Congratulations to our 2018 King Family Bursary winners!
Posted on April 20, 2018
This summer, two very deserving recipients will be embarking on projects supported by the GBLT’s King Family Bursary, intended to increase awareness and appreciation of the eastern Georgian Bay and North Channel environment, history, communities, and culture. Congratulations to Sean Tamblyn and Kate Marshall Flaherty!
Thank you to our generous bursary funders, Wally and Marilyn King and John Hartman, for making these projects possible. We’d also like to thank our volunteer jurors, Elizabeth King and Alan Stein, for contributing their time and insights, and all the wonderful applicants who made our choice extremely difficult!
Sean Tamblyn
Sean Tamblyn is a Toronto-based photographer with a passion for Georgian Bay. When not kayaking the coastline and barrier islands between Killarney and Port Severn, you can find him kick sledding over the ice in the depths of winter documenting the landscapes, wildlife, and history of the Bay.
This season he’ll be focusing on documenting the lighthouses of the Bay for the Georgian Bay Lighthouse Survey, working to raise awareness of their plight at the hands of the ironically named Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act. To date, only the light at Snug Harbour has been granted Heritage status, and the light station on Hope Island is the first to have been demolished. Sean has remote cameras out all winter long documenting the harshest weather over the remotest lights, and will be visiting all the lights from Killarney to Doubletop Island over the course of the season.
“I’m thrilled to receive the King Family Bursary and partner with the Georgian Bay Land Trust to help raise awareness of the plight of these cultural icons that have guided mariners home for over a century. Together, we can help ensure that they’re around for future generations to enjoy – the Bay would be a lesser place without them.”
– Sean Tamblyn
Kate Marshall Flaherty
Kate Marshall Flaherty is an award-winning poet who has spent most of her life enjoying the stunning Georgian Bay region—cross country skiing in winter, sugaring off in spring, harvesting the garden in fall, and delighting in the beaches and shorelines of Killbear Park, 4 km from her parents’ farm, in summer. Many poems in her previous five books ponder and reflect upon the striking landscapes that the Group of Seven depicted in their art.
For her project, Kate will create three short art films, integrating her performance poetry with the original music of award-winning composer and film-maker Mark Korven (pictured right). Set against the memorable backdrop of Georgian Bay landscapes, these films will highlight the jack pines and quartz rocks of the shorelines, striving to capture in word, sound and image the unique character of this region.
“I am thrilled and honoured to be selected to create performance poetry films that evoke the spirit of the Georgian Bay region. There is such power in poetry to conjure a landscape and create an emotional setting; to add music deepens and enhances the journey; to have a backdrop of the memorable topography will hopefully make this a powerful experience for the viewer. My hope in filming the region of my childhood is that it will inspire and delight.”
– Kate Marshall Flaherty