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August 10,1996 After sending Joe (a prairie boy) descriptions of various Ontario crops throughout their growth cycles, Joe's first image comes in by fax. A draft horse - a perfect image for the plowing match and designed in such a way that it can be planted and harvested relatively easily. I was both pleased and relieved; practicality hadn't interfered with creativity and vice versa. |
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The harness will be bare earth, disced on after
the wheat is harvested. Joe will personally work on the shafts thus hooking the horse to the plough during the 1997 International Plowing Match. |
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September 25, 1996
Georgian College survey students placed over 500 stakes in the field to lay out the image of the horse. They worked from a blueprint, generated by a computer program, that plots the perimeters of odd shapes ... even horses. At times they had three laser transits in the field, each with a chip that could precisely locate each co-ordinate. They finished the layout on the evening of Friday, October 4, and the next day Scott Dobson worked the field for the first time. |
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October 6, 1996 After an unseasonably wet early fall I arrived at the field, along with Greg Amann, Peter Lee, Doug Scholes and about 500 seagulls to take advantage of a brief dry spell to get some seed in the ground. That's me loading my seed drill with winter wheat , the first crop to go in and the one that makes up the horses' body. |
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Round one of a giant "connect the dots" puzzle. It took as long to plant the first round as it did to complete the other l6 acres. |
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Tight areas like the ears and mouth were deliberately over planted and will be trimmed out by hand in the spring. That's why Joe's horse appears to be sticking his tongue out. |
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The metal flags allowed me to run over them while planting tight inside curves. (I'm afraid that the odd wooden stake on an easy outside curve met its untimely demise as well.) |
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October
20, 1996 |
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Not much top on the wheat to take it into the winter, but we have our fingers crossed. I've enjoyed watching my artist friends becoming a little more weather conscious as mother nature affects our plans. |
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Joe Fafard with William Moore on the grounds of the historical estate that currently is the MacLaren Art Centre's home. William, Director/Curator of the MacLaren, had the original crop picture idea and was the one who phoned Joe and got the ball rolling. |