The Big Tree Studio - Joanne Cole

The Howley project - the short version

James P. Howley was a prominent geologist in the late 1800’s.  He spent many years traversing the province, looking for coal, assisting with the railway survey, surveying land and looking for economic minerals. I was captivated by his colourful stories of exploration and his love of the Newfoundland wilderness.

I studied all his hand-written field books, journals and official geological reports and found myself wanting to follow in his footsteps and find the amazing rock formations that he described so beautifully.  So I did!  Since 2011 I have found several sites that I visited (thanks to a grant from the NLAC), on the same date that Howley was there.

Last year I took a nine-month deferred salary leave from my full-time job at the Queen Elizabeth II Library to begin work on the project; to date I have five large paintings completed.

I still don’t know why I am so drawn to this man and his work, perhaps it’s his love of adventure or the enthusiasm he had for work in the field.  He was a fine writer, detailing every aspect of his journeys and I felt at times that I was right there along with him, in the canoe paddling in the Bay D’Est waters or trudging along the shores of St. Mary’s Bay or steaming along the western Newfoundland coast and looking at the vermillion layers of rock of Cape Anguille.

Below are some images from my journeys.