All Roads Lead to Here – Visual Interpretations of Select Explorations of James P. Howley 

James P. Howley was a prominent Newfoundland geologist is the late 1800s.  He spent many years traversing the island, looking for coal, assisting with the railroad survey, surveying land and looking for economic minerals.  He worked as Director of the Newfoundland Geological Survey from 1876 to 1906 and was also the first director of the Newfoundland Museum.

I discovered his field books, journals and memoirs housed in the Archives and Special Collections Division of the Queen Elizabeth II Library and the Rooms, Provincial Archives Division.  His poetic descriptions of the geological features of an area captured my imagination; his field books were not filled with textbook jargon but colourful descriptions of the landscape he explored.  I wanted to find the “silky blue slate” and the “soapy yellow talcose” near Sops Arm or the “confused mass of igneous rock” on Change Islands that he further described as a patchwork quilt.

Through a project grant from the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council I was able to visit places Howley described in his writings and while there made my own drawings and observations. 
These modern surveys form the basis of an intriguing interplay between archival subject matter and an artist’s personal journey.

Landforms and geology has always been a constant theme in my art practice.  This exhibit reflects my evolution as an artist that has developed over time like the geology I sketch and paint layer by layer.

But I still don’t know what led me to this man and his work.  Perhaps it was his love of adventure or the enthusiasm he had for work in the field. While reading his journals felt at times that I was right there with him; in the canoe paddling the Baie D’Est waters or scrambling over the rocks of St.  Mary’s Bay or steaming along the western Newfoundland coast marvelling at the beauty of the vermillion rocks of Cape Anguille.