures 31"x 19", is self framed and bears
a brass plaque with inscription
Noreen has also used lathing
to produce a wall hung picture frame (17.5"x14.5")
in which is framed a photograph (circa 1933) of the
Bigwin steamboat crossing Lake of Bays. A brass plaque
is also attached.
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