Artist behind rock sculptures in Humber River revealed - 680News

Artist behind rock sculptures in Humber River revealed - 680News

Recommended Summer Reading - 'Blazing Figures: A Life of Robert Markle'

I encountered Robert Markle a couple of times in the mid 1980's. Following art studies at Georgian College in Owen Sound, I spent a couple of years working at the Tom Thomson Gallery, and with area artists on various community art projects. In 1987 we were installing a group show of local artists at the gallery called The Painted Room, when Robert stopped by to see what was up. We were in the process of installing elements from Markleangelo's, the restaurant he had outfitted in Toronto earlier in the decade. My friend from school, Lincoln Croft, had a couple of works in the show as well.

That same year I happened to be runner up to Mr. Markle in an Owen Sound mural competition, sponsored by the Downtown Business Association. Admittedly his was the better piece by far, and it remained on various Owen Sound walls for many years. I wonder where it is now? Later that same year I remember attending an artist talk he gave at the Durham Art Gallery, where he discussed his work, and showed slides of his Great Horned Serpent of Egremont - a massive construction on his Holstein area property made entirely of century old cedar rails.

Robert Markle lived outside Mount Forest, about twelve miles from where I was raised in Clifford, for twenty years. He would have traveled the same backroads and drank in the same hotels that we did - he was renowned for his visits to the local taverns and strip clubs that were the source of much of his work, and famously 'held court' regularly at the Mount Royal Tavern in Mount Forest with his country and city friends. Sadly, he died in 1990 on his way home from a night out in a violent collision with a tractor.

(Robert Markle, far right, 'holding court.')

J.A. Wainwright begins his excellent book, "Blazing Figures: A Life of Robert Markle" telling the story of Markle's death. And throughout this biography, and tribute to a lifelong friend, he spares nothing in the telling of this fascinating story of the life of one of Canada's most dedicated and determined artists. Markle made drawing and painting the female figure his life's work, employing his masterful skills in an endless quest to interpret the relationship between the artist and his muse.

Wainwright's book flows like an undulating Grey County road, giving space equally to the highs and lows that are inevitable in the life of an artist like Robert Markle. "Blazing Figures: A Life of Robert Markle" isn't just an art book - so don't be intimidated. It is the story of a man and his search for self amidst tempera washes and lots of beer!

Note: The next time you are traveling highway six through Mount Forest, look for Markle's main street mural, a fixture on the side of the grocery store for 25 years.

A Day-trip to Ontario's Largest Sand Pile

An advantage of living in Brantford, Ontario is that we are centrally located - just an hour from anywhere. On Friday we took a short drive to Sand Hill Park, located between Port Rowan and Port Burwell along the north shore of Lake Erie.

For twenty years we've been exploring these back-roads, and have driven past Sand Hill Park countless times, but finally made a commitment to visit Ontario's largest sand pile after reading about it in Ron Brown's Top 100 Unusual Things to See in Ontario. Brown is the author of over a dozen books on Ontario's ghost towns and roadside attractions.

Towering more than 120 metres above Lake Erie, the sand hill has been growing and shifting for centuries due to the prevailing southwest winds. The wind is so constant that surrounding farm lands, once renowned as the tobacco belt, now harvest the wind. Only the crashing waves of Lake Erie drown out the constant whirring and whooshing of the gigantic three propeller turbines that are quickly dominating the landscape of Ontario's South Coast.

We found the privately operated Sand Hill Park to be an excellent and inexpensive day-trip destination. At just $6.00 per person (children under 12 free) we were able to tumble down the sand pile to a Lake Erie swim and provided with a pleasant setting for our picnic. If you are a camper the park offers various options for your tent or travel trailer.

If you are going, make sure to check out the coastal town of Port Burwell, where you'll find one of the last remaining wooden lighthouses on the Lake Erie shoreline, still accessible to the public for a birds-eye view of the area. The adjacent marine museum and nearby Port Burwell Provincial Park are also worth a visit.

American Graffiti at the Mammoth Caves

We celebrated Canada Day this year by touring the Mammoth Caves, just west of Interstate 71 at Park City, Kentucky. If you haven't been, the caves are a labyrinth of passages and underground rooms that have been attracting tourists for 200 years to the 'middle of nowhere Kentucky', as the Tour Guide noted.

With the tourists came graffiti, most of it dating to pre-1941, when the caves were purchased from area residents (many reluctantly) to become a National Park. The above photograph illustrates an early example created using a blackening method. A candle was held to the cave ceiling and smudged dots - much like a magnified ink jet printer - were repeated to form a name or message. Tour guides would allow the cave writing for a small tip.

The Mammoth Caves are as interesting for their place in the history of tourism as they are for their geological wonders. Early on they were a destination for the wealthy, who would tour the caves in their best dress, and stay at fine establishments in nearby towns like Cave City. Later, as operators began to realize the enormous profits available to them through providing underground tours, 'cave wars' began, where rival property owners would outdo themselves by way of carnival like attractions within the caves. Subterranean cable car and boat rides are just two examples.

The height of cave craziness may have been the media event that surrounded the death of cave explorer Floyd Collins in 1925. On a quest to find a passage from his own Crystal Cave to Mammoth Cave (which would have increased his tourism revenue) Collins became trapped.

He died two weeks later, not before his entombment became front page news and a full-blown media circus erupted overhead. This event is loosely adapted in the 1951 film The Big Carnival (also known as Ace in the Hole) starring Kirk Douglas. A more factual film version of the Floyd Collins story based on the book Trapped! is rumoured to be in the works by Billy Bob Thornton.

The Mammoth Caves are certainly worth a visit.

If you are interested in going, let me know and I'd

be happy to send along information.