Artist's Statement:

Moose Island or Mathers Island is located about 15 km. north of Saint John in the Kennebecasis River . It is a small island about 1.5 km in diameter and its care taker/owner is Mr. James (Jim) Clark .

Jim Clark has lived on Moose Island since the early/mid 1970s. The place is special for too many reasons to list here, but when Jim invited me to live and paint there I jumped at the opportunity.

According to Jim, early maps of the area always referred to the Island as Moose Island and when Jim's solar powered cell phone rings he often begins the conversation with " Moose Island , Chief Moose speaking..." Occupied by the Mathers family at the turn of the century it was subsequently re-named.

I was visiting Jim early last spring when I spied some very interesting looking icon-like frames. When I expressed an interest, Jim had already thought I could use them - and as it turned out, the religious icon shapes proved very appropriate to the work.

With Jim, our friendship is in part based on similar life styles. What little electricity we need, we make ourselves and we heat our homes with wood stoves. We raise chickens and compare notes on such activities. So I really felt very much at home while I lived with Jim and made these paintings. I had a little wagon I would pull behind me that contained my paints and easel and after a glorious breakfast I would set off each day to explore and paint a new aspect of Jim's home. Jim swept one of the older cabins out and as I finished each painting, the familiar tapping of the hammer would bring curious visitors to see what I had painted next.

A mutual friend and artist Jonathan MacDonald noted that he felt the shapes of the works and the general series of images that resulted was oddly right..." This place and Jim ...it's all kind of holy.." The paintings celebrate Moose Island and Jim as a kind of iconoclastic place with a reverential life style for nature and man's place in it ...at least I hope so.

I want to thank Jim Clark and Dianne McConnell for the privilege of sharing the island with me. No one was treated better than myself. I look forward to painting there for many years to come. And right now, I wish I was there.

Artist's Biography:

Glenn Hall was born in Saint John , NB and his art studies began at Mount Allison University in 1979. He received his BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1984 and a BEd from the University of New Brunswick in 1989.

Hall's work has been exhibited widely in galleries throughout the Maritimes, including the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton , the ABEC in Saint John , the Confederation Centre in Charlottetown and the Anna Leonowens Gallery in Halifax.

Apart from his commitment to working as a visual artist, Glenn has been active as an art educator and curator. His work is part of many private and corporate collections including the Canada Council Art Bank and Aliant.

Glenn resides in the geographic center of the Kingston Peninsula on 20 acres of land in a 16 x 20 ft. cabin equipped with a wood stove for heat and solar power for energy. He teaches visual and performing arts at the high school level.